Shaw: Ban binary triggers in North Dakota

There are some sad and tragic lessons to be learned from the horrific mass shooting that took place on July 14 in Fargo. One of them is that binary triggers must be banned in North Dakota, just like they are in about 10 other states.

Binary triggers double the firing capacity of a weapon. They allow the shooter to fire one round when the trigger is pulled and another round when it is released. The trigger allowed the Fargo gunman to shoot three Fargo police officers and one bystander in mere seconds.

“Binary triggers should not be legal,” Martha Wheeler told me. She is a spokesperson of the Fargo-Moorhead group of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “I don’t know why someone should be able to fire that many bullets in a few seconds. It just makes the world more dangerous. Only law enforcement and the military should have that kind of firepower.”

She’s right. No law-abiding citizen needs a binary trigger. It is certainly not used for self-defense. It is used for mass murder. We should listen to North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley, who

compared it to a machine gun.

“It’s a senseless piece of equipment,” he said. “It serves no purpose … It’s the functional equivalent of it (a fully automatic weapon), and we’ve outlawed that for decades.”

The problem goes back to the North Dakota Legislature, which legalized the trigger in 2019. Rep. Matthew Ruby, R-Minot, introduced the bill. He foolishly said binary triggers are primarily used for trick shooting or target shooting.

“The binary trigger didn’t play a role in the shooting,”

Ruby told the Forum.

“No, they should not be banned. The increase of fire rate is not even close to a machine gun.”

Wow! Ruby’s comments are ignorant, pathetic, tone-deaf and frightening. The scary part is that many other state legislators feel the same way.

Once again, with that trigger, it only took seconds for the Fargo gunman to shoot four people. If it wasn’t for

the heroism of Fargo Police Officer Zach Robinson,

the shooter with his binary trigger and 60-round magazines

(not to mention his explosives)

would likely have caused severe carnage at the Downtown Fargo Street Fair. It could have been a massacre, with hundreds or thousands of casualties.

For that matter, there is no reason high-capacity magazines should be legal.

Some gun enthusiasts will hide behind the Second Amendment in support of the triggers. There is no way the Founding Fathers meant for civilians to commit mass murder when approving that amendment. That amendment has been distorted beyond recognition. All of our rights have limitations. If your parent or your child was shot to death at the street fair, would you really be praising the Second Amendment?

What’s more important: Allowing mass murderers to have deadly firepower or saving lives of innocent people?

Since the mass shooting, there has been a strong call to “Back the blue,” which is wonderful to hear. Our police officers were outgunned in Fargo, which should never happen. If we truly want to “Back the blue,” then binary triggers should be banned.

InForum columnist Jim Shaw is a former WDAY TV reporter and former KVRR TV news director.