GOP Bill Aims to Block Biden Admin’s New Restrictions on US Gun Exports

Chairman of the House Homeland Security Commitee Mark Green ahead of interview with NTD, The Epoch Times' sister media outlet, at CPAC, on Feb. 22, 2024. Jackson Richman/Epoch Times.

A Republican lawmaker has introduced a bill seeking to block a rule from the Biden administration, which he claims will harm the U.S. gun industry’s export business.

On April 26, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published an interim final rule concerning the export of firearms, ammunition, and related components.

The new rule reduces the length of time a firearms export license is valid from four years to one year.

When reviewing an export license application, the agency will take into account factors like terrorism risks, human rights concerns, state fragility, corruption, the nature and capabilities of the firearm, and past instances of diversion and misuse.

BIS would also apply a “presumption of denial” standard to export applications involving customers located in a destination where firearms could be “diverted or misused in a manner contrary to national security and foreign policy.”

A presumption of denial standard means that BIS will almost always deny the application unless a strong case can be made to the contrary. The State Department has identified 36 such nations where the presumption of denial could apply, most of them are located in South America, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean.

On May 1, Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) introduced bill HR 8208 seeking to prohibit the use of federal funds to “finalize, implement, or enforce” the interim final rule proposed by the BIS.

In a press release, Mr. Green pointed out that the rule would “vastly increase red tape for licensees” and could burden the BIS with having to process thousands of additional licenses annually without extra staffing.

The rule does not have a “grandfather clause,” which is an exemption allowing entities to continue with their operations approved before a new law is implemented. Businesses that already have a four-year license, made significant investments, and signed multiple contracts now face uncertainty, he said.

“Since these licenses will be approved yearly on a case-by-case basis, it is entirely up to the whims of anti-gun Washington bureaucrats whether their business may continue to operate.”

The rule holds American firearms exports responsible for crimes committed in other nations even if they comply with required regulations, Mr. Green said.

“The previous policy permitted the export of spare parts under $500 without a license. This rule removes the exception for multiple firearms and related commodities, which could double the amount of licenses BIS must approve and cause the backlog to skyrocket,” he said.

“On July 1, BIS plans to revoke letters to hundreds, potentially thousands, of license holders, notifying them that they are no longer eligible to do business.”

The lawmaker said the rule ignores an admission by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) that less than one percent of international gun crimes involve a legally exported firearm. The law is “clearly an excuse to target U.S. firearm companies to appease the radical left,” he said.

Economic Impact

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), a firearm industry trade association, criticized the BIS interim rule.

The economic impact of the rule could end up “easily” exceeding $250 million to American manufacturers and exporters, the group said in an April 26 statement. This would be “far above the farcically low estimates” calculated by the BIS.

The rule was introduced after the Biden administration paused approval for new export licenses sold to non-governmental users for a period of 90 days in October 2023. The pause ultimately lasted 180 days.

“The supposed ‘temporary pause’ to review firearm export policies was a farce. It was an effort to buy the administration time to gin up policies that would strike at the heart of the ability of this industry to stay in business,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF’s senior vice president and general counsel.

“This has been the end goal since President Biden said from the Democratic debate stage that ‘firearm manufacturers are the enemy.’ This is a wholesale attack on the industry that provides the means for Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights.”

Mr. Keane claimed that the Biden administration’s enmity towards Second Amendment rights and the firearms industry is “without parallel.”

“This is deeply troubling the lengths to which this administration will go to turn the levers of government against a Constitutionally-protected industry in order to cozy up to special-interest gun control donors.”

Once the rule is implemented, all previously approved firearm exporting licenses to nations deemed “high risk” would be revoked 60 days after the rule comes into effect on May 30, NSSF noted. The group said it is “considering its legal options.”

In his press release, Mr. Green included comments from a gun manufacturer who explained how the Biden administration’s export pause affected them.

“Our business was forced to close last month with over $1,000,000 in open orders that were either put on hold or completely canceled as our OEM customers’ sales declined during the BIS Pause,” said Adam Naylor, president of Outdoorsman Precision Manufacturing in Celina, Tennessee.

“Eight Jobs lost in a distressed community, $600,000 in hard cash investments, $1,000,000 of unsecured loans unable to be repaid, [and] $1,500,000 of capital equipment surrendered to the banks.”