Last Monday, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) at the U.S. Department of Commerce published a final rule that reversed a crackdown on the commercial export of firearms from the U.S. to other countries. The final rule repealed virtually all of an interim final rule (IFR) enacted by the Biden-Harris administration on April 30, 2024. The IFR had imposed expense, red tape, delay, and presumptions of denial on a host of exports as just one aspect of the prior administration’s multi-pronged attack on the U.S. gun industry. The final rule will restore the regulations for these firearms exports to what they were during President Trump’s first term and strengthen the firearm-related business sector in the U.S., which enables a robust Second Amendment for all Americans.
We had documented the Biden-Harris export rollback at the time. An “investigation” by Bloomberg News – an outlet backed by billionaire Michael Bloomberg, a leading funder of anti-gun causes – attempted to portray U.S. origin guns as contributing to crime and human rights abuses in other countries. This is a tried-and-true tactic of anti-gun activists in America, often focusing on drug cartel violence in Mexico. In that case, however, the firearms are almost always smuggled across the border illegally or diverted by corrupt officials in south of the border military or police forces.
Bloomberg’s propagandists had a tougher time making the case that lawfully exported guns were a problem and resorted to highlighting a 2022 mass murder in Thailand that – while involving a pistol of U.S. origin – was “mostly” committed with a knife, according to local officials cited in another media report, and that also included the perpetrator running people down with his vehicle.
Nevertheless, the reporting provided a convenient backdrop for the Biden-Harris administration’s unprecedented and heavy-handed “pause” on otherwise lawful firearm exports, supposedly to assess whether current export controls were sufficiently strict. The preordained outcome of that “assessment” was last year’s IFR. Not only did that rule kneecap the U.S. gun industry in international markets, it created new business opportunities for far-less scrupulous arms exporting countries, including China, Russia, and Turkey.
The Biden-Harris administration allowed its IRF to take effect almost immediately, but to cover its legal tracks, the administration opened a brief window to comment on the regulations, in which NRA-ILA encouraged stakeholders to participate.” Whether or not the administration is likely to revise its rules in response to public input,” we wrote at the time, “well-written comments are important for advocacy efforts and for educating Congress and the public in the real-world consequences of the administration’s politically-motivated attacks on the U.S. firearms industry.”
As noted in the final rule, BIS received nearly 13,000 comments on the IFR. That input helped guide the Trump administration’s decision to reverse the Biden-Harris export strictures. The summary of the final rule explained:
American firearms manufacturers estimated that these regulatory restrictions would cost them hundreds of millions of dollars per year in lost sales. BIS, informed by public comments on the Firearms IFR, has determined that the Firearms IFR should be rescinded in its entirety—with the only exception being to maintain new Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs). This final rule also amends the EAR by removing the Congressional notification requirement for certain semi-automatic firearms license applications. By restoring export controls on firearms to the state they were in at the end of the first Trump Administration, BIS is advancing the Administration's commitment to reducing regulatory burdens on industry and law-abiding firearms owners.
Last week’s action by BIS tracks a suggestion NRA-ILA provided to the Trump administration in ILA’s memorandum on implementing the president’s executive order Protecting Second Amendment Rights. NRA-ILA wrote:
Unduly restricting exports hurts U.S. businesses and drives foreign buyers to overseas competitors who are far less concerned with and capable of preventing diversion and misuse than the companies and officials involved in U.S. exports. The [April 30, 2024 IFR] should be rescinded and affirmative efforts made to create efficiencies in the licensing of exports through BIS.
Elsewhere this week, we report on yet another suggestion in NRA-ILA’s memo that has been adopted by the Trump administration, the one in which we wrote: “the DOJ should evaluate using the Civil Rights Division to investigate violations of Second Amendment rights by state and local governments[,]” including jurisdictions conducting “essentially open-ended background checks on concealed carry applicants and … taking more than a year to process applications in many cases.”
It is indeed encouraging to see the progress that is being made to restore and promote Americans’ Second Amendment rights under the Trump Administration. As the example of the BIS final rule shows, it is the participation of informed and activated gun owners and Second Amendment supporters that help make these victories possible.
Stay tuned as we continue to report on these and other exciting pro-gun initiatives.
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