House Republicans demanded Tuesday that the Biden administration revoke a surprise policy that shuts down the firearms industry’s ability to export guns to civilians around much of the globe, calling the move a “ridiculous” attempt to cripple America’s gun makers.
Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green and nearly 90 fellow Republicans, in a letter to the Commerce Department that is being reported first by The Washington Times, said the policy makes the world more dangerous for U.S. allies.
“The Biden administration has made undermining the Second Amendment a hobby, even trying to defund popular shooting and archery programs in our schools,” Mr. Green told The Washington Times. “Now, this administration is trying to cripple the American firearm industry by halting their exportsThis is unacceptable at best, if not illegal.”
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security imposed the policy on Oct. 27, saying it wouldn’t approve any new export licenses to civilians for certain firearms and ammunition. The pause will last at least 90 days.
The pause doesn’t apply to Israel and Ukraine, nor countries in the Wassenaar agreement, an arms control pact.
The Biden administration said the pause is needed to give officials time to figure out ways to prevent weapons from “being diverted to entities or activities that promote regional instability, violate human rights or fuel criminal activities.”
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Existing licenses are unaffected. Exports to foreign governments, militaries and police departments aren’t paused, but the department did say they will be reviewed with a new eye toward regional stability, human rights concerns and U.S. foreign policy interests.
The Washington Times has reached out to the Commerce Department for this story.
Gun control groups said the worry is that exported firearms get stolen or diverted away from the purported buyers and end up in the hands of criminals.
But Mr. Green and fellow Republicans said the policy smacks more of politics than security.
“While BIS exempted Ukraine and Israel from this broad pause, that very exemption illustrates the inherent hypocrisy. This administration has exploited every loophole to prevent the possession or transfer of firearms for law-abiding people, and this notice is no exception,” the lawmakers wrote.
As one example, they said Taiwan, another U.S. ally facing growing pressure from China, is covered by the pause.
The lawmakers said the sweeping limit on exports was “unprecedented,” and was issued without giving the public the usual comment period to weigh in.
The policy also risks damaging a firearms industry already buffeted by Biden administration headwinds, the lawmakers said, pointing to “thousands of Americans” whose jobs are tied to firearms production.
“We demand that BIS and DOC end this ridiculous hypocrisy and continue the issuance of export licenses for firearms, related components, and ammunition,” the Republicans wrote. “Continuing this pause will only weaken law-abiding civilians and hand criminal actors a monopoly of force.”
Among their list of questions for Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo was what sort of notice was given to Congress before the policy, who in the gun control movement was consulted, and what were the specific concerns that gave rise to the policy.
Analysts said it wasn’t clear what prompted the surprise policy, though they pointed to recent reporting that suggested U.S.-made weapons were flooding dangerous countries
Gun control groups cheered the move, calling it a first step in unraveling pro-gun policies begun by the Obama administration and finalized by the Trump administration that shifted oversight of firearms export from the State Department to the Commerce Department.
The result, according to Giffords, one of the major gun control outfits, is that exports of semiautomatic pistols more than doubled in the immediate aftermath of the Trump change.
“This rule has allowed irresponsible gun manufacturers to put profits over people’s lives and sell firearms to countries without sufficient oversight. The gun lobby doesn’t care what’s done with their guns, they just care about making money,” said Adzi Vokhiwa, federal affairs director at Giffords.
But the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents the firearms industry, called the pause “purely political.”
Larry Keane, NSSF’s senior vice president for government affairs, said the government can already deny any export license it wants if it has any concerns about it. That makes the pause look like “political payback.”
“This is a naked attempt to hobble the firearm industry, which President Biden made clear that he despises,” Mr. Keane said. “It is also a shameless favor to the gun control special interest groups that have bought their way into the White House that are now using foreign policy to exert their influence over domestic policy.”
He said Congress should use its power over government spending to challenge the administration’s pause.
