What You Need to Know About New Department of Commerce Rule Tightening Restrictions on U.S. Gun Exports Abroad

Changes Will Create a More Responsible Export System to Help Stem the Export of U.S. Gun Violence

Today, the Department of Commerce announced an interim final rule to tighten restrictions on firearm exports to bolster U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, promote public safety in the United States, and reduce gun violence abroad.

Here's what you need to know about the Department of Commerce's new rule:

• In October 2023, the Department of Commerce announced a pause on issuing "new export licenses involving certain firearms, related components, and ammunition" while the Department reviewed export control policies "to determine whether any changes are warranted to advance U.S. national security and foreign policy interests." The Department did so to "assess and mitigate risk of firearms being diverted to entities or activities that promote regional instability, violate human rights, or fuel criminal activities."

• Today, the Commerce Department issued an interim final rule that will go into effect on May 30, 2024. The rule makes numerous changes to protect U.S. national security and foreign policy interests and reduce gun violence abroad. Among others, these changes include:

• Formalizing an interagency working group headed by the Department of State to review firearms export applications to "evaluate firearm diversion and misuse risks on a country‐by‐country basis."

• Creating new export classifications to differentiate between semi-automatic and non-semi-automatic weapons to better enable the Department of Commerce to track exports and evaluate the diversion of specific weapons that compromise national security and foreign policy interests.

• Requiring exporters to include purchase orders and other documentation in their applications so the Department of Commerce can better evaluate the intended recipients of the weapons, especially in high-risk countries, e.g., those with high rates or degrees of firearms and drug trafficking, organized crime, human rights abuses, terrorist activity, corruption, and state fragility.

• Reducing the length of firearms export licenses from four years to one to be able to account for rapid developments in destination countries, and to respond to evolving diversion risks and changes in national security and foreign policy interests.

• Establishing a presumption of denial for export applications to non-government end-users in 36 high-risk countries identified by the Department of State, in addition to countries with U.S. arms embargoes.

When U.S.-made guns end up in the hands of foreign terrorists and transnational criminal organizations, and are used to commit human rights violations, stoke political violence, and foment regional instability, those guns make the world less safe and less secure. The United States has strong national security and foreign policy interests in mitigating the risks that firearm exports will be diverted to or misused by bad actors abroad, and the Commerce Department's rule furthers those very interests by giving the Department new tools to evaluate, assess, and reduce those risks before it is too late.

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