Lawmaker Opposes BIS Rule Easing Controls on Firearms Exports
House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., criticized the Bureau of Industry and Security’s new final rule rescinding the Biden administration’s increased restrictions on firearms exports (see 2509290045), saying the move will diminish government oversight of such transactions.
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“By removing a ‘presumption of denial’ for certain exports to 36 high-risk countries and license requirements on long-barrel shotguns and other lethal weapons, U.S.-produced firearms will more easily find their way into illicit hands,” Meeks said in a statement late Sept. 29.
Meeks cited a 2024 report by the Government Accountability Office that found that 73% of firearms recovered from the Caribbean and traced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from 2018 to 2022 could be sourced back to the U.S. (see 2411150051). He said the report underscored the need for the Biden-era restrictions.
“Countries around the world, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean, have called on the U.S. to better control the export of American firearms, which all too often are exploited by gangs and criminal networks to destabilize communities and exacerbate civilian insecurity,” Meeks said. The Trump “administration’s reduction of oversight checks on such sales does nothing to strengthen national, regional, or global security.”