Hinds Today

U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), along with 22 colleagues, has called on Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to withdraw an interim final rule that would significantly restrict the ability of American firearm, ammunition, and related component manufacturers to obtain licenses for exporting their products to non-government end users.

In a letter addressed to Raimondo, the Senators criticized the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) for failing to properly assess the economic impact of the rule. They argued that this oversight could harm the American economy and allow foreign actors, such as China, to capitalize on reduced U.S. exports of firearms and related components.

“The Department’s actions over the past year—including the controversial and unusual export pause on October 27, 2023, this unprecedented rulemaking, and the Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA) decision to curtail the promotion of firearms exports—collectively serve as yet another example of the Biden administration using the administrative state to target legal U.S. industries and advance progressive policies without meaningful consideration of the impact on U.S. commercial, economic, national security, and foreign policy interests,” stated the Senators in their letter.

The BIS rule is set to become effective on May 30 and would extend a current "pause" on export licenses while rescinding approximately 2,000 active licenses for certain firearms. The Senators emphasized that BIS did not provide any data concerning the economic impact of this rule as required by law.

Criticizing BIS's national security justifications as “dubious,” they warned that revoking existing licensing unilaterally for 36 countries and implementing a new licensing system could encourage foreign actors like China to dominate firearms-related exports. This shift could bolster illicit arms dealers at the expense of legitimate U.S. businesses.

“We are concerned that the Department issued the Rule in an attempt to intentionally harm the firearms industry. As you know, many of these businesses rely on the export of firearms, related components, ammunition, and related assistance activities for such products to meet their bottom lines,” wrote the Senators. “We therefore call upon you to withdraw this deeply misguided rule and its associated license revocations.”

The letter was led by U.S. Senators Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), with additional signatories including Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall M.D. (R-Kan.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), JD Vance (R-Ohio), and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.).