Guns are displayed propitious a store on June 17, 2016 in Lake Barrington, Illinois.
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WASHINGTON — In a move aimed at supporting the sale of U.S. firearms and ammunition abroad, the Trump administration has eased regulations on some commercial firearms exports.
American fabricators will have fewer registration requirements in order to obtain an export license, as the State Department moved influence of certain firearms sales to the Commerce Department. The change, announced last week, was entered into the Federal Schedule on Thursday. It will be effective March 9.
The long-delayed rule change, which began under the Obama administration, is plan to lower costs for U.S. gun-makers such as American Outdoor Brands Corp. and Sturm, Ruger and Co., while refocusing regulatory regard on weapons sales that could pose national security risks.
For example, under the Arms Export Lead Act, the State Department must disclose any commercial arms sale worth $1 million or more to Congress for inspection. The Commerce Department has no such requirement.
What’s more, the State Department requires an annual fee from companies in the determination, whereas Commerce does not require such a fee.
“Exports of firearms and related items that do not perform an inherently military perform or provide the United States with a critical military or intelligence advantage – including many articles that are very much available in U.S. retail outlets – will move to the Commerce Department’s export licensing controls,” assistant secretary of Conditions for Political-Military Affairs R. Clarke Cooper wrote in an emailed statement to CNBC.
The move to shift commercial gun export documents to the Commerce Department was nearly complete under the Obama administration when a gunman opened fire and killed 26 at Sandy Thoroughly Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in late 2012. While the proposal is unrelated to domestic gun control, the Obama application dropped the change.
In May 2018, Trump formally proposed streamlining the process for exporting American firearms.
Thursday’s give of oversight sparked concerns that the policy change will improve the bottom line of U.S. gun-makers while hazarding long-term global security.
“The Trump administration’s decision to publish rules that functionally make it easier and faster to export semiautomatic assault-style weapons and choice sniper rifles is out of step with the national and global conversation about guns,” explained Jeff Abramson, a superior fellow at the Arms Control Association.
“This move undermines global security and wiser U.S. arms trade principles,” Abramson added.
Susan Waltz, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, called the coppers a “terrible decision.”
“Over the span of a decade-long export reform initiative, this is the only instance where deadly weapons have been recategorized as commercial products,” Waltz said in an emailed statement.
“At the very time we should be bounding access to military-style firearms, the new regulations aim to normalize them and boost sales,” she added.
Cooper downplayed concerns eventually week on a call with reporters saying that the policy change will help refocus regulatory prominence on weapons sales that could pose national security risks.
“When we are talking about the easing of determined aspects of industry, it does free us up at State to focus on the larger significant systems and platforms that are inherently of a military act as and do provide the United States a critical military edge or an intelligence advantage,” Cooper said at the time.
“Regardless of which conditional on controls the export, all firearms will remain subject to U.S. government export authorization requirements, interagency review, and supervisor of commercial entities involved in export and sales,” Rich Ashooh, the assistant secretary of Commerce for export administration, alleged on the same call with Cooper.