US Commerce Department Halts Most Firearms Exports for 90 Days
The US Commerce Department has imposed a 90-day halt on the export of most US-made firearms and initiated a review of its support for the Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show, considered to be the nation’s largest gun trade show, citing the need to ensure that such support aligns with US policy interests.
The move could potentially slow the 20-year surge in international gun sales. The department announced on Friday the suspension of new export licenses for semiautomatic and non-automatic firearms intended for commercial sale worldwide.
This temporary freeze does not apply to approximately 40 countries, including Israel and Ukraine, that are part of an export-control agreement. However, it does encompass significant markets for American gun manufacturers, such as Brazil, Thailand, and Guatemala.
The department’s review aims to assess and mitigate the risk of firearms being diverted to entities or activities that promote regional instability, violate human rights, or fuel criminal activities, according to their official statement. Although the long-term changes remain unspecified, this review may reverse pro-industry policies that have facilitated domestic manufacturers’ expansion of international sales.
The decision by the Commerce Department was met with approval from critics of the rule change, such as Rep. Joaquin Castro and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who have sought answers regarding the increase in approvals of assault weapons export licenses.
This decision by the Commerce Department comes after a months-long investigation by Bloomberg that delved into the gun industry’s strategies for expanding global sales, along with favorable US policies.
Bloomberg found that over the past two decades, US gun sales abroad have skyrocketed, with more than 3.7 million rapid-fire and military-style firearms sold internationally since 2005. Many of these firearms have ended up in countries grappling with high levels of gun crime or have been supplied to authoritarian regimes.
The investigation started in July with a look into gun sales to Thailand where one of worst mass killings in history occurred last year when a former policeman used a sugarcane machete and a Sig Sauer P365 to kill 36 people, including 22 children, at a nursery in Nong Bua Lam Phu.
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