Democrats are demanding answers over President Trump’s decision to greenlight the unrestricted export of American-made firearms, saying the move risks empowering criminal and terrorist organizations, according to letters obtained exclusively by The Hill.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) led a group of lawmakers criticizing the decision to rescind export restrictions on U.S. small arms put in place to combat the illicit gun market.
“Eliminating firearm export rules is a gift to violent cartels and drug traffickers responsible for the deaths of Americans and innocent civilians around the world,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also serves as Trump’s national security adviser.
“By rescinding the rule, Commerce is empowering the very cartels and criminal organizations that this Administration has sought to counter.”
The administration on Sept. 30 revoked a rule established under the Biden administration limiting the export of American-made firearms and related ammunition.
The export restriction was put in place to combat the illegal diversion of legally exported American fire-arms, and targeted 36 countries. A report by the Government Accountability Office found that between 2018 and 2022, 73 percent of firearms recovered in crimes in the Caribbean were sourced from the U.S.
“Governments in the Caribbean region expressed concern that individuals are using license exceptions to bring firearms, particularly semi-automatic handguns, to their countries, and that those firearms are being diverted to violent criminals,” the Biden-era rule stated.
“These partner governments have sought U.S. assistance in addressing diversion, which is fueling violence, criminal activity, and instability within their countries or regions.”
The Biden-era rule created a “presumption” to deny exports of certain American weapons to non-government foreign entities in countries with a high risk of firearm diversion or misuse, and strengthened mechanisms for tracking the export of semi-automatic weapons. The rule also shortened the validity period of export licenses from four years to one year.
The Trump administration, in its decision to rescind the rule, said that American firearms manufacturers estimated that the regulatory restrictions would cost them “hundreds of millions of dollars per year in lost sales,” and that the rule “imposed unnecessary regulatory burdens.”
The administration also removed congressional notification requirements for certain semi-automatic firearms license applications.
“By restoring export controls on firearms to the state they were in at the end of the first Trump Administration, BIS [Bureau of Industry and Security] is advancing the Administration’s commitment to reducing regulatory burdens on industry and law-abiding firearms owners,” the administration said in its statement at the time.
The Hill has reached out to the Commerce Department and the State Department for comment.
The Trump administration’s decision to revoke the rule comes as the president has carried out an aggressive military campaign in the Caribbean against what he says are drug traffickers designated as terrorist organizations, launching missiles at boats and killing crews allegedly ferrying drugs to the U.S. At the same time, the president has raised the possibility of “land” operations to target terrorist-designated drug cartels.
Lawmakers questioned whether the rescission of the rule represented a self-inflicted wound on the administration’s own efforts to stop the flow of weapons to cartels.
“The cartels that operate within Mexico and threaten the state are armed from weapons that are bought in the United States and shipped there. We want to help stop that flow,” Rubio said during a House hearing in May.
Warren and Castro, joined by 14 Democratic senators and dozens of House Democrats, issued a detailed list of questions to Lutnick and Rubio to answer by Nov. 4.
These include to detail whether any legally exported U.S. weapons were diverted to terrorist groups since 2017; whether the administration will allow the export to non-government entities in high-risk countries; and did the administration conduct any research into the impact of the rule since it went into effect.
The lawmakers also raise concern that American gun manufacturers influenced the decision to rescind the export restriction, requiring Commerce to provide a list of all meetings Lutnick or any members of his staff have had with firearm industry stakeholders regarding export controls.
The administration wrote in its justification that “American firearms manufacturers estimated that these regulatory restrictions would cost them hundreds of millions of dollars per year in lost sales.”
“By restoring export controls on firearms to the state they were in at the end of the first Trump Administration, BIS is advancing the Administration’s commitment to reducing regulatory burdens on industry and law-abiding firearms owners.”
A coalition of more than 80 NGOs issued a statement backing the letter, calling the Trump administration’s actions “reckless and irresponsible.”
“Without sufficient controls, U.S.-sourced guns can end up in the hands of abusive governments and transnational criminal organizations where they may stoke political violence, empower narcotics trafficking, foment regional instability, and spur forced migration as people seek refuge outside their own country,” the statement read.
Source: The Hill