Trump Shifts Oversight of Some Arms Exports, Easing Sales
''Congress will no longer be notified when the U.S. approves overseas sales of certain weapons''
The Trump administration on Monday initiated a change in the way that U.S. manufacturers will be allowed to export some firearms, ammunition, and gun components, relaxing federal requirements for such transfers. Export jurisdiction over these weapons will shift from State Department purview to the Department of Commerce. Under the new arrangement, Congress no longer will receive notification of potential sales of these arms. Among the weapons added to the Commerce Control List are some semiautomatic and nonautomatic guns. The Commerce Department had already been licensing the export of items such as shotguns, shotgun shells, and hunting-rifle scopes. Manufacturers and their representatives, including the National Rifle Association, support the move, while arms-control advocates oppose it. Officials from the Commerce and State Departments declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation against the transfer.
The change is meant to streamline the review process for manufacturers, facilitating sales, while focusing the State Department’s regulatory efforts on larger weapons that provide a more critical military or intelligence advantage, such as missiles and artillery. Those weapons remain on the U.S. Munitions List, maintained by the agency. The State Department is required to notify Congress of impending sales in excess of $1 million of weapons on its munitions list. The notification provision doesn’t apply to the Commerce Department. Proponents of the change have characterized it as a business-friendly action, which lowers regulatory fees for U.S. manufacturers on guns, firearms components and ammunition and allows them an easier road to export markets.
The move “evens the playing field for U.S.-based manufacturers,” compared with foreign counterparts, said Mark Oliva, the director of public affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms-industry trade association. Mr. Oliva said that some U.S. gun makers have lost overseas contracts because of congressional delays in granting export approval. “That’s made us a little more lethargic,” he said.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation projects a 20% increase in export sales as a result of the transfer to Commerce regulation. Opponents of the transfer fear that it will increase exports of weapons to conflict zones, criminal groups and oppressive regimes. “We do not agree that the priority should be the convenience of manufacturers and other exporters,” said Kristen Rand, the legislative director for the Violence Policy Center. “But rather the priority should be protecting U.S. national-security interests and preventing these weapons from falling into the wrong hands.” The U.S. regulates exports of weapons to guard against their misuse against American soldiers and also their ability to exacerbate conflicts.
In 2009, then-President Obama initiated a review of the U.S. export-control system in part to promote efficiency, moving many weapons and parts from State Department control to regulation by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security. The Trump administration now is moving to ease oversight of weapons that the Obama administration had left under the stricter control of the State Department. “This is something the gun lobby wanted to see happen,” said Jeff Abramson, a senior fellow at the Arms Control Association.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-shifts-oversight-of-some-arms-exports-easing-sales-11583782180?mod=hp_lista_pos4