House Oversight Committee Probing BIS Suspension of New Firearm Licenses

The House Oversight Committee is probing the Bureau of Industry and Security's 90-day suspension of new export licenses for firearms, saying the potentially “extralegal” decision was made with no explanation and infringes on the Commerce Department’s goal of increasing U.S. competitiveness. Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., in a letter this week to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, requested a briefing on the issue by Dec. 5 and asked for a range of agency documents before Dec. 12, including any related to the decision-making process that led to the suspension announcement.

Comer said the suspension was “purportedly” made to allow Commerce to study the risks of U.S. firearms exports to human rights abusers and other malign end-users, but the agency hasn’t provided “any examples of such activity or any explanation why existing export regulations need amending to address the alleged issues.” He said this “inconsistency of application calls into question whether Commerce’s alleged human rights rationale is a pretext to target the domestic firearms manufacturing industry.”

Comer’s letter comes after Republicans in the House and Senate sent separate letters to Commerce asking the agency to reverse the October decision, which halted new licenses for certain firearms, components and ammunition for non-government end-users worldwide -- with some country exceptions -- for 90 days (see 2310270068). Months before that decision, the agency had quietly stopped approving new licenses for firearms exports to three Latin American countries (see 2311200009).

The suspension “appears to be at direct odds” with the agency’s mission of driving U.S. economic competitiveness, strengthening domestic industry, and spurring the growth of jobs, Comer said. “We seek and expect your Department’s cooperation in providing additional information to determine a full accounting of this action and how it will impact U.S. firearms manufacturers and the jobs that industry provides.”

A Commerce spokesperson on Nov. 29 said the agency "has received the letter and will respond appropriately.”