BIS May Be Drafting New Firearms Export Restrictions, Document Shows

The Bureau of Industry and Security may be preparing to introduce new export rules for certain firearms, gun parts and ammunition, including one change that would require certain end-users to submit their passports to BIS and another that would shorten the validity period of certain licenses from four years to one year. Other changes could introduce new Export Control Classification Numbers for certain firearms and parts, require exporters to first obtain an import certificate from the importing country, and create a new working group to review firearms-related license applications.

The possible changes are outlined in a draft final rule purported to be under consideration by BIS and published this month in a report by The Reload, a news outlet covering the gun industry. The document, labeled as “predecisional” and “deliberative,” was published about two months after BIS announced a 90-day suspension of new export licenses for certain guns, gun parts and ammunition and began a review of its firearm export policies (see 2310270068), which caught many in the industry by surprise (see 2310300043).

Even before the 90-day suspension, the agency had for months quietly stopped approving new licenses for firearms to Peru, Ecuador and Guatemala (see 2311200009).

A Commerce Department spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment but told The Reload that the draft document isn’t final. “No decisions on potential policy changes resulting from the review have been made,” the person said.

Larry Keane of the National Shooting Sports Foundation said his organization, which represents major gun industry companies, has had “no discussion with BIS concerning this document,” but he also noted the agency hasn’t denied that it’s “legitimate.” The Reload said the document was first provided to an analyst with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

NSSF recently met with BIS Undersecretary Alan Estevez and another senior Commerce official to discuss firearms export controls, Keane said Dec. 26. He said the group is hoping for another meeting next month.

The draft BIS final rule, which lists a 45-day delayed effective date after publication in the Federal Register, said the agency “determined that some changes were warranted” to its gun export controls “to advance U.S. national security and foreign policy interests.” The agency’s review was “conducted with urgency and enabled BIS to more effectively assess and mitigate risk of firearms being diverted to entities or activities that promote regional instability, violate human rights, or fuel criminal activities,” the document said.

Along with ECCNs 0A501, 0A502, 0A504 and 0A505, which were the four ECCNs originally subject to the 90-day suspension, the draft said BIS would create two new ECCNs. New ECCN 0A506 would include certain semiautomatic rifles, pistols and related parts, and new ECCN OA507 would include certain semiautomatic shotguns and related parts. Those guns and parts are currently controlled under ECCNs 0A501 and 0A502.

For license applications of items controlled under each of those ECCNs, the document said BIS would “require the submission of passport or other national identity card information for all end users of those items” if the destination is a country other than nations in country Group A:1. This would help BIS coordinate with local law enforcement, “address diversion issues, and support enforcement efforts if violations are identified,” the document said.

Exporters of those items looking to use a license exception also would have to first obtain an import certification or permit from the importing country if that country requires one, and exports to certain countries no longer will be eligible for License Exception LVS (limited value shipments) and License Exception BAG (baggage). Those would include certain exports to CARICOM nations, a group of countries in the Caribbean. The document would add a definition for CARICOM to the Export Administration Regulations.

BIS also would reduce from four years to 12 months the length of time that license applications are valid for items controlled under ECCNs 0A501, 0A502, 0A504, 0A505, 0A506 and 0A507, according to the document. This change could help “ensure countries/end-users of concern have to come back in for a new license more often,” the document said, and that BIS would be able to vet the “country/end-user more often and determine if a change in circumstances has occurred.”

BIS may also introduce a new interagency working group to review license applications involving firearms, parts and ammunition. The Firearms Licensing Working Group would be chaired by the Commerce Department and would “ensure proactive tracking of data, active licenses/pending applications, issues in various countries or with specific end users.”

The document said the changes are designed to bolster U.S. national security. It points to firearms tracing carried out by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which showed that 11%, or 18,749, of “international crime gun trace requests” were “attributable to firearms lawfully exported from the United States and later recovered in a foreign country.” About 16,000 of those traces involved guns legally exported from the U.S. to foreign firearms dealers, the document said. “Outside of North America, 37% of traces were linked to lawful exports of guns.”