July 18, 2024

Castro, Warren Urge Commerce to Strengthen New Rule on Assault Weapons Exports

WASHINGTON – This week, Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA) released a letter urging the U.S. Department of Commerce to strengthen its new rule on firearms license requirements to prevent U.S. weapons exports from contributing to violence, forced migration, and instability across the globe. The full letter can be viewed here.

“We applaud and appreciate the recent steps taken to amend the Department’s licensing policy for exports of firearms, which recognized the serious and devastating consequences of U.S. firearms exports to other countries,” the lawmakers wrote “While these changes represent a promising step, we are concerned that the changes fail to include key reporting requirements and do not go far enough to prevent assault weapons from ending up in the hands of dangerous actors around the world.”

In January, Castro and Warren sent a letter urging Commerce to modernize U.S. assault weapons export policy by incorporating a series of reforms to prevent trafficking, diversion, and violence. Four months later, Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) released an interim final rule (IFR), which strengthened export licensing requirements and regulations by fully incorporating three of the recommendations proposed by the lawmakers.

In this week’s letter, Castro and Warren argued that further progress must be made:

“(T)he rule falls short in three key ways: the rule lacks adequate oversight of the transfer of weapons to governmental end-users, it fails to regulate or ban the commercial resale of assault weapons outside the United States, and it does not commit to releasing firearms licensing approval data—which Commerce has delayed releasing in the past and which is one of the key ways Commerce can be held accountable,” they wrote.

If the rule is not strengthened, the members warn that U.S.-exported weapons could continue to be misused in overseas markets. Over the last several years, reports have demonstrated the use of American-made firearms in mass shootings in Thailand, gang violence in El Salvador, and violence against Palestinians in Gaza.

“Assault weapons are deadly, military-style weapons intended for “quick, efficient killing” that should not be available to the public at home or overseas,” the lawmakers continued. “Yet, as more and more firearms have left American shores, reports abound of U.S.-manufactured weapons being used in horrific killings across the globe.”

Additionally, the lawmakers noted that the surge in weapons exports resulted from a Trump-era decision to transfer authority over firearm exports from the State Department to Commerce. This change – a giveaway to gun manufacturers – allowed the dollar value of firearm export licenses to shoot up by 30 percent, raising profits for gun manufacturers while putting civilians at risk around the world. By June 30, 2023, Commerce had approved nearly 25,000 firearms export licenses (for a 93.6% approval rate) with a total value of $34.7 billion— representing a more than $1 billion increase in the annual value of license approvals.

“National security must come before commerce,” wrote the lawmakers. “The most recent BIS rule, despite making some progress, indicates that firearms exports still will not face sufficient scrutiny in the Department of Commerce’s hands. We continue to support returning all firearms export controls to the State Department,  and in the interim, urge the Commerce Department to incorporate these recommendations into its IFR so that unnecessary export promotion of weapons is not used in brutal killings abroad.”

Congressman Castro has led substantial efforts to implement gun violence prevention reforms and hold agencies accountable for their handling of firearms sales, including:

  • On May 17, 2024, Reps. Castro, Veronica Escobar (TX-16), and Maxwell Frost (FL-10) introduced the Stop Arming Cartels Act, legislation that builds on the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to address the sale and trafficking of firearms from the United States to transnational criminal organizations around the world by prohibiting the further sale of 0.50 caliber rifles, regulating existing 0.50 caliber rifles, applying the same reporting requirements for handguns to rifles, and establishing new avenues for the victims of gun violence to seek justice from manufacturers and dealers who violate U.S. laws.
  • On May 15, 2024, Reps. Castro, Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), and Ilhan Omar (MN-05), along with Senator Warren, sent a letter to United States Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Katherine Tai in support of USTR’s decision to remove the designation of import license requirements for explosives, firearms, and ammunition as trade barriers in the annual National Trade Estimate (NTE) report, while also criticizing the Department of Commerce’s inadequate steps to address assault weapons exports. 
  • On March 25, 2024, Reps. Castro and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), along with Senators Chris Murphy (CT), and Tim Kaine (VA), introduced the Caribbean Arms Trafficking Causes Harm (CATCH) Act, legislation that would help curb illicit arms trafficking from the United States to the Caribbean. 
  • In December 2023, Reps. Castro, Norma Torres (CA-35), Dan Goldman (NY-10), and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20) led more than a dozen of their colleagues to introduce the Americas Regional Monitoring of Arms Sales (ARMAS) Act, legislation that would mobilize resources across the federal government to disrupt firearms trafficking from the United States to Latin America and the Caribbean and implement stronger transparency, accountability, and oversight for U.S. arms exports.
  • In November 2023, Reps. Castro, Dan Goldman (NY-10), and Mike Thompson (CA-04) introduced the Disarming Cartels Act to curtail the trafficking of U.S.-made firearms and ammunition southbound over the U.S.-Mexico border. Guns originating in the United States power human and drug trafficking and other illicit activities by transnational criminal organizations in Mexico and beyond.
  • In September 2023, Reps. Castro, Norma Torres (CA-35), and Dan Goldman (NY-10), along with Senator Warren, sent a letter to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, seeking answers on Commerce's lackluster oversight of assault weapons exports and its failure to release data on its approvals of these exports.
  • In June 2023, Reps. Castro, María Elvira Salazar (FL-27), and Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) introduced the U.S.-Caribbean Strategic Engagement Act of 2023, a comprehensive roadmap to modernize U.S. engagement with Caribbean nations.
  • In April 2023, Reps. Castro (TX-20) and Gregory W. Meeks (NY-05), along with Senator Dick Durbin (IL), wrote to the Comptroller General of the U.S. Government Accountability Office calling for a federal probe into the consequences of firearms trafficking from the United States to the Caribbean.