TANYA METAKSA
By Tanya Metaksa
As was reported previously in theGunMag.com, the Trump Administration in 2018 proposed a change in the manner in which firearms export would be administered.
Contrary to what some are currently writing this modernization of export regulations for sporting and commercial firearms as well as ammunition has been in the works for the past eight years. Yes, it actually began under the Obama administration, but was dropped after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
On Jan. 23 the new rule was formally printed in the Federal Register and will be implemented 45 days after the formal publication. The new ruling transfers the export licensing of sporting and commercial, not military, to the Department of Commerce from the Department of State. This new rule will have no effect upon the sale of military weaponry.
Assistant Secretary Clarke Cooper of the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs explained: “Firearms and related articles that perform an inherently military function or provide the United States with a critical military or intelligence advantage will remain under State Department export licensing controls…we are talking about the easing of certain aspects of industry, it does free us up at State to focus on the larger significant systems and platforms that are inherently of a military function and do provide the United States a critical military edge or an intelligence advantage.”
According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, “This initiative will enable U.S. manufacturers to create more good-paying jobs in America while also helping to strengthen our national security.”
The Trump rule eliminates a $2,500 registration fee that the Department of State in 2016, under the Obama administration, began charging gunsmiths and small companies who were neither manufacturers nor exporters of firearms. Rich Ashooh, assistant secretary of Commerce, summed up the benefits of this new rule:
Clearly one of the benefits to this change is the business-friendly approach that Commerce takes to its licensing — that is certainly the big one. Keeping in mind that a significant percentage of firearms and equipment manufacturers are small businesses and that fee really makes a difference…Regardless of which department controls the export, all firearms will remain subject to U.S. government export authorization requirements, interagency review, and monitoring of commercial entities involved in export and sales.
Unfortunately, it appears that silencers/suppressors as well as files containing the software code for the printing of 3D firearms parts are not included in the items that will be transferred to the Department of Commerce. As there is already litigation on First Amendment grounds on the software code we are sure that the courts will be involved in the future.
