WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), and Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) led 18 of their colleagues in calling on Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to withdraw the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) interim final rule severely restricting the issuance and limiting the lifespan of export licenses for firearms, ammunition, and certain accessories to overseas markets. The letter also calls for BIS leaders to testify in front of the Senate Banking Committee on the rule.
“The Department’s actions over the past year— including the controversial and unusual export pause on October 27, 2023, this unprecedented rulemaking, and the Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA) decision to curtail the promotion of firearms exports — collectively serve as yet another example of the Biden administration using the administrative state to target legal U.S. industries and advance progressive policies without meaningful consideration of the impact on U.S. commercial, economic, national security, and foreign policy interests,” wrote the senators.
“We are concerned that the Department issued the Rule in an attempt to intentionally harm the firearms industry,” the senators continued. “As you know, many of these businesses rely on the export of firearms, related components, ammunition, and related assistance activities for such products to meet their bottom lines. We, therefore, call upon you to withdraw this deeply misguided rule and its associated license revocations. Additionally, we request that BIS Undersecretary Alan Estevez and Assistant Secretary Thea Kendler be available to testify before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.”
Senators Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), JD Vance (R-Ohio), and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) joined Risch, Crapo, Scott, and Hagerty on the letter.
To read the full letter, click here.
