Ranking Member Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and fellow Banking Committee Republican Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) have called on Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to withdraw the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) interim final rule that restricts the issuance and limits the lifespan of export licenses for firearms, ammunition, and certain accessories to overseas markets. The senators are also requesting that BIS leaders testify before the Senate Banking Committee regarding this rule.
In a letter supported by 21 other senators, including Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), 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.), they expressed concern over what they perceive as an attempt to harm the firearms industry.
"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 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," stated the senators in their letter.
The letter further reads: "We are concerned that the Department issued the Rule in an attempt to intentionally harm the firearms industry. 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."
This letter follows earlier actions by Ranking Member Scott aimed at overseeing Biden administration policies affecting the lawful firearms industry. In October, Scott and Hagerty sought answers from Secretary Raimondo about BIS’ firearm export practices following a notification about transferring firearm export licenses to a new division named “Office of Embargoes and Human Rights.”
Additionally, in November Scott joined Senator Ted Budd in a letter with 44 other senators questioning BIS's decision to pause firearm export licenses for 90 days—a move estimated by industry experts to potentially cost $89 million during that period and $238 million annually if made permanent.