(Bloomberg Opinion) -- President Donald Trump, who has received unprecedented support from America’s gun lobby, seems determined to make it easier to export firearms and harder to keep track of whether they’re destined for terrorists or rogue regimes. He proposes to do this by shifting oversight of the export of semi-automatic and non-automatic firearms, as well as of various gun components and some types of ammunition, from the Department of State to the Department of Commerce.
The change threatens to undermine national security and public safety around the world. Congress should stop it from taking effect.
The U.S. is already the world’s biggest firearms exporter, shipping roughly $7.5 billion worth of guns, artillery and ammunition from 2013 to 2017. Some of this equipment has ended up with al-Qaeda fighters and other terrorists, undermining the struggle to keep lethal weapons out of the hands of America’s enemies.
Under the current system, State Department licensing officers too often approve export applications that lack required information, a department inspector general has found. In one instance, approval was granted to sell 400,000 rifles, along with more than 500 million rounds of ammunition and other equipment, to the Philippines Bureau of Customs — without notification to Congress, as required by law. Subsequent investigation found that licensing information was missing and the transaction’s intermediary had “disappeared.”
If licensing responsibility shifts to the Commerce Department, such lapses stand to become more frequent. Commerce lacks the specialized staff and expertise to vet arms sales, and has no plan to acquire them. Commerce officials have already indicated they will not feel obligated to notify Congress, as the State Department must, when gun exports are valued at more than $1 million. It’s unclear whether the Commerce Department would even suspend sales to a buyer found to be operating illegally or in contravention of U.S. foreign policy aims.
The Trump administration also plans to end State Department oversight of the publication of computer code enabling 3-D printable guns. That would make it easier for people inside and outside the U.S. to make untraceable firearms at home and, like the change to gun-export authority, make guns more plentiful and difficult to regulate.
Democratic Representatives Eliot Engel and Norma Torres are proposing legislation to block the changes to oversight of weapons for export and 3-D printable guns. Congress should pass it without delay.
Editorials are written by the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board.
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