Biden Gun Export Reg Violates Free Trade, Skirts Congress

The Biden administration’s new arms and ammunition export rule violates the spirit of the Second Amendment and restricts international trade.

But it’s also the administration’s latest attempt to use federal agencies to circumvent Congress.

Heritage Action for America, a grassroots organization attached to The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, is taking on the Biden administration’s interim rule to limit U.S. gunmakers’ ability to export arms.

Mark Oliva, Director of Public Affairs at the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), predicted that the new rule would have little effect on violent crime, its stated goal.

"Legal firearm exports have little to nothing to do with criminal or terrorist activity overseas," he told Newsmax. The NSSF is the firearms industry premier trade association, and like Heritage, is based in Washington, D.C.

"Even before the Biden administration forced this unnecessary new policy to restrict firearm and ammunition exports, the United States had the gold standard for ensuring that firearms were not being diverted to criminals," Oliva continued.

"The previous policy included 100 percent end-to-end user checks that were verified by the Commerce Department, State Department and Defense Department.

"The ATF’s own reporting showed that less than 1 percent of firearms recovered at foreign crime scenes were traced back to a legal firearm export."

Retired ATF Deputy Assistant Director Pete Forcelli, also a former NYPD homicide detective, said that in his experience gun control doesn’t reduce violent crime.

"I spent 35 years of my life, making cases against people who misused firearms during criminal activities," he told Newsmax.

"It was never about the gun, and always about the conduct."

But the administration always makes it about the firearm. The term “gun violence” is repeatedly used as though the gun commits the crime.

"I wish I could say that the actions of the Biden administration shock me here, but in reality they are par for the course."

If Forcelli’s name rings a bell, it’s because he was an ATF whistleblower who testified before Congress on the Obama administration’s "Operation Fast & Furious" scandalous gunrunning fiasco.

He also co-wrote a recently-released book on the scheme: “The Deadly Path: How Operation Fast & Furious and Bad Lawyers Armed Mexican Cartels.”

NSSF’s Oliva agreed that crime is person-centered, not gun-centered.

The gun is merely the tool.

"Criminals, regardless of where they are, will ignore the law. The legal export of firearms won’t stop criminal or terrorist elements from seeking to get their hands on firearms regardless of their origin," he said.

Oliva added that gun control groups have a cozy relationship with the White House, noting that "this administration has former Everytown for Gun Safety lobbyists heading up their White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention."

And Everytown’s president, John Feinblatt, falsely claimed that "the firearm industry has been raking in massive profits off gun exports, while doing virtually nothing to keep their weapons away from terrorists and traffickers."

Countering that argument, Operation Fast & Furious actually encouraged Arizona Federal Firearm Licensees (FFLs) to sell arms to straw purchasers (gun traffickers) in order to identify drug cartels (terrorists).

Oliva noted that the president may have unwittingly continued this practice of placing weapons in the hands of bad actors.

"President Biden is solely responsible for leaving billions of dollars' worth of small arms in Afghanistan, which were immediately seized by the Taliban, and reports have already shown that some of those small arms have found their way to other countries, including Gaza," he said.

Forcelli concluded that Biden would do better to catch the "bad guys," rather than criminalize the "good guys."

"If the administration really cared about public safety, they would get back into the business of arresting and prosecuting real criminals and putting them in prison where they belong."

Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow and Second Amendment scholar Amy Swearer explained the importance of fighting Biden’s proposed regulation.

"Biden’s firearm export rule is designed to impose more arbitrary burdens and administrative red tape on the lawful gun industry — all while greatly expanding the government’s ability to police many thousands of individual foreign citizens who legally purchase American gun exports," she said.

The administration is also arguably exceeding its authority by using a new agency rule to ban an activity that should be banned by Congress — if banned at all.

Last Friday the Supreme Court spanked the ATF’s approval of another gun-related rule — this one established during the Trump administration.

What’s proper for Donald Trump should also be good for Biden.

Heritage Action is asking Second Amendment supporters to go to the Federal Register’s description of the interim final rule, and submit a formal comment in opposition before the end of the last day of the comment period — July 1.

Also register with Heritage Action’s site on this issue.

Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.