The Obama Administration is using executive fiat to label gunsmiths as “manufacturers of defense articles” if they perform any operation to a firearm that involves cutting, drilling, or machining of an existing firearm in order to improve its accuracy or operation or to change its caliber. By labeling them “manufacturers of defense articles,” gunsmiths will fall under the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and be required to pay a registration fee of $2,250 per year and be subject to the Act’s burdensome regulations.
The U.S. State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) administers the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and its implementing rules, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). The Arms Export Control Act regulates the importation and exportation of “defense articles” such as nuclear material, directed energy weapons, common firearms and ammunition.
The AECA requires that those engaged in the business of “manufacturing” defense articles to register with the DDTC and pay a registration fee that, for new applicants, is $2,250 per year even if they do not actually export or import any defense articles.
In his continuing campaign to kill the Second Amendment by a thousand cuts, the Obama Administration now puts a gunsmith who machines new dovetails on your hunting rifle for a scope mount into the same category as an international arms dealer. His intention of course is to try to drive small-time gunsmiths out of business and impose a heavy regulatory burden on those that remain.
What is especially egregious is that the Obama Administration’s scheme came at a time when the Export Control Reform (ECR) initiative was underway. This initiative was designed to strengthen controls on America’s most sophisticated defense technologies, while reducing unnecessary restriction and regulation on less sensitive items. Firearms and ammunition are some of the least sophisticated defense items on the defense article list.
Under the ECR initiative, firearms and ammunition were supposed to be the first items moved from the DDTC’s jurisdiction to the more business-friendly Commerce Department, but Obama’s anti-gun policies have prevented that from happening. Fortunately, the NRA and members of Congress are urging the State Department to complete the ECR process and remove common firearms and ammunition from the State Department’s jurisdiction. Doing so would remove the registration requirement for gunsmiths.
Contact your two Utah Senators and your U.S. Representative and tell them to:
(you can cut and paste):
“Denounce the U.S. State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls decision to treat gunsmiths as “manufacturers of defense articles” and to transfer the export licensing of commercial and sporting firearms and ammunition products from the State Department to the Department of Commerce.”
To find out who is your U.S. Representative click here:
Find my representative
Contact your U.S. Representative (click name to to e-mail):
First District - Rob Bishop 801-625-0107
Second District - Chris Stewart 801-364-5550
Third District - Jason Chaffetz 801-851-2500
Fourth District - Mia Love 801-996-8729
Contact both Utah Senators:
Senator Orrin Hatch 801-524-4380 or 435-586-8435
Senator Mike Lee 801-524-5933 or 435-628-5514
Please vote this November. Hillary has pledged to continue this kind of executive abuse.