JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has directed a letter to the Biden Administration's Department of Commerce, urging the agency to withdraw a proposed rule aimed at limiting Americans' ability to export firearms.
“The right to keep and bear arms is inalienable, and it is my sacred duty to protect it whenever, wherever, and however it be imperiled,” stated Attorney General Bailey. “My office will always fight to safeguard Missourians’ Second Amendment rights against encroachment by unelected federal bureaucrats.”
The Biden Administration’s Interim Final Rule on Firearms seeks to restrict American firearm exportation by reclassifying semi-automatic guns, complicating paperwork requirements, and making it more difficult to obtain exceptions for exporting these items internationally. The rule also imposes restrictions on manufacturers' ability to sell firearms abroad, potentially resulting in lost sales, reduced earnings, job losses, decreased investments in new technology, and weakening of the American firearms industry.
Attorney General Bailey criticized the foundation of the rule as flawed, arguing that it implies government entities are more deserving of firearms than civilians and inherently safer in their use overseas. He cited past incidents where government-held firearms fell into wrong hands—such as in 2014 when U.S.-abandoned weapons were seized by ISIS and during the recent withdrawal from Afghanistan when large stockpiles fell into Taliban hands.
In his letter, Bailey asserted that the Biden Administration “has entirely failed to consider the economic impact of this rule in addition to the fact that many claims that BIS makes about increased national security are dubious. This rule will in effect inhibit the full enjoyment and exercise of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for self-defense.”
Bailey emphasized that the firearms industry is crucial not only for the U.S. economy but also specifically for Missouri's economy, creating thousands of jobs and generating billions of dollars nationwide. He called for an immediate withdrawal of Biden’s proposed rule.
The full letter can be read here.