The Biden administration plans to impose new restrictions on firearms exports and increase scrutiny on transactions to limit diversions of guns to drug cartels, criminal groups, gangs and others, a Commerce Department official said late on Thursday.
The department on October 27 issued a pause on most firearm exports to assess the "risk of firearms being diverted to entities or activities that promote regional instability, violate human rights, or fuel criminal activities."
The department plans to announce on Friday it will lift the pause from May 30 when the new restrictions take effect. They are being imposed because the department believes it needs to do more prevent exported firearms from being diverted for malign purposes and harming U.S. national security, the official said.