Trump Administration Completes Pro-Gun Regulatory Reform

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Thanks to President Trump, small businesses and individual gun owners will no longer suffer the longstanding roadblocks imposed by America’s Cold War-era “export” regime for firearms, ammunition, and related accessories. The chronology of this transformation—and its relevance to Second Amendment rights—warrants some attention. As with most bureaucratic endeavors, America’s export rules were built upon professions of good intent; our country wished to protect its most sensitive military technology from falling into enemy hands. But the export rules themselves ignored the overlap that naturally exists when goods are capable of both military and non-military uses. Radar systems, for example, are commonly utilized by civilian and military vessels. Another obvious example: firearms and ammunition. Items that were capable of dual use (i.e., military and non-military use) were therefore termed “dual-use” items by export control professionals. This should have been simple enough. Unfortunately, the bureaucratic hostility toward firearms and ammunition soon crept in.