By Laura Kelly
The Hill, October 28, 2025
Democrats are demanding answers over President Trump’s decision to greenlight the unrestricted export of American-made firearms, saying the move risks empowering criminal and terrorist organizations, according to letters obtained exclusively by The Hill.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) led a group of lawmakers criticizing the decision to rescind export restrictions on U.S. small arms put in place to combat the illicit gun market.
“Eliminating firearm export rules is a gift to violent cartels and drug traffickers responsible for the deaths of Americans and innocent civilians around the world,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also serves as Trump’s national security adviser.
“By rescinding the rule, Commerce is empowering the very cartels and criminal organizations that this Administration has sought to counter.”
