[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6736 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 6736
To require the transfer of regulatory control of certain munitions
exports from the Department of Commerce to the Department of State, and
for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 16, 2025
Mr. Castro of Texas (for himself, Mrs. Torres of California, Mr.
Goldman of New York, Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, Ms. DeLauro, Mr.
Magaziner, Ms. Velazquez, Mr. Frost, Ms. Dean of Pennsylvania, Mrs.
Ramirez, Ms. Jayapal, Mrs. Grijalva, Ms. Omar, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Kelly
of Illinois, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Menendez, and Ms. Titus)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the transfer of regulatory control of certain munitions
exports from the Department of Commerce to the Department of State, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Americas Regional
Monitoring of Arms Sales Act of 2025'' or the ``ARMAS Act of 2025''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Transfer of regulatory control of certain munitions exports
from Department of Commerce to Department
of State.
Sec. 4. Reports and strategy on disruption of illegal export and
trafficking of firearms to Mexico and
certain Central American and Caribbean
countries.
Sec. 5. Increasing participation in the eTrace program.
Sec. 6. Modifications to the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative.
Sec. 7. Designation of covered countries.
Sec. 8. Certification requirements relating to certain munitions
exports.
Sec. 9. Limitation on licenses and other authorizations for export of
certain items removed from the Commerce
Control List and included on the United
States Munitions List.
Sec. 10. Prohibition on promotion of covered munitions.
Sec. 11. Definitions.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Violence in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean
is exacerbated by firearms originating in the United States.
(2) While firearms are trafficked to Mexico from a variety
of countries, firearms originating in the United States account
for 70 percent of the firearms recovered and traced from crimes
in Mexico, according to the 2021 Government Accountability
Office (GAO) report published by the Comptroller General of the
United States titled ``Firearms Trafficking: U.S. Efforts to
Disrupt Gun Smuggling into Mexico Would Benefit from Additional
Data and Analysis''.
(3) United States-origin firearm flows contribute to human
rights violations, organized crime and gang violence,
extrajudicial killings, high homicide rates, domestic violence,
and femicides in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.
(4) Firearms trafficking from the United States and firearm
violence are key drivers of immigration and asylum claims from
Central America.
(5) According to the United Nations Regional Centre for
Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the
Caribbean, firearms are used in 70 percent of homicides in the
Caribbean compared to 30 percent globally, and while the
Caribbean constitutes less than one percent of the global
population, it is responsible for 23 percent of all recorded
homicides.
(6) In an August 2022 press conference, United States
officials of Homeland Security Investigations reported a
``marked uptick in the number of weapons'', and an increase in
the caliber and type of weapons, being illegally trafficked to
Haiti and the rest of the Caribbean.
(7) The Caribbean Basin Security Initiative of the
Department of State that commenced in 2009 is the regional
foreign assistance program of the United States that seeks to
reduce illicit trafficking in the Caribbean region and advance
public safety and security. The program includes improving the
capacity of Caribbean countries to intercept smuggled weapons
at airports and seaports, as well as support for forensic
ballistics and firearms destruction and stockpile management.
Assistance under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative has
also included support for regional organizations, including--
(A) the Caribbean Community Implementation Agency
for Crime and Security (CARICOM IMPACS), based in
Trinidad and Tobago, the lead agency involved in the
issue of illicit firearms trafficking and increasing
the capacity of member states to detect and prevent
firearms trafficking; and
(B) the Eastern Caribbean's Regional Security
System, based in Barbados.
(8) Two GAO reports (published in 2021 and 2022,
respectively) on firearms trafficking have affirmed that
firearms trafficking to Mexico and Central America continues to
represent a security concern to the United States, as United
States-origin firearms are diverted from legitimate owners and
end up in the hands of violent criminals, including drug
traffickers and other transnational criminal organizations. A
GAO report on the effect of firearms trafficking in the
Caribbean has not yet been compiled.
(9) In these reports, the Comptroller General found that
Federal departments and agencies lacked information and
analysis of the firearms trafficking networks in Mexico and
Central America, that few efforts of the United States
Government in the region focused on firearms trafficking, and
that, as a result, such agencies lack a detailed understanding
of the firearms trafficking that fuels violence and enables
criminals in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and
Mexico.
(10) Firearms used to kidnap and kill a group of United
States citizens traveling in Matamoros, Mexico were illegally
smuggled from the United States into Mexico. The suspect in
these killings admitted to Federal agents that he purchased
firearms in the United States, smuggled them across the border,
and knowingly provided them to members of the Gulf Cartel.
(11) As the incident specified in paragraph (11)
demonstrates, United States-sourced firearms are being smuggled
and diverted to cartels implicated in the supply and flow of
illegal fentanyl and other dangerous drugs, threatening the
public health and safety of United States citizens.
(12) In the 2022 GAO report ``Firearms Trafficking: More
Information Needed to Inform U.S. Efforts in Central America'',
the Comptroller General found that efforts of the United States
Government focused on firearms trafficking in Belize, El
Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras lacked information about
relevant country conditions and performance measures to ensure
such efforts were designed and implemented to achieve the
intended objectives and, as a result, the Comptroller General
recommended that the Secretary of State obtain information
about the conditions in such countries, to support the
development of effective programs to reduce the availability of
illicit firearms.
(13) Data on firearms trafficking is limited and to
understand the problem, data compilation is crucial.
(14) As of the date of the publication of the report
specified in paragraph (12), the Secretary of Commerce had not
assigned any agents to Central America on permanent assignment.
(15) In 2021 and 2022, the annual Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices of the Department of State included ``unlawful
and arbitrary killings'' as a significant human rights issue in
Guatemala, yet despite such inclusion, the Under Secretary of
Commerce for Industry and Security has authorized approximately
99,270 firearms exports to Guatemala since assuming
responsibility for firearms licensing in 2020.
(16) When firearms were controlled under the United States
Munitions List and the licensing of firearms was the
responsibility of the Secretary of State, the average number of
firearms licensed for export to Guatemala was approximately
4,000 per year.
(17) The current number of exports specified in paragraph
(15) represents an extraordinary increase (as much as 25 times
the average) from the number specified in paragraph (16), and
the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security has
only been able to conduct a very limited number of end-use
checks, according to the 2022 GAO report ``Firearms
Trafficking: More Information Needed to Inform U.S. Efforts in
Central America''.
(18) Since the Department of Commerce gained jurisdiction
over the control of firearm export licensing, there has been a
30 percent increase in firearm exports in comparison to
averages for such exports when the control of such exports was
under the jurisdiction of the Department of State. The
Secretary of Commerce has also approved 95 percent of license
applications for such exports.
(19) According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Mexico,
Guatemala, and Brazil have been among the top 10 destinations
for United States-manufactured semiautomatic firearm exports.
(20) The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (Public Law 117-
159), which was enacted into law on June 25, 2022, implemented
key efforts to address firearm trafficking, including by
establishing a Federal criminal offense for firearm trafficking
and by strengthening the capability of the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to interdict firearms.
(21) A growing number of firearms exported by United States
manufacturers are found involved in violent crimes worldwide.
For instance, the pistol used in a mass shooting of 23 children
and two teachers in Thailand in October 2022 was linked to a
United States factory.
SEC. 3. TRANSFER OF REGULATORY CONTROL OF CERTAIN MUNITIONS EXPORTS
FROM DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE TO DEPARTMENT OF STATE.
(a) Transfer.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the
enactment of this Act--
(1) the Secretary of Commerce shall transfer the control
over the export of each previously covered item to the
jurisdiction of the Department of State; and
(2) following such transfer, the Secretary of State may not
transfer the control over the export of any covered munition to
the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce.
(b) Regulations.--The Secretary of State and the Secretary of
Commerce shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to
implement this section by the date specified in subsection (a).
(c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be
construed as limiting any authority relating to the designation,
control, or removal of items under the United States Munitions List or
the Commerce Control List, other than the specific authority to
transfer the control of an item as specified in subsection (a).
(d) Prohibition on Promotion of Certain Munitions Exports by
Department of Commerce.--The Secretary of Commerce may not take any
actions to promote the export of any previously covered item, including
actions before, on, or after the date on which the Secretary transfers
the control over the export of the previously covered item to the
jurisdiction of the Department State under subsection (a).
SEC. 4. REPORTS AND STRATEGY ON DISRUPTION OF ILLEGAL EXPORT AND
TRAFFICKING OF FIREARMS TO MEXICO AND CERTAIN CENTRAL
AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN COUNTRIES.
(a) Report.--
(1) Submission.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State (in
consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, the Attorney
General, the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives, and the heads of such other Federal
departments or agencies as the Secretary of State may determine
relevant) shall submit to the appropriate congressional
committees a report on the efforts of the Secretary of State
and the heads of other relevant Federal departments and
agencies to disrupt the following:
(A) The illegal export or diversion of firearms
from the United States to unauthorized recipients in
countries designated as covered countries under section
7 (including through unauthorized third-party
transfers).
(B) The illegal trafficking of firearms obtained in
the United States to recipients in such countries.
(2) Matters.--The report under paragraph (1) shall include,
with respect to the efforts specified in such paragraph, the
following:
(A) An identification of any such efforts,
including efforts to accomplish the following
objectives:
(i) Tracking and verifying information
regarding the end-users of firearms so
exported, including by entering into data-
sharing agreements--
(I) with appropriate counterparts
from the governments of such covered
countries; and
(II) between the relevant
departments and agencies of the United
States Government.
(ii) Ensuring the destruction of surplus
firearms so exported.
(iii) Ensuring that firearms so exported
are not used to commit extrajudicial killings
or other gross violations of internationally
recognized human rights.
(iv) Building the capacity of such covered
countries to prevent the trafficking of
firearms so exported, including through current
programs supported or implemented by the United
States Government.
(v) Tracking and verifying information
regarding the end-users of firearms obtained in
the United States and illegally trafficked to
such covered countries.
(vi) Combating all forms of cross-border
smuggling of firearms from the United States,
including via maritime vessels and aircraft.
(vii) Engaging with subnational government
officials in such covered countries to
effectively implement and enforce agreements
relating to the trafficking of firearms that
have been concluded between the United States
Government and the national government of the
respective covered country.
(viii) Identifying the origin of trafficked
firearms, including through the serial numbers
of trafficked firearms, and sharing such
information with relevant law enforcement
agencies of--
(I) the United States;
(II) the respective covered
country; and
(III) any other country determined
relevant for purposes of such
information sharing.
(ix) Implementing the proposed security
cooperation plan titled ``U.S.-Mexico
Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public
Heath, and Safe Communities'', and any
successor or subsequent bilateral agreements on
combating firearm trafficking, transnational
organizations, or fentanyl.
(x) Cooperating with other relevant Federal
departments and agencies, including the
Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland
Security, and the Director of the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, to
combat firearms trafficking and prosecute
illegal firearm smugglers.
(B) An assessment of the results of the efforts
identified pursuant to subparagraph (A).
(C) A description of how homicides, extrajudicial
killings, and other gross violations of internationally
recognized human rights committed in such covered
countries using firearms exported from or obtained in
the United States have been investigated.
(b) Inter-Agency Strategy.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of State, in consultation
with the Secretary of Commerce, taking into account the
findings of the report under subsection (a), shall jointly
develop an inter-agency strategy for the disruption of the
trafficking of firearms exported from the United States to
recipients in countries designated as covered countries under
section 7.
(2) Elements.--The strategy under paragraph (1) shall
include the following:
(A) A plan for the United States to accomplish each
of the objectives specified in subsection (a)(2)(A).
(B) An identification of specific performance
measures, targets (including the baselines for such