Biden Enacts Most Sweeping Reform of Gun Exports in Decades

To curb the use of US-made civilian guns in crimes and human rights abuses abroad, the Biden administration will require exporters to better vet their customers and tighten sales to 36 countries deemed “high-risk” for illicit diversion of semiautomatic firearms.

The new rules — the most sweeping in decades — also cut the length of export licenses from four years to one and give the State Department greater authority to block sales.

The plan resulted from the department’s review of its support for the US gun industry — a process that began after a Bloomberg News investigation last year linked ...