S. 3508 — ARMAS Act of 2025

This section establishes short titles for the Act as the “Americas Regional Monitoring of Arms Sales Act of 2025” or the “ARMAS Act of 2025” and sets forth the table of contents.

This section states 16 congressional findings on firearms trafficking from the United States to Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, including that U.S.-origin firearms account for 70% of those recovered and traced from crimes in Mexico (per a 2021 GAO report); contribute to violence, human rights violations, homicides (e.g., 70% of Caribbean homicides involve firearms vs. 30% globally), and migration drivers; and fuel cartels involved in fentanyl trafficking, as illustrated by the 2023 Matamoros kidnappings and killings of U.S. citizens. The findings also describe U.S. programs such as the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative; GAO-identified gaps in federal data, analysis, and efforts in the region; and a surge in licensed firearms exports to Guatemala to approximately 99,270 since March 2020 (from an annual average of 4,000 previously).

This section defines terms used in the Act, including: (1) appropriate congressional committees (i.e., the Senate Committees on Foreign Relations and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs); (2) covered munition (i.e., items designated for control under Categories I, II, or III of the United States Munitions List, including previously covered items now on the Commerce Control List); (3) firearm (i.e., includes covered munitions); (4) gross violations of internationally recognized human rights (as defined in 22 U.S.C. 2304(d)(1)); (5) previously covered item (i.e., items in Categories I, II, or III of the United States Munitions List as of March 8, 2020, now on the Commerce Control List); (6) security assistance (i.e., assistance under 22 U.S.C. 2304(d)(2) and other U.S. international security assistance programs, including those under 10 U.S.C. ch. 16); and (7) United States Munitions List (i.e., the list maintained pursuant to 22 C.F.R. pt. 121).

This section directs the Secretary of Commerce to transfer regulatory control over the export of certain previously covered munitions items (i.e., items currently on the Commerce Control List) to the Department of State not later than one year after enactment of this Act. The section (1) prohibits any subsequent transfer of such control back to the Department of Commerce; (2) requires the Secretaries of State and Commerce to issue implementing regulations by the one-year deadline; (3) prohibits the Secretary of Commerce from promoting exports of those items at any time; and (4) specifies that the provision does not otherwise limit authorities to designate, control, or remove items from the United States Munitions List or Commerce Control List. (Thus, affected items shift from the less restrictive Export Administration Regulations to the more stringent International Traffic in Arms Regulations.)

This section requires the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretaries of Commerce and Homeland Security, the Attorney General, the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and other relevant agency heads, to submit to the appropriate congressional committees, not later than 180 days after enactment, a report on U.S. government efforts to disrupt (1) the illegal export or diversion of firearms from the United States to unauthorized recipients in covered countries designated pursuant to section 8(a) (i.e., Mexico and certain Central American and Caribbean countries), including through third-party transfers; and (2) the illegal trafficking of U.S.-origin firearms to such countries. The report must identify those efforts (e.g., end-user verification and data-sharing agreements, destruction of surplus firearms, capacity-building in covered countries, serial number tracing, and implementation of bilateral frameworks such as the U.S.-Mexico Bicentennial Framework), assess their results, and describe investigations of homicides, extrajudicial killings, and other human rights violations in covered countries involving U.S.-origin firearms. This section further requires the Secretaries of State and Commerce to jointly develop, taking into account the report, an interagency strategy to disrupt trafficking of U.S.-exported firearms to covered countries. The strategy must include (1) plans to accomplish the report's specified objectives; (2) performance measures, targets, baselines, and timelines; (3) resource and personnel estimates; (4) interagency cooperation plans involving the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security and ATF; and (5) coordination plans for combating U.S.-sourced firearms trafficking to and from covered countries, with consideration of alignment with broader security assistance efforts and potential placement of export control officers in the Western Hemisphere.

This section directs the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), to work with national and subnational law enforcement authorities in countries designated as covered countries under section 8(a) to increase their participation in the eTrace program (ATF's web-based system for tracing U.S.-sourced firearms). It requires a report to the appropriate congressional committees not later than two years after enactment describing implementation efforts and identifying the number of firearms traced to a purchase or export that resulted in a federal investigation and prosecution; directs ATF to make the eTrace program available in French and Haitian Creole to enhance its use by Haitian law enforcement; and authorizes amounts appropriated for international narcotics control assistance under chapter 8 of part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to carry out these provisions.

This section directs the Secretary of State to designate, within 180 days of enactment, each country meeting specified criteria as a covered country for purposes of this Act, including location in North America, South America, or the Caribbean; non-membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; and other requirements determined appropriate by the Secretary. The section deems The Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Haiti, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago to be initially designated as covered countries as of enactment, with such designations continuing for five years. The Secretary may terminate any such designation upon notifying the appropriate congressional committees at least 180 days in advance.

This section establishes certification requirements for transfers of covered munitions to covered countries (i.e., those designated under section 8(a)), prohibiting such transfers until the Secretary of State certifies to the appropriate congressional committees the establishment of a program for prohibiting retransfers without U.S. consent and for registration and end-use monitoring of such munitions, including maintenance of detailed records on origin, shipping, and distribution; registration of serial numbers provided to recipient governments and entities; and end-use monitoring. In implementing retransfer prohibitions, the program requires review of the Department's INVEST database (used for human rights vetting under Leahy Law provisions, including 10 U.S.C. §362 and section 620M of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961) to deny consent for recipients credibly implicated in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, with data stored in a State Department database and shared as practicable with Commerce and other agencies. The section further requires the Secretary to review and recertify the program initially not later than three years after the initial certification and annually thereafter (prohibiting transfers if recertification is not submitted), authorizes a one-year waiver of the initial certification for national security interests with justification, and takes effect one year after the Secretary of Commerce transfers export control over previously covered items to the Department of State pursuant to section 4(a)(1).

This section prohibits the Secretary of State from granting an export license or other authorization for a previously covered item (i.e., an item removed from the Commerce Control List and included on the United States Munitions List) unless, at least 15 days prior for transfers to NATO members, Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Israel, or New Zealand or 30 days prior for other recipients, the Secretary submits to the appropriate congressional committees an unclassified certification identifying (1) the applicant, (2) the recipient, (3) the destination country or international organization, (4) a description of the items, and (5) the export value (which, along with item quantity, may be classified if disclosure harms U.S. security). The license or authorization becomes effective after the respective notice period if Congress does not enact a joint resolution of disapproval.

This section prohibits the Secretary of Commerce from (1) promoting the sale or export of covered munitions or (2) seeking the reduction or removal by any foreign country of restrictions on the marketing of covered munitions.