ARMAS Act of 2025
Sponsored By: Representative Castro (TX)
Introduced
Summary
Shift export control of certain munitions to the State Department. This bill would move jurisdiction over specified munitions from the Commerce Department to the State Department within one year and add tighter licensing, tracking, and congressional notice rules for exports to parts of the Western Hemisphere.
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- U.S. exporters and the Commerce Department would see jurisdiction move and licensing shift to State, with joint implementing rules due by the transfer date and Commerce barred from promoting sales of transferred items.
- Federal and local investigators would get more tracing and reporting tools. The bill requires a 180-day report on trafficking, annual export reports, and expansion of the ATF eTrace firearms tracing system with a two-year implementation report.
- Designated foreign partners would face new registration, end-use monitoring, and a ban on retransfer without U.S. consent. The initial list names 11 countries including Mexico, Colombia, and Haiti and designations last 5 years.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
7 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 1 costs, 3 mixed.
New trafficking strategy and reports
This bill would require State, with Commerce, DOJ, ATF, DHS, and others, to report within 180 days on objectives and past efforts to stop illegal export, diversion, and trafficking of U.S.-origin firearms. By January 1 after enactment agencies would have to submit an interagency strategy with performance measures, baselines, timelines, and staffing and resource estimates. The bill would also require annual, country-by-country reports starting within one year and a 180-day assessment after each country is designated about availability of forensic tracing data and engagement to improve sharing.
New pre-license congressional review
This bill would require the State Department to send Congress a written certification before granting export licenses for previously covered items. The certification would name the applicant, recipient, destination, item description, and value. For NATO and certain close allies the certification would be sent 15 days before a proposed grant. For other countries it would be sent 30 days before. A license would only take effect if Congress did not pass a joint resolution blocking it during that waiting period.
Covered countries in the Western Hemisphere
This bill would require the Secretary of State to name covered countries in North America, South America, or the Caribbean within 180 days of enactment. Eleven countries would be designated as of enactment: The Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Haiti, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. Those designations would last five years. After five years, removing a designation would require at least 180 days' notice to key congressional committees.
Export rules shift to State Department
This bill would require Commerce to transfer export control of certain munitions to the State Department within one year of enactment. State and Commerce would have to issue joint rules by the transfer date. After transfer, Commerce would be barred from promoting sales or asking foreign governments to loosen marketing rules for those items. The bill would also stop State from transferring control back to Commerce after the move.
New retransfer ban and tracking
This bill would require the State Department to set up a program forbidding retransfer of covered munitions without U.S. consent. The program would record origin, shipping, and distribution and register serial numbers. It would require end-use monitoring and store data in a State database that would be shared with Commerce and other agencies when practicable. The Secretary would have to review vetting records and deny consent to recipients credibly implicated in gross human rights violations. No covered munition could be sent to a designated country until State certifies the program is in place, though the Secretary could waive that certification for one year with a written national security justification. The Secretary would need to recertify within three years and then every year while a country remains designated.
Caribbean security plan adds indicators
This bill would require the Secretary of State to update the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative results framework to include specific indicators for firearms trafficking when the bill is enacted. The change would make program monitoring track firearms-trafficking outcomes more explicitly.
More firearms tracing for partners
This bill would direct State, with the ATF, to expand use of ATF's eTrace system by law enforcement in designated countries. ATF would have to make eTrace available in French and Haitian Creole for Haiti. Within two years State would report to Congress on implementation and how many traced firearms led to federal investigations and prosecutions. The bill would authorize use of Foreign Assistance Act funds to support this work.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Castro (TX)
TX • D
Cosponsors
Rep. Torres, Norma J. [D-CA-35]
CA • D
Sponsored 12/16/2025
Rep. Goldman, Daniel S. [D-NY-10]
NY • D
Sponsored 12/16/2025
Cherfilus-McCormick
FL • D
Sponsored 12/16/2025
Rep. DeLauro, Rosa L. [D-CT-3]
CT • D
Sponsored 12/16/2025
Rep. Magaziner, Seth [D-RI-2]
RI • D
Sponsored 12/16/2025
Rep. Velázquez, Nydia M. [D-NY-7]
NY • D
Sponsored 12/16/2025
Rep. Frost, Maxwell [D-FL-10]
FL • D
Sponsored 12/16/2025
Rep. Dean, Madeleine [D-PA-4]
PA • D
Sponsored 12/16/2025
Rep. Ramirez, Delia C. [D-IL-3]
IL • D
Sponsored 12/16/2025
Rep. Jayapal, Pramila [D-WA-7]
WA • D
Sponsored 12/16/2025
Grijalva
AZ • D
Sponsored 12/16/2025
Rep. Omar, Ilhan [D-MN-5]
MN • D
Sponsored 12/16/2025
McGovern
MA • D
Sponsored 12/16/2025
Rep. Kelly, Robin L. [D-IL-2]
IL • D
Sponsored 12/16/2025
Rep. Wasserman Schultz, Debbie [D-FL-25]
FL • D
Sponsored 12/16/2025
Rep. Menendez, Robert [D-NJ-8]
NJ • D
Sponsored 12/16/2025
Rep. Titus, Dina [D-NV-1]
NV • D
Sponsored 12/16/2025
Rep. Casar, Greg [D-TX-35]
TX • D
Sponsored 12/18/2025
Rep. Tlaib, Rashida [D-MI-12]
MI • D
Sponsored 1/6/2026
Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large]
DC • D
Sponsored 2/23/2026
Simon
CA • D
Sponsored 2/23/2026
Soto
FL • D
Sponsored 4/2/2026
Auchincloss
MA • D
Sponsored 4/14/2026
Rep. Vargas, Juan [D-CA-52]
CA • D
Sponsored 4/21/2026
Wilson (FL)
FL • D
Sponsored 4/27/2026
Jackson (IL)
IL • D
Sponsored 4/27/2026
Johnson (GA)
GA • D
Sponsored 4/28/2026
Rep. Carbajal, Salud O. [D-CA-24]
CA • D
Sponsored 5/12/2026
Rep. Waters, Maxine [D-CA-43]
CA • D
Sponsored 5/14/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov