I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9539 
To require the development of an inter-agency strategy and the submission 
of certain reports relating to the illegal export and trafficking of firearms 
from the United States to recipients in Mexico and certain Central 
American and Caribbean countries, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 14, 2022 
Mr. CASTRO of Texas (for himself, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. SIRES, Mr. 
GRIJALVA, Ms. OMAR, Ms. BARRAGA´N, and Mr. ESPAILLAT) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Af-
fairs 
A BILL 
To require the development of an inter-agency strategy and 
the submission of certain reports relating to the illegal 
export and trafficking of firearms from the United States 
to recipients in Mexico and certain Central American 
and Caribbean countries, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Americas Regional 
Monitoring of Arms Sales Act of 2022’’ or the ‘‘ARMAS 
Act of 2022’’. 
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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 fire-
arms recovered and traced from crimes in Mexico, 
according to the 2021 GAO report ‘‘Firearms Traf-
ficking: U.S. Efforts to Disrupt Gun Smuggling into 
Mexico Would Benefit from Additional Data and 
Analysis’’. 
(3) United States-origin firearm flows con-
tribute to human rights violations, organized crime 
and gang violence, extrajudicial killings, high homi-
cide rates, domestic violence, and femicides in Mex-
ico, Central America, and the Caribbean. 
(4) According to the Executive Secretariat of 
National System for Public Security of Mexico, dur-
ing the period beginning in 2012 and ending in 
2021, Mexico experienced more than 168,000 fire-
arms homicides. 
(5) According to the United Nations Regional 
Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in 
Latin America and the Caribbean, firearms are used 
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in 70 percent of homicides in the Caribbean com-
pared to 30 percent globally; the Caribbean has less 
than one percent of the world’s population, but 23 
percent of all recorded homicides. 
(6) In an August 2022 press conference, U.S. 
authorities from Homeland Security Investigations 
reported a ‘‘marked uptick in the number of weap-
ons’’, 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 U.S. foreign assistance program that 
seeks to reduce illicit trafficking in the region and 
advance public safety and security. The program in-
cludes improving the capacity of Caribbean countries 
to intercept smuggled weapons at airports and sea-
ports, as well as support for forensic ballistics and 
firearms destruction and stockpile management. As-
sistance under the Caribbean Basin Security Initia-
tive has also included support for regional organiza-
tions, including— 
(A) the Caribbean Community Implemen-
tation 
Agency 
for 
Crime 
and 
Security 
(CARICOM IMPACS), based in Trinidad and 
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Tobago, the lead agency involved in the issue of 
illicit arms trafficking and increasing the capac-
ity of member states to detect and prevent fire-
arms trafficking; and 
(B) the Eastern Caribbean’s Regional Se-
curity System, based in Barbados. 
(8) Firearms trafficking from the United States 
and firearm violence are key drivers of immigration 
and asylum claims from Central America. 
(9) Two GAO reports (published in 2021 and 
2022, respectively) on firearms trafficking have af-
firmed that firearms trafficking to Mexico and Cen-
tral America continues to represent a security con-
cern 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 or-
ganizations. A GAO report on the effect of firearms 
trafficking in the Caribbean has not yet been com-
piled. 
(10) 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 re-
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gion 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. 
(11) In the 2022 GAO report ‘‘Firearms Traf-
ficking: More Information Needed to Inform U.S. 
Efforts in Central America’’, the Comptroller Gen-
eral found that efforts of the United States Govern-
ment focused on firearms trafficking in Belize, El 
Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras lacked informa-
tion about relevant country conditions and perform-
ance measures to ensure such efforts were designed 
and implemented to achieve the intended objectives 
and, as a result, the Comptroller General rec-
ommended that the Secretary of State obtain infor-
mation about the conditions in such countries, to 
support the development of effective programs to re-
duce the availability of illicit firearms. 
(12) Data on firearms trafficking is limited and 
to understand the problem, data compilation is cru-
cial. 
(13) In 2021 and 2022, the annual Country 
Reports on Human Rights Practices of the Depart-
ment of State included ‘‘unlawful and arbitrary 
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killings’’ as a significant human rights issue in Gua-
temala, yet despite such inclusion, the Under Sec-
retary of Commerce for Industry and Security has 
authorized approximately 99,270 firearms exports to 
Guatemala since assuming responsibility for firearms 
licensing in 2020. 
(14) 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. 
(15) The current number of exports specified in 
paragraph (10) represents an extraordinary increase 
(as much as 25 times the average) from the number 
specified in paragraph (11), and the Under Sec-
retary 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’’. 
(16) The proposed security cooperation plan ti-
tled ‘‘U.S.-Mexico Bicentennial Framework for Secu-
rity, Public Heath, and Safe Communities’’ and 
other new initiatives to address root causes of mi-
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gration from Central America offer an opportunity 
to reaffirm commitments and strengthen cooperation 
on addressing firearms trafficking. 
SEC. 3. REPORTS AND STRATEGY ON DISRUPTION OF ILLE-
GAL EXPORT AND TRAFFICKING OF FIRE-
ARMS TO MEXICO AND CERTAIN CENTRAL 
AMERICAN COUNTRIES. 
(a) REPORT.—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 Attor-
ney General, the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, To-
bacco, 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 ap-
propriate 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 illegal 
export or diversion of firearms from the United States to 
unauthorized recipients in countries designated as covered 
countries under section 4 (including through unauthorized 
third-party transfers), and the illegal trafficking of fire-
arms obtained in the United States to such recipients. 
Such report shall include the following: 
(1) An identification of any such efforts, includ-
ing efforts to accomplish the following objectives: 
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(A) Tracking and verifying information re-
garding the end-users of firearms so exported, 
including by entering into data-sharing agree-
ments with appropriate counterparts from the 
governments of such covered countries. 
(B) Ensuring the destruction of surplus 
firearms so exported. 
(C) Ensuring that firearms so exported are 
not used to commit extrajudicial killings or 
other gross violations of internationally recog-
nized human rights. 
(D) Building the capacity of such covered 
countries to prevent the trafficking of firearms 
so exported, including through current pro-
grams supported or implemented by the United 
States Government. 
(E) Tracking and verifying information re-
garding the end-users of firearms obtained in 
the United States and illegally trafficked to 
such covered countries. 
(F) Combating all forms of cross-border 
smuggling of firearms from the United States. 
(G) Engaging with subnational government 
officials in such covered countries to effectively 
implement and enforce agreements relating to 
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the trafficking of firearms that have been con-
cluded between the United States Government 
and the national government of the respective 
covered country. 
(H) Identifying the origin of trafficked 
weapons, including through the serial numbers 
of trafficked firearms. 
(2) An assessment of the results of the efforts 
identified pursuant to paragraph (1). 
(3) 
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 in-
vestigated. 
(b) INTER-AGENCY STRATEGY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce 
and the Secretary of State, taking into account the 
findings of the report under subsection (a), shall 
jointly develop an inter-agency strategy for the dis-
ruption of the trafficking of firearms exported from 
the United States to recipients in countries des-
ignated as covered countries under section 4. 
(2) ELEMENTS.—The strategy under paragraph 
(1) shall include the following: 
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(A) A plan for the Secretaries to accom-
plish each of the objectives specified in sub-
section (a)(1). 
(B) An identification of specific perform-
ance measures, targets (including the baselines 
for such targets), and timelines with respect to 
such objectives. 
(C) An estimate of the resources and per-
sonnel necessary to carry out the strategy. 
(3) REQUIRED
CONSIDERATIONS; CONSULTA-
TIONS.—In developing the strategy under paragraph 
(1), the Secretaries shall— 
(A) consider how the strategy may support 
or otherwise align with broader efforts of the 
Secretaries relating to security assistance, anti- 
corruption, and the prevention of organized 
crime and drug and gang violence; 
(B) consider whether the placement in the 
Western Hemisphere of an export control offi-
cer of the Bureau of Industry and Security of 
the Department of Commerce, or other per-
sonnel of the Department of Commerce or the 
Department of State, would support the strat-
egy; and 
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(C) seek to consult with appropriate coun-
terparts from the government of each country 
designated as a covered country under section 
4. 
(4) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 
January 1 of the year following the date of the en-
actment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce and 
the Secretary of State shall jointly submit to the ap-
propriate congressional committees the strategy 
under paragraph (1). 
(c) ANNUAL REPORT.— 
(1) SUBMISSION.—Not later than one year after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually 
thereafter, the Secretary of Commerce (in consulta-
tion with the Secretary of State and the heads of 
such other Federal departments or agencies as the 
Secretary of Commerce may determine relevant) 
shall submit to the appropriate congressional com-
mittees a report on the export of covered items to 
countries designated as covered countries under sec-
tion 4. 
(2) MATTERS.—Each report under paragraph 
(1) shall include, with respect to the year for which 
the report is submitted, the following information 
(disaggregated by country): 
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(A) Information regarding license applica-
tions approved or denied, and previously issued 
licenses modified or revoked, for the export of 
covered items to proposed recipients in covered 
countries. 
(B) Information regarding how evolving 
country contexts, including with respect to de-
velopments in human rights, affected the ap-
proval of license applications for such exports. 
(C) The number of licenses issued for the 
export of covered items to proposed recipients 
in covered countries. 
(D) The number of covered items exported 
to recipients in covered countries. 
(E) With respect to end-user checks for 
covered items exported to recipients in covered 
countries under section 38(g)(7) of the Arms 
Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2778(g)(7)) 
(commonly referred to as the ‘‘Blue Lantern’’ 
program), the monitoring program established 
under the second section 40A of the Arms Ex-
port Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2785) (as added by 
section 150(a) of Public Law 104–164), or 
other applicable programs of the Department of 
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Commerce or Department of State, the fol-
lowing information: 
(i) The number of such end-user 
checks requested. 
(ii) The number of such end-user 
checks conducted. 
(iii) The type of such end-user checks 
conducted. 
(iv) The results of such end-user 
checks conducted. 
(F) Information on the extent to which the 
heads of the governments of covered countries 
shared with the Secretary of Commerce and the 
heads of other relevant Federal departments 
and agencies (such as the Bureau of Alcohol, 
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) data relat-
ing to the receipt and end-use of covered items 
exported from the United States, and the type 
of data so shared. 
(G) For each covered country, a descrip-
tion of the U.S. funding and resources allocated 
for the purpose of disrupting trafficking of cov-
ered items. 
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