As Illegal and Deadly Firearm Parts Flow into America, Krishnamoorthi Urges Action Against Chinese Exporters

May 30, 2025
Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party sent a letter to Acting Commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Pete R. Flores requesting information on illegal firearm parts trafficked into the United States from the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The letter follows an ABC-7 investigative report that found vast numbers of illegal weapon parts from China were seized at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport’s postal processing center earlier this year.  Federal investigations have repeatedly shown that illegal weapon parts from the PRC are putting American lives at risk and aid in facilitating the gun violence epidemic across our country, resulting in indictments and seizures. This includes seizures of countless so-called “Glock switches” – devices which are illegal under federal law and convert pistols into fully automatic machine guns used in deadly massacres.

“Too many Americans have died from the epidemic of gun violence,” Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi writes in the letter. “We must all do our part to save lives and keep our communities safe, including by preventing the import of illegal weapon parts from the PRC.”

The letter requests answers to the following questions by June 30, 2025. 

  1. During each month in the past two years, how many illegal firearm parts have been seized or otherwise intercepted by CBP from the PRC at airport screening facilities? Please break down such statistics by airport and type of illegal weapon part. 

 

  1. In addition to illegal weapon parts, the ABC-7 inquiry reported that CBP seized “replica weapons made on 3D printers, which become working untraceable ghost guns.” How many ghost guns have been seized by CBP at airport facilities in the past two years in packages from the PRC? 

 

  1. What training do CBP officers receive to help them intercept illegal weapon parts? 

 

  1. During the ABC-7 inquiry in Chicago, “CBP told the I-Team federal agents will allow some of those shipments to go through to bust buyers in what's known as a controlled delivery.” How frequently does CBP conduct “controlled deliveries” versus immediatelyconfiscating the illegal weapon parts from the PRC? 

     

  2. Please describe CBP’s working relationship, if any, with the PRC Government to prevent the export of illegal weapon parts. Has the PRC Government ever failed to fully cooperate with a CBP request for assistance on such matters? If so, please elaborate.

In addition to requesting this information from CBP, Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi calls for the Chinese Government to crack down on these deadly exports that are helping to fuel the gun violence epidemic in American communities. He writes, “It is highly probable that PRC regulators monitor the weapon parts industry closely, and thus are not clueless to the fact that these deadly components are being shipped to America. To the extent they have any information in the PRC that could help CBP more effectively interdict and stop these packages, they need to share it with us.”

Read the full letter HERE.