Tester urges reforms on gun exports

In a nondescript, warehouse-sized building on U.S. 93 north of Kalispell, 60 to 70 employees are busily designing, fabricating and putting the finishing touches on airplane parts, interceptor missiles and what Falkor Defense owner Jason Sonju calls “adult Legos” — the popular and versatile AR-15.

“Everything from jet engines to torpedoes, missiles, fighter [jets],” he told U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., during a media tour of the specialized manufacturing plant Wednesday.

The event was organized to highlight Tester’s push to streamline the process for U.S. arms manufacturers to sell their products overseas.

Tester, along with U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and 28 other members of the Senate, last month sent a letter to the Commerce and State departments, urging them to finish the Export Reform Control Initiative that aims to remove duplication in the federal government’s approval process for domestic manufacturers selling products to foreign governments and citizens.

“It could make a big difference,” Tester said. “What needs to happen is a process that started years ago, that we’ve been pushing the previous administration and now this administration, to get the Department of Commerce and the Department of State together and finish the list for exporting. They have not finished it for munitions or for guns.”

In one of the company’s second-story offices overlooking the massive machines that populate the factory floor, a map of the U.S. shows each client to which Falkor Defense ships its products. Sonju said that business has been booming — so much so that he hasn’t had time to fully explore markets out of the country — but with a recent slow-down in demand for weapons to private buyers, he’s increasingly looking overseas for growth.

“As things slow down, international sales are going to be important,” Sonju said.

He’s been through the process before — including an ongoing project to develop and manufacture more than 100 David Sling missiles for Israel — and describes the paperwork-intensive undertaking as “a nightmare.”

“You gotta hire people that know the laws, that understand the process, and to be honest with you, it’s a deterrent for most people,” he said. “You’re basically turning away business because of the bureaucracy of it.”

The export reform initiative has been years in the making, with the application process for products in 18 out of 21 shipping categories re-tooled under the Obama administration. Tester said he hopes President Donald Trump, with his emphasis on loosening regulations for U.S. businesses, will push his cabinet members to finalize the process soon.

“This is exactly the kind of thing that we can create more jobs on,” he said. Noting that firearms manufacturing has historically been a significant industry in the increasing tourism-dependent Flathead Valley, he added, “This is a nice way to diversify the economy here.”

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.