March 05, 2019 "Information Clearing House" - The Trump administration is on the cusp of changing small-arms export regulations that opponents say could flood conflict zones like the Middle East with the same retail guns used in mass shootings in the US.

The rules, which could be finalised this month, would allow sniper rifles, semi-automatic firearms and AK-47-style assault rifles to be sold commercially without requiring US companies to register with the State Department.

The State Department is required under the Arms Export Control Act to inform Congress of any arms sales worth $1m or more, a process which led lawmakers to block $1.2m in handgun and ammunition sales to Turkish security forces after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's bodyguards beat up protesters in Washington DC in 2017.

But arms monitors and human rights advocates say this is the latest instance after decades of gun deregulation and has the potential to fuel conflict, particularly through arms trafficking to third parties.

Earlier this year, a CNN investigation found that Saudi Arabia and the UAE had transferred US-made weapons to al-Qaeda-linked fighters in Yemen. In Iraq and Afghanistan, US troops have been fired on with American-made arms originally transferred to Iraqi and Afghan security forces.

“This is already a problem, and this is becoming a bigger problem,” said Christina Arabia, director at the Washington-based Security Assistance Monitor.  “We are putting our own service members at risk.”

Arms monitors say the system currently in place to track US small arms once they are sold is already insufficient. Moreover, they emphasise that it's light weapons that are used in the vast majority of human rights violations worldwide.

“Things like small arms and light weapons – in sub-Saharan Africa, these are considered the weapons of mass destruction,” Arabia said.