United Nations Approves Small Arms Treaty

By Katie Pavlich

Apr 02, 2013

The United Nations has approved the Small Arms Trade Treaty. More from WAPO:

The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to create the first international treaty regulating the global arms trade, a landmark decision that imposes new constraints on the sale of conventional arms to governments and armed groups that commit war crimes, genocide and other mass atrocities.

The U.N. vote was hailed by arms-control advocates and scores of governments, including the United States, as a major step in the global effort to enforce basic controls on the $70 billion international arms trade. But it was denounced by Iran, North Korea and Syria for imposing restrictions that prevent smaller states from buying and selling weapons to ensure their self-defense.

And of course, far left groups are already celebrating by slamming the NRA, despite insisting for months the treaty will do nothing to curtail Second Amendment Rights. Amnesty International released the following statement about the passing of the treaty:

NRA Fails to Stop UN Arms Treaty: Human Rights Victory Today To Protect Children

“Today’s victory shows that ordinary people who care about protecting human rights can fight back to stop the gun lobby dead in its tracks, helping to save countless lives. The voices of reason triumphed over skeptics, treaty opponents and dealers in death to establish a revolutionary treaty that constitutes a major step toward keeping assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons out of the hands of despots and warlords who use them to kill and maim civilians, recruit child soldiers and commit other serious abuses. Iran, Syria and North Korea blocked consensus at the U.N., while the NRA cynically – and ultimately unsuccessfully – tried to erode the U.S. government’s support through a campaign of lies about the treaty. But in the end, the global call for responsibility in the arms trade won out.

“Amnesty International played a leading role in initiating the campaign for this treaty nearly 20 years ago and has fought tirelessly to stop weapons from being sent to countries where we know they are used to commit human rights atrocities. This has been a life-saving struggle that never could have been achieved without the support of millions of human rights activists who stepped forward to demand change. We call on President Obama to be first in line on June 3 when the treaty opens for signature.”

As a reminder, this treaty does in fact impact Second Amendment rights of American citizens. Not to mention, if the treaty were to be ratified by the Senate (which it won’t be) the Department of Justice and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms would enforce it. What could go wrong?

For nearly 20 years, the NRA has worked tirelessly to oppose any United Nations effort to undermine the constitutional rights of law-abiding American gun owners.  The latest attempt by the U.N. and global gun banners to eliminate our Second Amendment freedoms is to include civilian arms in the current Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).