The good news is that 30 Senators have signed onto a letter opposing any UN treaty that infringes on the Second Amendment.
The bad news is that a global small arms treaty could still pass unless more Senators come out in opposition.
Last week, a so-called UN “preparatory committee” met for the third time to work on the massive Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).
The ATT is the most comprehensive treaty of its kind and would regulate worldwide trade of weapons on everything from battleships to bullets. Few details of the treaty have been made public, but it is widely expected that the final draft will:
* Require gun owner registration
* Require ammunition “microstamping”
* Define “manufacturing” so broadly that any gun owner who adds so much as a scope or changes a stock on a firearm would be required to obtain a manufacturing license
* Include a ban on some types of semi-automatic firearms
* Include a ban .50 caliber firearms
* Demand the mandatory destruction of surplus ammo and confiscated firearms.
Of course, we know that the Obama administration supports all of these proposals and would love to get them passed into law. Obama’s negotiators at the UN have already expressed full support of the treaty and will work to include gun control provisions they haven’t been able to push through the Congress.
The deadline for a final version of a treaty is July 2012, at which time it will be sent to the various member countries for ratification.
Kansas Senator Jerry Moran (R) drafted a letter to President Obama stating that our Second Amendment rights are “not negotiable” and pledges to “oppose ratification of an Arms Trade Treaty presented to the Senate that in any way restricts the rights of law-abiding U.S. citizens to manufacture, assemble, possess, transfer or purchase firearms, ammunition, and related items.”
In the Untied States the treaty will go to the Senate, where it requires 67 votes to be ratified. Conversely, we need 34 votes to kill the ATT.
So we’re still four commitments short of defeating the treaty – and that doesn’t account for any Senators who are “playing politics” and who may end up supporting the ATT with the right amount of pressure.
And you can bet that the pressure will be on to get this treaty ratified before the 2012 elections.
