UN Arms Trade Treaty endangers our rights
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Editor,
Treaty negotiations on the UN Arms Trade Treaty are slated to wrap up July 27 when President Obama signs the U.S. on as a participant. In May, Congressman Rehberg was successful in blocking funding to advocate for or agree to any provision of the treaty that would restrict the Second Amendment rights of American citizens or further regulate U.S. firearms users or manufacturers through the Fiscal Year 2013 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill. However, that provision is part of a larger package that is not likely to pass in time to prevent the U.S. from agreeing to this treaty. Senator Tester was likewise successful through a bipartisan amendment in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Many are aghast at the recent appointment of Iran to the 15-member U.N. Conference of the Arms Trade Treaty, which will regulate treaty activities. To show how dysfunctional the U.N. has become, its security council had found Iran guilty of illegally transferring guns and bombs to Syria to assist in murdering thousands of Syrians. The same security council has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt its prohibited nuclear program
Iran is continuing to defy the international community through illegal arms shipments to the murderous Assad regime. Why in the world would Iran be granted a seat on such a strategic committee?
The U.S. provides 22 percent of the funding for the U.N. This $8 billion could certainly put a dent in our enormous national debt. Instead of becoming a party to treaties that erode our national sovereignty, why is the U.S. not putting a freeze on its funding of U.N. operations until it becomes a responsible and rational organization? U.S. participation in this treaty is one more dangerous action by this administration that has shown a total disregard for the balance of power through executive orders, has an attorney general eroding voter integrity, and would violate the freedoms guaranteed in the most outstanding Constitution ever drafted by the human race.
Since this treaty requires a two-thirds vote of the Senate for ratification, it is the last hope of protecting small gun owners from a possible confiscation of arms and a violation of Second Amendment rights.
Mimi Milheim
Dayton
