UN Small Arms Treaty – LonelyMachines

The UN Arms Trade Treaty. Again.

Secretary of State Kerry has announced that he plans to sign the UN Arms Trade Treaty. As we speak, conservative pundits and bloggers are going into apoplexy over it. Frankly, I find the whole thing to be a colossal waste of time.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1957 that a treaty cannot override constitutional protections. That includes the right to keep and bear arms. In addition, the administration has accepted certain “redlines” prohibiting infringements on domestic ownership of arms.

Then there’s the question of getting 2/3 of the Senate to ratify this. Even under the current political math, I don’t see that happening.

The reason I don’t care for the treaty is that it’s a steaming pile of hypocrisy for us to ratify it. Outside the Soviet Union, we’ve historically been one of the biggest suppliers of arms to rogue states and organizations. Nicaragua? Liberia? Sudan? Mobutu Soko’s regime in the DRC?

Continued...

Civil Rights

Relax. Please Do It.

Negotiations on the UN Small Arms Treaty have stalled out. Hopefully people will stop yelling at me about it now.

Yes, there’s a chance that it’ll come up for another vote by the end of the year, but its momentum will be severely stalled. Even if it does cross the pond, there’s no way 2/3 of Congress would ever vote for it. No, the President cannot “get around it with an Executive Order.” Put simply, the guys in blue helmets aren’t going to come raining out of the sky like Slim Pickens to take our guns.

For all the existential crisis this seems to be causing, I’m unsure if anyone’s actually researched this for themselves. If it were to be enacted, the treaty would do nothing to affect commerce in arms within the United States. It would regulate international commerce. That means, like, from one country to a different country.

Continued...