Firearms and ammunition are seen on display at an arms market in Maarib city, around 190 km (118 miles) east of the Yemeni capital Sanaa October 14, 2010. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
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WHAT WILL AN ARMS TRADE TREATY NOT DO?Try to tell the gun-rights folks the UN Treaty has nothing to do with them. The response is the most paranoid stream of consciousness you can imagine. Just watch the comments.
According to the U.N. Office of Disarmament, it will not do any of the following: interfere with domestic arms commerce or the right to bear arms in member states; ban the export of any type of weapon; harm states' legitimate right to self-defense; undermine national arms regulation standards already in place.
The National Rifle Association, the powerful U.S. gun rights lobby group, is strongly opposed to the arms trade treaty. The group has vowed to fight the convention's ratification by the U.S. Senate if Washington backs it at the United Nations.
The NRA says the treaty would undermine gun ownership rights under the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The American Bar Association, an attorneys' lobbying group, last month disputed the NRA position, saying in a paper that "ratification of the treaty would not infringe upon rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment."
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
The key point that your side refuses to understand is that you don't believe that rights are fundamental. When rights are up for negotiation, there's no violation of rights.
ReplyDeleteBut hey, I don't know, if the name of the organization is U.N. Office of Disarmament, what would you imagine is the goal?
Our concern is based on how the treaty would be applied and administered. It has plenty of provisions that could be used to block the sale of arms and ammunition to the Civilian market in the US.
ReplyDeleteThe avenue for this would be via the requirements for documentation that showed that weapons and munitions would not be diverted to the criminal market. How firmly is that going to be enforced? If some criminals continue getting weapons and ammo, does that mean the whole legitimate market is cut off?
Other concerns have to do with complying with tracing requirements. The details of this are not hammered out yet, but it's conceivable that this could wind up requiring that, in order to participate in the international market, the US sets up a registration scheme.
etc. etc.
Do the "office of disarmament" ( that's rich) says it won't ban exports. Imports, not so much. So how are they saying this will have no affect on my rights? Citizens are not allowed to export arms, but we do buy imported guns and ammunition.
ReplyDeleteI have a toilet that has to be flushed twice, thank you UN. I'll pass on anymore of your grand schemes.
ReplyDeleteorlin sellers