Bill Defunds United Nations If Arms Trade Treaty Is Adopted

AmmoLand Gun News

Washington, DC --(Ammoland.com)- Congressman Joe Walsh (R-IL-8) on Dec. 7 introduced the Second Amendment Protection Act (HR-3594) with 20 co-sponsors, a measure that would cut off all funding to the United Nations if the United States agrees to any treaty that infringes on the constitutional rights of American citizens.

In a letter to his colleagues seeking additional co-sponsors in the House, Walsh noted that “The United Nations has been trying for almost a decade now to move forward with the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). This treaty poses a very real threat to the sovereignty of the United States and to our right to keep and bear arms—and this treaty is now moving forward with the support of the current administration.”

In late 2009, the US State Department reversed prior policy and announced that the US would back launching talks on the ATT. That version of the ATT is now expected to be finalized in 2012.

“The United States should never agree to a treaty that infringes on our constitutional rights, especially one that could implement sweeping gun control measures,” Walsh’s letter notes. “This treaty poses many dangers and could put serious pressure on the US to compromise on personal gun ownership rights. In a 2008 resolution on the treaty–adopted almost unanimously with only the US and Zimbabwe in opposition–the ‘highest possible standards’ of control were called for. “It is time for Congress to act to help ensure this treaty never sees the light of day. While the Senate is tasked with ratifying treaties, we (the House) must send a signal that this treaty is bad for America and bad for US gun rights.”

Almost 40 senators previously had written to the President and Secretary of State to express their opposition to the ATT. However, Walsh’s bill is the first in Congress to put financial brakes on any such treaty.

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), which had helped develop the measure in cooperation with Walsh’s office, immediately applauded the Illinois congressman’s leadership in calling attention to the threat posed by the proposed binding small arms treaty that could affect the arms and ammunition commonly used by Americans for recreation and defense.

“The United Nations’ effort to adopt a global gun control initiative needs to be reined in,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan M. Gottlieb. “For too many years, bureaucrats in the United Nations have become far too cozy with international gun prohibition organizations, and Congressman Walsh’s legislation seems the best way to get their attention. We’ve been delighted and honored to be part of this effort.”

“It is an insult to United States sovereignty,” he added, “that the UN would be entertaining such measures while enjoying this country’s hospitality at its headquarters in New York City. It is the greatest irony, and perhaps the pinnacle of hypocrisy, for the United Nations to be discussing any treaty that might threaten our Second Amendment, because it has been the United States, with its citizen soldiers and our constitutional right to keep and bear arms that has come to the world’s rescue not once, but twice in global conflicts.

“When diplomacy fails, it is time to close our checkbook,” Gottlieb said. “The Bush administration opposed such a treaty, but the Obama administration is moving forward with discussions on an international Arms Trade Treaty. It is up to Congress to put the brakes on such efforts and protect our national sovereignty, which has been protected and defended for more than two centuries because our citizens have the right, and the resources, to defend it.”

Walsh stated: “The Arms Trade Treaty is bad for America and bad for US gun rights. The Bush Administration had wisely opposed any effort to advance this treaty. Yet quickly into the first year of President Obama’s presidency, talks have now resumed and the treaty will soon be voted on next year.”

NRA News

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Cam Edwards talks to Theodore Bromund from The Heritage Foundation on how the UN Small Arms Trade Treaty will effect manufacturing, gun registration and hunting rifles in the United States.

Read More on these topics:

• How The United Nations Endangers Your Firearm Freedom
• UN Small Arms Trade Treaty – Facebook Expose
• The UN Arms Trade Treaty – Some Predictions

About:
Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights and sportsmen’s group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation’s leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military. Visit: www.nra.org

Get ready to turn your Guns in or at least your sovereignty & privacy.

Dillon Precision

Scottsdale, AZ – -(Ammoland.com)- We predict that a global Arms Trade Treaty will come into force late this year.

Diplomats are currently preparing for a final negotiating conference, to be held at the UN between July 2 and July 27, 2012.

So, what might an ATT look like?

The weapon-prohibitionists’ goal is a “robust” treaty, with States accepting outside control of their weapon transactions, or suffering international consequences if they don’t. And if one looks at the picture as a whole, all one sees and hears is an hysterical insistence on “robustness” from the Treaty’s proponents, parroted by the global press. They mistakenly expect that they will be able to prevent the flow of arms to human rights abusers, and thereby reduce global violence.

But if one scrutinizes the multitude of disagreements between the States, one can already see the fault lines in the Arms Trade Treaty forming. That’s because many States are reluctant to cede sovereignty to the UN. And from this, we can make some reasonable predictions.

• We predict that small arms will be included, because that’s what this treaty is all about in the first place. But ammunition has, at best, a 50-percent chance of inclusion.

Although there already exists a UN register for 7 categories of conventional arms (UNROCA), the UN has suffered a decade of failure when it comes to control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW). So, at the very least, the prohibitionists want small arms, light weapons, and ammunition added to those 7 categories of weapons, creating the “7+1+1” paradigm.

Amnesty International has stated that there would be “gaping holes” in such a treaty if small arms and ammunition were not included. And proponents will do whatever it takes in order to achieve the goal of global firearm control.

As of September 2011, many States, among which are Barbados, Ghana, Jamaica, Nicaragua, and Zambia, agree with including SALW and ammunition. They believe that this is necessary if the Treaty is to yield humanitarian and human rights benefits, regardless of the extreme difficulty of doing so.

Other States, including the States of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM), prefer that the Treaty remains limited to the original 7 categories. China also has taken a position against the 7+1+1.

We know that China is a massive arms exporter, even to human rights violators. It is a matter of record that China has, in the past, not abided by treaties which it had no intention of ever keeping. Examples of these include the Convention against Torture (CAT), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). It would be easy for China to gain a veneer of cooperation if it appeared to compromise “under pressure.”

As for the US, it might seem confusing that the Obama government has taken a position against the inclusion of SALW and ammunition in the forthcoming Treaty. Yet, the US officially supports the inclusion of SALW into the UNROCA itself, as clearly stated in October 2011 by Laura E. Kennedy, one of the representatives to the UN.

Are we that naïve to believe that Obama will choose the side of the fence that is least firearm-restrictive?

So, with these factors in play, it would be logical to strike a compromise: SALW in, ammunition out.

• We predict that a minimal Implementation Support Unit (ISU) will be approved, and will ultimately grow into a global BATFE on steroids.

ISUs collate, collect, and store the information they gather. They share the information with other States, and provide support and advice with this information, while additionally performing communication and liason roles. Countries are already comfortable with the ISU concept, which has been used in previous UN conventions, such as the Land Mine Ban and the Biologic Weapons Ban.

But there is a huge difference between the magnitude of the ATT and the Mine or Biologic Weapons Bans. Even the October 3, 2011 Arms Trade Treaty Monitor noted: “There is no obvious, existing mechanism that exists to coordinate such a logistical behemoth.” (It is a rare moment when a proponent of the “7+1+1” actually agrees with us.) Several nations, including the UK, prefer a minimally mandated ISU. Ted Bromund, Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, stated in a UN Web Memo dated July 21, 2011, that “Such a ‘limited’ role would not remain limited for long.”

And how could it? An ISU would be run by and for weapon-prohibitionists, who would be free to create regulations as needed. After the ATT is in force, the decisions of those bureaucrats will not be constrained by the need for a consensus.

• We predict that victim reparations will not be included in the body of the Treaty.

The concepts of restitution and compensation are ostensibly intended to deal with “restoring justice,” and increasing “the focus on the criminal responsibility of perpetrators of gross human rights abuses and their accomplices.” Some States, like Uruguay, want a strong provision for victim assistance, while most States, including Italy and Chile, do not.

Syria suggests that funding for this provision should come from weapon-exporting States, such as the United States. It would be ludicrous for Uruguay, a country that perpetrated many human rights abuses itself, to come knocking at our front door for funding that would absolve them of their own deliberate acts against the human rights of their citizens.

And it would also be ludicrous that we should be expected to foot the bill.

Furthermore, one may wonder why the cause of “victim reparations” should be espoused by weapon-prohibitionists, and included in an Arms Trade Treaty. We believe that “victim reparations” is being added to the ATT to serve as a bargaining chip—easy to use as a pawn for the purpose of compromise.

All points not included in the body of the Treaty, but remaining on the weapon prohibitionists’ wish list, will simply be shoved into the Treaty’s preamble, lying there to await a more favorable climate for their enactment.

And that entire Treaty will create a new global weapon norm which will affect our own US firearm norm.

About:
Dillon Precision is the only choice for all your reloading needs. Consider the quality and innovation behind each product, the lifetime “No BS” warranty, and the unparalleled reputation for post-sale service, and there simply isn’t any other option. Your only decision is which machine to buy. Dillon offers a machine for every budget or reloading need. From the “pistol only” Square Deal, the “workhorse” RL 550B, the fully progressive XL 650, to the commercial grade Super 1050. They even offer a progressive shotshell loader that blows away everything on the market. Visit: www.dillonprecision.com

CCRKBA.org

BELLEVUE, WA – -(Ammoland.com)- The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today offered thanks and congratulations to 11 members of Congress who have signed on as co-sponsors to legislation that would withhold funding from the United Nations and prevent the United States from adopting any treaty that threatens national sovereignty or abridges the Second Amendment firearms rights of American citizens.

“The Second Amendment secures and protects our individual right to keep and bear arms,” noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh submitted his bill on Wednesday, and now he’s been joined by 11 of his colleagues who deserve recognition.”

Co-sponsors to HR 3594 are Texas Congressmen Joe Barton, K. Michael Conaway and Kenny Marchant; Georgia Reps. Lynn A. Westmoreland, Paul C. Broun and Phil Gingrey; North Carolina Rep. Howard Coble, Florida’s Bill Posey, Iowan Steve King, South Carlina’s Jeff Duncan and Kansas Rep. Tim Huelskamp. All are Republicans.

“CCRKBA staff has been directly involved in Walsh’s effort,” Gottlieb noted, “because the long-running campaign to adopt a global gun control scheme at the United Nations has gathered momentum under the Obama administration. We do not think it is any coincidence that global gun prohibitionists have ramped up their effort during the same period that the U.S. Supreme Court has issued two rulings affirming that the Second Amendment affirms an individual right to keep and bear arms.

“At a time when our constitutional freedoms are at stake,” Gottlieb concluded, “the only way to prevent their erosion by international treaty is to put in place the legislative mechanism to cut the U.N. off financially. We’re delighted that Walsh and nearly a dozen of his colleagues have the vision and intestinal fortitude to pursue that preventative measure. International gun grabbers need to keep their hands off of our Constitution, and out of our pockets.”

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation’s premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States. The Citizens Committee can be reached by phone at (425) 454-4911, on the Internet at www.ccrkba.org or by email to InformationRequest@ccrkba.org.

CCRKBA.org

BELLEVUE, WA – -(Ammoland.com)- The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today applauded Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh’s introduction of legislation to withhold funding from the United Nations and assuring that the United States does not adopt any treaty posing a threat to national sovereignty or that abridges the firearms rights of American citizens as guaranteed by the Second Amendment.

Rep. Walsh’s bill, developed with the cooperation and assistance of CCRKBA staff, would block U.N. funding unless the President certifies that the world body “has not taken any action to restrict, attempt to restrict, or otherwise adversely infringe upon the rights of individuals…to keep and bear arms, or abridge any of the other constitutionally protected rights” of U.S. citizens.

“The United Nations’ effort to adopt a global gun control initiative needs to be reined in,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan M. Gottlieb. “For too many years, bureaucrats in the United Nations have become far too cozy with international gun prohibition organizations, and Congressman Walsh’s legislation seems the best way to get their attention. We’ve been delighted and honored to be part of this effort.

“It is an insult to United States sovereignty,” he added, “that the U.N. would be entertaining such measures while enjoying this country’s hospitality at its headquarters in New York City. It is the greatest irony, and perhaps the pinnacle of hypocrisy, for the United Nations to be discussing any treaty that might threaten our Second Amendment, because it has been the United States, with its citizen soldiers and our constitutional right to keep and bear arms that has come to the world’s rescue not once, but twice in global conflicts.

“When diplomacy fails, it is time to close our checkbook,” Gottlieb said. “The Bush administration opposed such a treaty, but the Obama administration is moving forward with discussions on an international Arms Trade Treaty. It is up to Congress to put the brakes on such efforts and protect our national sovereignty, which has been protected and defended for more than two centuries because our citizens have the right, and the resources, to defend it.”

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation’s premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States. The Citizens Committee can be reached by phone at (425) 454-4911, on the Internet at www.ccrkba.org or by email to InformationRequest@ccrkba.org.

This United Nations Monument Says it All...

Gun Owners of America

Washington, DC --(Ammoland.com)- Representative Joe Walsh (R-IL) has drafted a bill that would block U.S. funding to the United Nations if it seeks to implement gun control measures affecting U.S. citizens.

Despite victories by gun owners in elections and legislative battles throughout the country in recent years, on the international front gun control is moving quickly.

Most significantly, in 2012 the UN plans to release a final draft of the Arms Trade Treaty—a treaty that will have severe consequences for American gun owners.

Meetings are held behind close doors, but from information gathered by GOA we believe that the ATT will, at the very least, require gun owner registration and microstamping of ammunition.

The ATT will define manufacturing so broadly that any gun owner who adds an accessory such as a scope or changes a stock on a firearm would be required to obtain a manufacturing license.

It would also likely include a ban on many semi-automatic firearms (like the Clinton gun ban) and demand the mandatory destruction of surplus ammo and confiscated firearms.

President Obama, not surprisingly, welcomes the treaty. He knows that he is unlikely to get such radical proposals through the Congress, so the UN provides him a backdoor way to enact gun control.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is also on board and began pushing for the treaty as soon as she was confirmed in her position.

“The United States is prepared to work hard for a strong international standard in this area,” she said.

Since treaties must be ratified by the Senate, GOA is working continually to buck up weak-kneed Senators who might be pressured to ratify the treaty.

But the House, which controls the nations’ purse strings, can also play a role in killing the ATT (or any other anti-gun treaty, for that matter).

Rep. Joe Walsh’s legislation will cut U.S. funding to the UN if the international body imposes any restrictions on Americans’ gun rights.

This is a huge deal, because without the contributions of the United States, the UN would be crippled financially. According to government reports, U.S. taxpayers foot the bill for 22 percent of the UN’s regular budget and 27 percent of its “peacekeeping” budget.

American gun owners, in other words, are funding the organization that wants to do away with the Second Amendment!

Rep. Walsh is putting the UN on notice: back off our gun rights.

Entitled the “The Second Amendment Protection Act of 2011,” Rep. Walsh is now seeking original cosponsors to join him in the House. He plans to introduce the bill within the next week.

Rep. Walsh highlights for his House colleagues the necessity of his proposal, noting that:

• It is the constitutional power of Congress to determine United States foreign policy through the ratification of international treaties;
• U.S. Presidents, by signing on to treaties, have opened the door for international organizations to unilaterally regulate the lives of citizens of the United States;
• International and transnational organizations force their rules on people of the United States through conventions, multilateral agreements, and nonratified treaties, such as agreements that affect the private ownership of firearms by law-abiding citizens; and
• United States sovereignty is risked by domestic legal applicability of international treaties and executive agreements that have not been voted on and congressionally adopted through formal processes.

Let’s help Rep. Joe Walsh get as many cosponsors as possible. In the process, we’ll find out how many Representatives are willing to stand up to the behemoth United Nations in defense of the Second Amendment.

Please click here to send your Representative a prewritten message.

About:
Gun Owners of America (GOA) is a non-profit lobbying organization formed in 1975 to preserve and defend the Second Amendment rights of gun owners. GOA sees firearms ownership as a freedom issue. `The only no comprise gun lobby in Washington’ – Ron Paul

CCRKBA.org

BELLEVUE, WA – -(Ammoland.com)- The Obama administration “is seeking advice and consent” for Senate ratification of an international small arms treaty, and also supports the inclusion of small arms in the UN Register of Conventional Arms, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms learned today.

The disclosure is found in the text of a statement to the First Committee of the 66th session of the UN General Assembly, delivered by Laura E. Kennedy, the permanent United States representative to the Conference on Disarmament. CCRKBA obtained a copy of the statement.

In her statement, Kennedy recalls that the United States in 1997, under the Clinton administration, signed the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Materials. However, the Senate never ratified the document, and there was no interest in pushing the treaty during the Bush administration. American firearms rights activists have steadfastly fought against inclusion of small arms in any such treaty.

“More than half the members of the Senate have already advised Barack Obama that they will not ratify any treaty that threatens the Second Amendment rights of American citizens,” noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “so it’s not clear why he is – according to Kennedy’s revealing statement – suddenly seeking Senate ratification of this measure.

“If the Obama administration is this eager to push adoption of a treaty that’s been gathering dust for eleven years,” he added, “one can only imagine how fast this president will want to see action on the proposed global Arms Trade Treaty.

“This suggests that Obama fears he may be a one-term president,” Gottlieb stated, “and he feels a compelling need to finally bring his anti-gun agenda to the surface and push it through. We have known all along about his desire to bind this country to an international gun control scheme, and now Kennedy’s statement confirms that.”

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation’s premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States. The Citizens Committee can be reached by phone at (425) 454-4911, on the Internet at www.ccrkba.org or by email to InformationRequest@ccrkba.org.

Dillon Precision

Scottsdale, AZ – -(Ammoland.com)- It is often difficult to identify how the firearm prohibitionists lie, because sometimes the lies are subtle, and are often camouflaged to appear to benefit the public welfare.

But sometimes, their lies are easily spotted.

In an attempt to frighten the world’s States into signing onto an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), a report entitled The Global Burden of Armed Violence (or GBAV*) was published in 2008. The anti gun media latched onto the figure the GBAV authors conjured up – 740,000 global deaths per year from “armed violence” – and ran with it.

The report was intended to exaggerate the deaths associated with weapons, and create public hysteria. The scam was easy to see — if only one would actually read the report.

GBAV gave the world a new factoid: 740,000 people die, each year, from “armed violence.” Almost without exception, the media publicized this figure, juxtaposed with photos of firearms. The inclusion of the photos of firearms, rather than tanks and/or artillery, helped ensure that the blame for those 740,000 deaths would be placed on civilian gun owners.

Early on in the GBAV report, one can see a gross distortion of the facts, simply through the inclusion of a category called “Indirect Conflict Deaths.” It is the title of Chapter 2. The number of indirect conflict deaths claimed by GBAV was 200,000.

Its authors admit that none of these deaths meet the definition of armed violence, stating “These indirect victims of war do not die violently” (emphasis ours). Yes, 200,000 fake numbers were added into the total of 740,000 violent deaths – 27 percent! – and uncritically accepted as gospel by the media and anti gun groups.

We’re not making this up: we lack both the imagination and dishonesty to create such an outrageous lie.

GBAV Smoke And Mirrors
We believe that the GBAV authors knew they were lying, and that they didn’t expect anyone to read or criticize their report.

A prime example of indirect conflict deaths occurred in Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon. In 2009, the Tamil Tigers were soundly defeated by the army of Sri Lanka, after a 30 year long rebellion.

The Government of Sri Lanka then trapped non combatant civilians in “containment camps,” and denied them life sustaining necessities. The British media reported that thousands were dying from lack of food, water and medicine, but the Government of Sri Lanka denied mistreating the civilians. The UN finally admitted knowledge of these 40,000 non violent deaths.

Chapter 4 of GBAV describes 490,000 deaths from “non conflict armed violence” — that is, intentional homicide. When we repeatedly asked GBAV and UN personnel for the data they used so we could check the math, they refused our requests. This non scientific and evasive behavior raised a lot of red flags. But you don’t need sophisticated data analysis to recognize the use of smoke and mirrors.

The GBAV authors barely mentioned the significant number of violent deaths perpetrated by government against civilians. For example, in Kenya, it has been reported that up to 90 percent of homicides are committed by Kenyan police.

The GBAV authors also glossed over the vast number of murders due to a nearly global drug war, yet included them as part of the 740,000 total. While technically accurate, this category of violence will never be controlled by the Arms Trade Treaty, and should be treated separately as a public policy issue.

Its inclusion here is used only to intensify fear of civilian owners of firearms.

We know that the stronger the “war on drugs,” the greater the violence. Anti gun criminologist Alfred Blumstein scientifically described “excess murders” as the increase in the number of homicides resulting from the increasingly vigorous enforcement of drug laws.

Examples abound. In Mexico, when President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006, he “made combating the drug cartels a top priority.” Cnn.com reported that “An unprecedented wave of violence has washed over Mexico since Calderon declared war on drug cartels shortly after coming into office in December 2006.”

In Colombia, in Medellfn alone, there were 2,899 murders in the year 2009, “directly attributable to” the drug war, according to law enforcement authorities.

The war on drugs stimulates the growth and violence of the black market on drugs. The danger exists that the effective implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty could act similarly as a “war on weapons,” strengthening the black market in weapons, and increasing global violence.

Although the reduction of violence is the promise of the ATT’s proponents, they should know that it is a false promise. Their true goal is weapons reduction, regardless of the cost. They lie in order to achieve this, and we should consider those lies as an attack.

Whatever protections our Second Amendment might provide us, we still need to know our enemies. A good place to start is by visiting some of the prominent anti gun websites, such as,,, and(International Action Network on Small Arms).

It may be difficult to identify their lies, so a good rule of thumb to keep in mind is that the weapons prohibitionists always exaggerate the costs, and minimize the benefits to society of civilian held arms.

• FULL GBAV REPORT AVAILABLE AT: http://tiny.cc/h6iic
• FOR A MORE DETAILED DISCUSSION OF THE GBAV REPORT SEE: David B. Kopel, Paul Gallant & Joanne D. Eisen, “How Many Global Deaths from Arms? Reasons to Question the 740,000 Factoid being used to Promote the Arms Trade Treaty,” 5 NYU J. Law & Liberty 672 (Number 3), AVAILABLE AT: http://tiny.cc/2ut9o or can be read below.

How Many Global Deaths From Arms

About:
Dillon Precision is the only choice for all your reloading needs. Consider the quality and innovation behind each product, the lifetime “No BS” warranty, and the unparalleled reputation for post-sale service, and there simply isn’t any other option. Your only decision is which machine to buy. Dillon offers a machine for every budget or reloading need. From the “pistol only” Square Deal, the “workhorse” RL 550B, the fully progressive XL 650, to the commercial grade Super 1050. They even offer a progressive shotshell loader that blows away everything on the market. Visit: www.dillonprecision.com

Human beings have an individual right to defend themselves and their families, regardless of what country they live in along with an obligation to defend others who are unable to defend themselves.

FirearmsCoalition.org

Manassas, VA --(Ammoland.com)- At last count, a full half of the US Senate had signed onto a July letter to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton declaring their opposition to any United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) which includes infringement on US citizens’ rights to possess firearms.

While I applaud this effort, I have to say that I’m disappointed in the senators’ narrow focus in the letter.

Protecting the Second Amendment and warning Obama and Clinton not to agree to any treaty which might infringe on the rights of Americans ignores what the UN is doing to citizens of other countries. The right to arms is not just an American right, it is a basic human right extrapolated from the right to self-defense. Human beings have an individual right to defend themselves and their families, and citizens – regardless of what country – have a moral obligation to also defend others who are unable to defend themselves.

If the UN were forwarding a plan to limit voting to males only or to institute broad government controls over the press, our senators would not stop at our constitution and our borders in their denunciation of the plans. Instead they would expound upon the importance of universal suffrage and the necessity of a free press – for all people everywhere. They would not just “strongly encourage” the administration to “uphold our country’s constitutional protections,” they would demand that the administration reject and actively oppose any treaty which could be in any way construed to support such restrictions on basic rights in any nation.

The right to arms is as much a component of that revolutionary and successful philosophy called free speech or the right to assembly.

The right to arms is just as important a concept as the right to vote, the right to express oneself freely and publicly, and the right to a fair trial before a jury of ones peers. It is part of the progressive, liberal heritage of our nation. (From a time before the words “progressive” and “liberal” were co-opted by communists and socialists to mean government controlled.) The constitutional right to arms has roots in English Common Law, but the philosophy runs much deeper and broader than the English could ever manage because they were tied to a monarch. When America broke away from the monarchy we also cut the restraints that system placed on our understanding of liberty. We became the cutting edge, and embodiment, of liberal (libertarian) philosophy and we reaped the rewards of that philosophy. It is part of what made America so exceptional for most of the past 200 years, and the right to arms is as much a component of that revolutionary and successful philosophy as free speech or the right to assembly. It was seen as even more important than the right to vote, as that right was originally limited to only White, male, property holders while the right to arms belonged to “the people.”

Freedom is a religion which demands evangelism. We don’t have to require that other nations meet all of our standards before we will do business with them, but we should encourage right and oppose wrong – and restrictions on the individual right to arms is clearly wrong.

Members of the US Senate should understand the philosophical significance of the right to arms and the importance of promoting US philosophy and principles of freedom. Their letter focusing on only the potential impact of the proposed UN Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) on US citizens is much too narrow and shortsighted. Unfortunately, it seems the senators are following the lead of the NRA, who should definitely know better.

The UN ATT has been a distant rumble for the past several years with little progress being made and little exposure to the public outside of over-hyped rhetoric in fundraising letters from rights groups. I have tended to downplay concern about the treaty because it wasn’t showing much life, but now the treaty is getting closer to reality and it’s time to start worrying about something actually being passed by the middle of next year. The best way to keep that from happening is to pressure your politicians to return to principled arguments and to demand that Obama and Clinton actively oppose any arms treaty which includes restrictions on any personal firearms, ammunition, or components – not just in the US, but anywhere in the world.

Ask your Senators if they signed the letter – if not, why not – if so, thank them and encourage them to move to a more principled position. While you’re at it, if you’re a member of the NRA you might drop them a line asking why they are focusing only on the potential impact of this treaty on US gun owners rather than espousing and defending the principles of freedom for all people everywhere.

Copyright © 2011 Neal Knox Associates – The most trusted name in the rights movement.

About:
The Firearms Coalition is a loose-knit coalition of individual Second Amendment activists, clubs and civil rights organizations. Founded by Neal Knox in 1984, the organization provides support to grassroots activists in the form of education, analysis of current issues, and with a historical perspective of the gun rights movement. The Firearms Coalition is a project of Neal Knox Associates, Manassas, VA. Visit: www.FirearmsCoalition.org

UN Small Arms Trade Treaty Expose
By Tom McHale

My Gun Culture

USA --(Ammoland.com)- We would like to apologize for our light posting the past couple of weeks.

We’re now able to explain that AmmoLand has had our editorial team on a top-secret undercover assignment to cover the emerging UN Small Arms Trade Treaty story.

At great personal risk of losing our Facebook credentials and possibly our Google+ account, we’ve managed to bring AmmoLand readers a first hand account of our administration’s position on the UN Arms Treaty negotiations.

The evidence speaks for itself…

United Nations Small Arms Trade Treaty - The Facebook Expose

About:
Tom McHale describes himself as a conservative gun-totin’ bible-clingin’ literary assault dude who enjoys finding humor in just about anything. His web blog My Gun Culture is an irreverent, twisted look at gun news bordering on the ridiculous. It covers shootin’ stuff, loud noises, defending your own, the occasional mall ninja, and about 200 years of the American way. “These are the (partially) true stories of… My Gun Culture” says Tom. Visit: www.mygunculture.com

National Rifle Association

FAIRFAX, Va. --(Ammoland.com)- 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), which will be finalized next year.

In order for any treaty to take effect, however, it must be ratified by two-thirds of the U.S. Senate. To ensure that any ATT that includes civilian arms is dead on arrival in the Senate, the NRA has been working to get as many U.S. Senators as possible to publicly oppose any ATT that includes restrictions on civilian arms.

As of this morning, 50 members of the U.S. Senate have signed letters to President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton saying they will oppose any ATT that includes civilian firearms ownership. These strongly worded letters caution the President and Secretary of State to uphold the Constitution of the United States. As Senator Jerry Moran’s letter warns, “(A)s the treaty process continues, we strongly encourage your administration to uphold our constitutional protections of civilian firearms ownership. These freedoms are non-negotiable, and we will 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.”

Thanking the NRA for our long-standing work on this issue, Senator Moran remarked, “I appreciate the NRA’s partnership on this important effort to defend the rights of American gun owners. I want to thank them for their active support in sending a strong message to the Obama Administration that our firearm freedoms are not negotiable.”

As we have for nearly two decades, the NRA will continue to fight against any U.N. treaty that undermines the constitutional rights of American gun owners. These letters send a clear message to the international bureaucrats who want to eliminate our fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms. Clearly, a U.N. ATT that includes civilian arms within its scope is not supported by the American people or their elected U.S. Senators. We are grateful to Senator Moran, Senator Jon Tester, and all members of the Senate who have chosen to stand on the side of America’s 80 million gun owners in opposition to those who want to eliminate our freedoms. And thank you as well to those NRA members who contacted their Senators and encouraged them to support this critical effort.

About:
Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights and sportsmen’s group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation’s leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military. Visit: www.nra.org

Gun Owners of America

Washington, DC --(Ammoland.com)- 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.

So far, the following Senators have joined Sen. Moran in publicly opposing any anti-gun treaty:

Ayotte (NH)
Blunt (MO)
Boozman (AR)
Burr (NC)
Coburn (OK)
Cochran (MS)
Corker (TN)
Cornyn (TX)
Chambliss (GA)
Crapo (ID)
DeMint (SC)
Enzi (WY)
Graham (SC)
Hatch (UT)
Heller (NV)
Hoeven (ND)
Hutchison (TX)
Inhofe (OK)
Isakson (GA)
Johanns (NE)
Kyl (AZ)
Paul (KY)
Roberts (KS)
Rubio (FL)
Sessions (AL)
Shelby (AL)
Thune (SD)
Vitter (LA)
Wicker (MS)

But 30 Senators is not enough. We need at least 34 to come out publicly in opposition to the ATT – and a few extra as “insurance.”

ACTION: Contact your Senators and urge them to cosign the Moran letter opposing any UN treaty that infringes on our Second Amendment rights. The pre-written letter thanks those who have already signed, and urges other to do so right away. So please send the letter even if one or both of your Senators already signed on.

And if you are not already a member of GOA, please consider joining today to help us continue the fight against UN-imposed gun control.

Click Here to send your Senators a prewritten message.

About:
Gun Owners of America (GOA) is a non-profit lobbying organization formed in 1975 to preserve and defend the Second Amendment rights of gun owners. GOA sees firearms ownership as a freedom issue. `The only no comprise gun lobby in Washington’ – Ron Paul

NRA News

Fairfax, VA --(Ammoland.com)- NRA-News is a valued partner that continues to cover breaking gun rights news with a new and improved short video format in the “NRA News Minute” videos.

To view the current firearms or gun rights news video, please click above:

Ginny Simone talk to NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris Cox following Wayne LaPierre’s presentation before the Third Preparatory Committee Meeting for the UN Arms Trade Treaty – For more information, visit NRA Delivers Remarks at U.N. Concerning Proposed Arms Trade Treaty

Read More on these topics:

• Obama Giving Control of Internet to Gun Hating United Nations
• How The United Nations Endangers Your Firearm Freedom
• Obama Giving Control of Internet to Gun Hating United Nations

About:
Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights and sportsmen’s group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation’s leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military. Visit: www.nra.org

DeMint stands against UN gun ban

National Association for Gun Rights

Colorado -–(Ammoland.com)- As you know, the National Association for Gun Rights is committed to stopping the disastrous UN Small Arms Treaty dead in its tracks.

All we need is 34 “no” votes in the Senate.

Well, make that 32, now.

After Senator Rand Paul became the first to sign our American Firearm Sovereignty Pledge, another patriot and champion of gun rights did as well.

Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), a long time ally of gun rights, has signed the American Firearm Sovereignty Pledge, making it very clear that he will do everything in his power to stop any attempt to subvert your Second Amendment rights by the United Nations.

With the ATF conspiring to create violence along our border, international bodies are crying about US gun laws being too “lax.” The UN Small Arms Treaty is seen by many of those same voices as a solution.

But with our own ATF creating the problem and our Justice Department signing off on it…is there really a problem, other than our own out-of-control bureaucracy?

In signing our pledge, Senator DeMint has solidified his position and declared that international powers cannot and must not dictate our legislative process.

He is truly a champion for gun owners to get behind.

But, like I said, my goal is for 32 more. For that to happen, I need your help. I need to increase the pressure on Senators we have our eyes on. It’s a big fight on an international stage.

I can’t do it alone.

About:
The National Association for Gun Rights is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, single-purpose citizens’ organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the Constitutionally protected right-to-keep-and-bear-arms through an aggressive program designed to mobilize public opposition to anti-gun legislation. The National Association for Gun Rights’ mailing address is P.O 7002, Fredericksburg, VA 22404. They can be contacted toll-free at 1-877-405-4570. Its web address is www.NationalGunRights.org

Editorial Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed above do not necessarily reflect those of the staff, AmmoLand Shooting Sports News, or other sponsors and partners. See the Editorial-Review Process for more details.

National Rifle Association

FAIRFAX, Va. --(Ammoland.com)- National Rifle Association’s Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre addressed the United Nations this afternoon.

He told the U.N. to not interfere with the Second Amendment freedoms of Americans and pledged to continue the fight to preserve civilian ownership of firearms in the U.S.

He said the NRA will oppose any U.N. provision that seeks to prohibit or regulate U.S. civilian firearm ownership.

LaPierre said in his remarks, “The cornerstone of our freedom is the Second Amendment. Neither the United Nations, nor any other foreign influence, has the authority to meddle with the freedoms guaranteed by our Bill of Rights, endowed by our Creator, and due to all humankind.”

United Nations Arms Trade Treaty Preparatory Committee – 3d Session New York, July 11-15, 2011

Statement of the National Rifle Association of America

Mr. Chairman, thank you for this brief opportunity to address the committee. I am Wayne LaPierre and for 20 years now, I have served as Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Association of America.

The NRA was founded in 1871, and ever since has staunchly defended the rights of its 4 million members, America’s 80 million law-abiding gun owners, and freedom-loving Americans throughout our country. In 1996, the NRA was recognized as an NGO of the United Nations and, ever since then, has defended the constitutional freedom of Americans in this arena. The NRA is the largest and most active firearms rights organization in the world and, although some members of this committee may not like what I have to say, I am proud to defend the tens of millions of lawful people NRA represents.

This present effort for an Arms Trade Treaty, or ATT, is now in its fifth year. We have closely monitored this process with increasing concern. We’ve reviewed the statements of the countries participating in these meetings. We’ve listened to other NGOs and read their numerous proposals and reports, as well as carefully examined the papers you have produced. We’ve watched, and read … listened and monitored. Now, we must speak out.

The Right to Keep and Bear Arms in defense of self, family and country is ultimately self-evident and is part of the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution. Reduced to its core, it is about fundamental individual freedom, human worth, and self-destiny.

We reject the notion that American gun owners must accept any lesser amount of freedom in order to be accepted among the international community. Our Founding Fathers long ago rejected that notion and forged our great nation on the principle of freedom for the individual citizen – not for the government.

Mr. Chairman, those working on this treaty have asked us to trust them … but they’ve proven to be unworthy of that trust.

We are told “Trust us; an ATT will not ban possession of any civilian firearms.” Yet, the proposals and statements presented to date have argued exactly the opposite, and – perhaps most importantly – proposals to ban civilian firearms ownership have not been rejected.

We are told “Trust us; an ATT will not interfere with state domestic regulation of firearms.” Yet, there are constant calls for exactly such measures.

We are told “Trust us; an ATT will only affect the illegal trade in firearms.” But then we’re told that in order to control the illegal trade, all states must control the legal firearms trade.

We are told, “Trust us; an ATT will not require registration of civilian firearms.” Yet, there are numerous calls for record-keeping, and firearms tracking from production to eventual destruction. That’s nothing more than gun registration by a different name.

We are told, “Trust us; an ATT will not create a new international bureaucracy.” Well, that’s exactly what is now being proposed — with a tongue-in-cheek assurance that it will just be a SMALL bureaucracy.

We are told, “Trust us; an ATT will not interfere with the lawful international commerce in civilian firearms.” But a manufacturer of civilian shotguns would have to comply with the same regulatory process as a manufacturer of military attack helicopters.

We are told, “Trust us; an ATT will not interfere with a hunter or sport shooter travelling internationally with firearms.” However, he would have to get a so-called “transit permit” merely to change airports for a connecting flight.

Mr. Chairman, our list of objections extends far beyond the proposals I just mentioned. Unfortunately, my limited time today prevents me from providing greater detail on each of our objections. I can assure you, however, that each is based on American law, as well as the fundamental rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution.

It is regrettable that proposals affecting civilian firearms ownership are woven throughout the proposed ATT. That being the case, however, there is only one solution to this problem: the complete removal of civilian firearms from the scope of any ATT. I will repeat that point as it is critical and not subject to negotiation – civilian firearms must not be part of any ATT. On this there can be no compromise, as American gun owners will never surrender their Second Amendment freedom.

It is also regrettable to find such intense focus on record-keeping, oversight, inspections, supervision, tracking, tracing, surveillance, marking, documentation, verification, paper trails and data banks, new global agencies and data centers. Nowhere do we find a thought about respecting anyone’s right of self-defense, privacy, property, due process, or observing personal freedoms of any kind.

Mr. Chairman, I’d be remiss if I didn’t also discuss the politics of an ATT. For the United States to be a party to an ATT, it must be ratified by a two-thirds vote of the U.S. Senate. Some do not realize that under the U.S. Constitution, the ultimate treaty power is not the President’s power to negotiate and sign treaties; it is the Senate’s power to approve them.

To that end, it’s important for the Preparatory Committee to understand that the proposed ATT is already strongly opposed in the Senate – the very body that must approve it by a two-thirds majority. There is a letter addressed to President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton that is currently being circulated for the signatures of Senators who oppose the ATT. Once complete, this letter will demonstrate that the proposed ATT will not pass the U.S. Senate.

So there is extremely strong resistance to the ATT in the United States, even before the treaty is tabled. We are not aware of any precedent for this – rejecting a proposed treaty before it’s even submitted for consideration – but it speaks to the level of opposition. The proposed ATT has become more than just controversial, as the Internet is awash with articles and messages calling for its rejection. And those messages are all based on the same objection – infringement on the constitutional freedom of American gun owners.

The cornerstone of our freedom is the Second Amendment. Neither the United Nations, nor any other foreign influence, has the authority to meddle with the freedoms guaranteed by our Bill of Rights, endowed by our Creator, and due to all humankind.

Therefore, the NRA will fight with all of its strength to oppose any ATT that includes civilian firearms within its scope.

Thank you.

About:
Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights and sportsmen’s group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation’s leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military. Visit: www.nra.org

United Nations Small Arms Treaty Calling for Micro Stamping Style Marking of All Firearms & Ammo

Second Amendment Foundation

BELLEVUE, WA --(Ammoland.com)- Today, the most recent Chairman’s Draft Paper for the Arms Trade Treaty was distributed.

Ambassador Roberto Garcia Moritan authored the outline for the proposed ATT based on consultation, discussion and guidelines decided upon in this and the two previous Preparatory Conference meetings. This document dated 14 July 2011 covers the Scope, Criteria, Implementation and Final Provisions that are expected to be in the ATT presented for discussion in July 2012.

The Preamble under item six, “recognizes the sovereign right of States to determine any regulation of internal transfers of arms and national ownership exclusively within their territory, including through national constitutional protections on private ownership.” This language is a direct response to the serious reservations expressed by the U.S. and other delegations.

Unfortunately after this comes the Scope of the proposed treaty. This includes along with tanks, Artillery Systems, Naval Vessels and Missile Systems –small arms and all ammunition for these small arms.

While acknowledging a constitutional right, the criteria and record keeping requirements proposed in the treaty would necessitate the special marking of all firearms (IV, 1, h) and more critically all ammunition (IV, 1, j). The costs involved in both the physical marketing and recordkeeping are enormous. The proposed document also includes the creation of an Implementation Support Unit (VI, G-1) with yearly reporting and records kept for a minimum of 10 years. (V1, B-1).

Another egregious proposal is the Victim Assistance proposal. (VI, F) This provision is one that has been presented repeatedly at Programme of Action and Conference of Parties meetings. Many African, Southern American, Central American and Caribbean countries have proposed that manufacturers contribute to a fund based on their sales. Alternately they would assess fees on countries based on the value of its arms exports.

As the ATT moves closer to its final form, it is imperative that we realize that the technical requirements and definitions still to be determined are very dangerous. Much of the debate on these will take place in side events that are very often closed to NGOs.

The US already has the most stringent import and export requirements for firearms in the world. While this proposed treaty is supposed to be about conventional weapons, the focus in the discussions is on small arms, the very firearms that our US Constitution guarantees us the right to bear.

The Second Amendment Foundation remains vigilant and will continue monitoring this Arms Trade Treaty. We will not remain silent in our fight to maintain your right to keep and right and bear arms. We cannot trust the very organization that devised and administered the oil for food program in Iraq to respect our Constitutional rights—particularly the right to keep and bear arms.

National Association for Gun Rights

Colorado -–(Ammoland.com)- Do you want to live under a monarchy? How about socialism?

Of course you don’t, and while people like you and me think the answers to those questions are pretty obvious, there are other countries in the world where they think it’s a great idea.

And guess what?

The governments of some of those countries are now spending millions of dollars in the United States to change our system to be more like theirs.

That’s right.

A recent report showed that the European Union, by way of its “human rights” fund, has been shelling out over $30 million a year on leftist causes in America.

• Global warming propaganda.
• International criminal courts.
• Anti-gun campaigns.

All of it having money funneled from ineffective, socialist-styled regimes that have proven to be failures.

Think about that for a minute.

While anti-gunners like the Brady Campaign whine and cry about how much money the supposed “gun lobby” has, groups like theirs are being funded by European GOVERNMENTS!

The European Union’s own Commission accounts also show that untold millions of dollars have gone to “unnamed individual opinion formers” in the United States.

Opinion formers. Funded by the European Union..?

I would like to say I’m surprised by this, but the fact of the matter is, I have been trying to warn people for well over a year about things like this.

Remember the UN Small Arms Treaty I’ve been telling you about? I think you know how that fits in.

The very simple fact of the matter is that the Euro is beating the Dollar right now, and so the European Union – by taxing the snot out of their citizens – can drop a few million on their pet causes in the U.S. and have it go a long, long way.

That’s what we’re up against.

• Not just liberal politicians in our own country.
• Not just freedom-hating, liberal interest groups.
• Entire countries.

Generating billions and billions in tax payer revenue, and pilfering those funds to further their leftist agenda.

I’d like to say this fight will be easy, but you and I both know that’s not true.

With Senators like Rand Paul being a rarity, there aren’t a lot of people in Washington fighting against this kind of nonsense.

I intend to change that.

I will keep you posted on anything else I hear about this story, as I’m sure you are as interested in it as I am.

For Liberty,

About:
The National Association for Gun Rights was founded in 2001 to serve as a grassroots gun rights group focusing on building state-level gun rights groups and lobbying for pro-gun federal legislation. Brown has been a gun lobbyist for more than 17 years. Visit: www.nationalgunrights.org

Editorial Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed above do not necessarily reflect those of the staff, AmmoLand Shooting Sports News, or other sponsors and partners. See the Editorial-Review Process for more details.

How much of our tax money has been funding this Global Gun Ban Scheme?

Dillon Precision

Scottsdale, AZ – -(Ammoland.com)- A legally binding, global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is being prepared in the back rooms of the UN.

One goal of the Treaty’s proponents is to create national weapon databases, leading to regional databases, and then to an eventual global database.

Countries will be charged with the duty to keep track, not only of all transfers, but also of the locations of all arms and ammunition, from manufacture to destruction. A UN discussion paper states “the advent of modern information technology… promises to be a boon to the establishment of an effective tracing system in many States.” But it will take a “global harmonized system of electronic registers” before the firearm-prohibitionists are satisfied.

The expectation for these databases is to provide the ability to trace weapons that have been used either by criminals or tyrants to commit crimes, in order to ensure that these people are caught and brought to justice.

Preventatively, tyrants with a history of human rights abuses will be denied access to weapons. Or so we are told.

The Treaty will cover seven categories of conventional weapons, which include aircraft and large artillery systems, plus small arms and light weapons (SALW), plus ammunition, or “7+1 +1.” Here, we concentrate only on small arms and light weapons. We will need hardware and software that has the capability to deal with the estimated world stockpile of 875 million firearms.

The first task on the path to a global database is the marking of weapons and weapon parts. Most major manufacturers already do so. But many weapons are not marked.

Our taxes, funneled through the Department of State, Office of Removal and Abatement, fund [firearms] marking and data collection programs in Costa Rica, Paraguay and the Bahamas. We also fund programs run by the Regional Center on Small Arms (RECSA) in Africa -comprised of countries such as Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda.

How much of our tax money has been funding this?
In order to ascertain how much of our own US tax money has been funding this, we sent a FOIA request to the U.S. Department of State, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (WRA), but as of this writing, have not received any reply.

The marking machines provided by the WRA are sensitive to the environment, and require a certain degree of proficiency by the operator. It should come as no surprise that the RECSA program had been “temporarily halted as a result of the machines developing some technical problems.” The UN rationalizes these setbacks in third world countries as a step toward “capacity building.” Capacity building is an educational and developmental process that eventually, it is hoped, will enable third-world countries to catch up to Western technology. But the fact remains that these weapons must be properly marked, and third world countries fall short of such a capability.

In the firearm-prohibitionists' zeal for total weapons control, they are determined that the 875 million small arms must be marked.

In the firearm-prohibitionists’ zeal to create a peaceful world through total weapons control, they are determined that the 875 million small arms must be marked on at least three - and in many cases - six parts: the frame, barrel, firing pin, ejector, extractor and magazine. And some firearm-prohibitionist groups suggest that the slide should be marked, as well.

As each weapon - or each part - crosses a national border, an additional marking would need to be added.“Secondary markings” will add another layer of complexity. In Canada, the attempt to institute the UN’s proposed import marking scheme “met with serious setbacks.” Postponed several times since 2004, it is currently scheduled for completion in 2012.

If Canada had such difficulties, how could a country such as Nigeria accomplish this? It becomes even more confusing when parts are replaced or transferred. The paperwork that would be required, should one wish to replace the barrel or a worn-out firing pin, would be costly, time-consuming, and error-ridden.

Imagine the expense to us of changing a barrel, or replacing a firing pin, should our laws be harmonized with the UN’s “best practices.”

After marking, the entering of weapons into databases for the purpose of tracking begins. Even in relatively developed countries, the present condition of weapon databases is a nightmare. Canada’s justice Department has estimated the error rate in its registry’s database to lie between 71 and 91 percent. So, even in a modern, technologically advanced society, where cost was not a limiting factor and personnel are well educated, competent and well paid, there is an accuracy rate of only about 10-30 percent.

Additionally, “police have admitted it [their gun registry] has been breached by unknown hackers over 300 times.”

In Australia, the New South Wales Police Firearms Registry estimated its accuracy rate as 40 percent. And a few months ago, in March 2011, in the state of Western Australia, technical issues threw their licensing system into a “shambles.”

The police indicated that “they are working hard to reactivate the firearms infringement register, which will occur once they have completed the firearms registry stabilization project.”

Here in the U.S., it is evident that the same data-entry problems are endemic within our own databases.

In Colorado, it was recently reported by the Denver Post that 63 percent of the records entered by sheriffs’ offices contained inaccuracies. This single database, alone, consists of only 51,000 records, far smaller than what would be required for 875 million needed just for small arms, globally. In Texas, a computer system that tracked city-owned small arms failed to accurately keep track of their whereabouts, and about 30 percent of those inventoried weapons had gone missing. The San Antonio database tracked only 1,129 weapons.

It only gets worse from here because of a lack of “transparency.” “Transparency” means that all arms transfer data is revealed. However, in the previous decade, there was a 45-percent drop in the number of nations reporting conventional arms transfers to the UN Registry of Conventional Arms (UNROCA). As of September 2009, only 65 countries, out of nearly 200 countries, had reported any arms transfers for that year. And only a few more were expected to do so.

Compliance
The commonly used term that describes the willingness of individuals to inform their government of the weapons they possess is “compliance.”

Obviously, virtually 100 percent of the world’s criminals will never comply.

In Canada, LUFA (Canada’s Law-Abiding Unregistered Firearm Association, v/vvw.iufa.ca) admits to a 30-percent compliance level for that country’s handgun and long-gun registries. Donald Blake Webster, of the University of Toronto, noted that, “No country in the world has ever remotely approached full compliance with firearms owner licensing and registration.”

There is yet one final hurdle to overcome – the weapons-prohibitionists “global harmonized system” – their term for “interoperability.” Interoperability means that one database can be merged with another, and yet another, and yet still another. While this occurs in simple compatible systems, lack of such a capability is much more common. The complexity of language conversions will add another dimension to this dilemma.

Technically, a global weapons computer database containing the 7+1+1 might be possible, regionally and even globally. But the practical ability to implement such a system lies off the horizon. Costly, foolish schemes have rarely prevented tyrants and criminals from obtaining weapons.

About:
Dillon Precision is the only choice for all your reloading needs. Consider the quality and innovation behind each product, the lifetime “No BS” warranty, and the unparalleled reputation for post-sale service, and there simply isn’t any other option. Your only decision is which machine to buy. Dillon offers a machine for every budget or reloading need. From the “pistol only” Square Deal, the “workhorse” RL 550B, the fully progressive XL 650, to the commercial grade Super 1050. They even offer a progressive shotshell loader that blows away everything on the market. Visit: www.dillonprecision.com

How The United Nations Endangers Your Firearm Freedom

National Rifle Association

FAIRFAX, Va. --(Ammoland.com)- At the end of this month, United Nations delegates will descend upon New York City to continue working out the details of their Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which is expected to be released for ratification this summer.

Although the supposed purposes of that treaty might sound good, the reality behind the rhetoric is that it’s likely to contain a wide variety of schemes–from microstamping and gun registration to outright bans and confiscation--that could devastate your Second Amendment rights.

Worse yet, the whole notion of “global gun control” through international agreements appears to have the full support of the Obama White House.

This is a new and dangerous development.

When planning on the Arms Trade Treaty began in 2006, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton unequivocally opposed the treaty.

But in 2009, the Obama administration, through Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, formally reversed that position, signaling that they would rather have firearm freedom defined by foreign gun-banners than by our U.S. Constitution!

For a glimpse of what these international interlopers want for America, just look at their standard-bearer, the International Action Network for Small Arms (IANSA), an enormous group encompassing virtually all the world’s anti-gun organizations.

Among IANSA’s many financiers is Hungarian billionaire George Soros, who uses his staggering wealth to promote his vision of a world where national sovereignty is cast aside in favor of “global norms.”

You and I know our nation was founded for the precise purpose of escaping “global norms” and establishing a republic in which “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” were reserved as the God-given birthrights of every citizen.

Today, the White House is evidently less interested in protecting the rights of the American people than in pandering to the likes of Mexican President Felipe Calderùn.

In a speech to the U.S. Congress last year, Calderùn dishonestly suggested that the 2004 sunset of the “assault weapon” ban and the legal trade in conventional firearms here in the U.S. are somehow to blame for the horrific drug gang violence in Mexico.

So don’t be surprised when the gun haters try to force “global gun control” down our throats on the pretext of protecting Mexico from narco-terrorism.

And while the Arms Trade Treaty is the most imminent international threat to the Second Amendment, it’s hardly the only one.

In 2001, the United Nations initiated its “Programme of Action” for gun control, which pressures governments to tighten firearm restrictions. Unlike the ATT, this is a non-legally binding document–for now. Next year, that status could change with a vote.

And the Organization of American States (OAS) small arms treaty, or CIFTA, as it’s also known, is still smoldering in the background, waiting to be ratified when the time is right.

Any one of these broad international agreements could foster the growth of a global gun-ban bureaucracy, with all the restrictions, taxes, inefficiencies, waste and corruption that have characterized bureaucracies since the beginning–yet with no effect on crime.

That’s what we’ve seen in countries around the globe–from Australia and South Africa to England and Canada–that have adopted the kinds of gun bans that the U.N. now wants to impose upon the U.S.

What’s especially outrageous is that while they talk about “openness, transparency and consensus,” they also try to keep the American people in the dark about what they want to do.

Last summer, the United Nations shut out NRA, all non-governmental organizations and even ordinary citizens–in other words, everyone except member governments–from even listening to most of their discussions on the Arms Trade Treaty.

But these barricades shouldn’t come as any surprise.

After all, the United Nations represents the interests of governments–not citizens. And it’s no mystery why many of the world’s repressive regimes would want to keep firearms out of the hands of their subjects.

Thomas Paine once said, “It is the responsibility of the patriot to protect his country from its government.”

NRA will heed his warning even if no one else will.

I’ll be in New York to monitor the Arms Trade Treaty discussions, and we will do all in our power to ensure the concerns of the American people are heard–whether the U.N. likes it or not.

We must never allow the ideals that make America the last, best hope for freedom in the world to be destroyed, damaged or diminished in the least.

If foreign powers insist upon pushing their idea of “global norms” across our borders, NRA will be the first to alert and mobilize the American people to stop them.

For ongoing coverage of these events as they unfold, and analysis and commentary on what it all means, please visit www.NRANews.com.

And while the Arms Trade Treaty is the most imminent international threat to the Second Amendment, it’s hardly the only one.

About:
Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights and sportsmen’s group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation’s leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military. Visit: www.nra.org

AmmoLand Gun News

New York, NY --(Ammoland.com)- Currently, the United Nations is drafting an Arms Trade Treaty to impose strict controls on firearms and other weapons.

In support of hasty adoption of the Treaty, a UN-related organization of Treaty supporters have produced a report claiming that armed violence is responsible for 740,000 deaths annually.

This Article carefully examines the claim.

We find that the claim is based on du-bious assumptions, cherry-picked data, and mathematical legerde-main which is inexplicably being withheld from the public.

The re-fusal to disclose the mathematical calculations used to create the 740,000 factoid is itself cause for serious suspicion; our own calcula-tions indicate that the 740,000 figure is far too high. Further, while the report claims that 60% of homicides are per-petrated with firearms, our review of the data on which the report claimed to rely yields a 22% rate.

The persons responsible for the report have refused to release their homicide calculations, or any other calculations. This Article also shows how a narrow focus on restricting fire-arm ownership continues to distract international attention from life-saving, viable solutions.

We propose some practical alternatives which have already saved lives in war-ravaged areas.

Read the complete following report and then question the United Nations for the truth:

How Many Global Deaths From Arms Reasons to Question the Uns 740000 Factoid

This global norm is soon to be codified into a legally binding arms trade treaty, which includes small arms. Its advocates are seizing an opportunity to weaken our second amendment by fast-tracking the treaty so that it will be ready for signing by an American president. **Volk

Dillon Precision

Scottsdale, AZ --(Ammoland.com)- U.S. gun-owners are now entering a global battle of conflicting “norms” about possession of weapons.

We believe that the American norm of civilian possession and judicious use of weapons creates the safest environment for our families and neighbors.

But to the firearm-prohibitionists, achieving the international norm of civilian disarmament assures the best way to a peaceful society. John Bolton, former United Nations Ambassador, defined the “norming” process as using international organizations to create global standards or “norms.”

When we look at the array of proponents championing the global norm – e.g. the UN, the vast majority of sovereign states, and well-funded, well-organized non-governmental organizations – we can observe that we are facing a powerful enemy. This situation has happened over time, although we have ignored it. This global norm is soon to be codified into a legally binding Arms Trade Treaty, which includes small arms. Its advocates are seizing an opportunity to weaken our Second Amendment by fasttracking the Treaty so that it will be ready for signing by an American president.

But there is a fatal flaw in the global norm that could cause it to fail – civilians, worldwide, recognize that firearms are the best tools for self-defense.

In foreign countries, prohibitionists have been attempting for decades to disarm civilians, with little progress. Surveys in several countries, taken by prohibitionist groups, were intended to gather information that would help pave the way to a more rapid civilian disarmament.

These surveys found that up to 85 percent of respondents said that they would keep a weapon to defend themselves and their families. Despite unremitting behavioral conditioning to be fearful of weapons, self-defense remains the dominant theme of civilian weapons possession. The promise of peace after disarmament is not as comforting as a gun in one’s hands.

While civilians in some countries (such as the UK) have willingly accepted the new norm, non-compliance is more commonplace. Many civilians disobey prevailing laws, causing them to turn to the black market to acquire weapons they cannot legally obtain. And, as history has shown, this burgeoning of the black market in weapons trafficking will trump any Arms Trade Treaty.

Although the firearm-prohibitionists are planning to destroy our Second Amendment, they will be slowed and stymied by global civilian resistance. They will need to deal with an underground culture dominated by the black market.

That gives us the time we require to strengthen our own norm. But we need to spend our time wisely and productively.

Here in the U.S., self-defense is our inalienable right. But prohibitionists have successfully eroded that right while we quietly watched. They have placed limitations on civilian possession of weapons for selfdefense through measures like safe-storage, triggerlock laws, and gun-free zones. Restrictions on concealed- and open-carry of firearms have the capacity to make weapons unavailable when needed most.

We are not advocating unsafe firearm-handling practices. What we need to realize, however, is that all these measures are simply anti-self-defense ploys that contribute to the weakening of our American norm.

We need also to understand, and beware of, the concept of “proportionate response” which was created by pacifists to increase one’s culpability for defense with a weapon. Depending upon its interpretation, “proportionate response” can mean hesitating to shoot at an attacker with a gun until after he has opened fire in your direction. “Castle-doctrine” laws - i.e. duty-to-retreat vs. stand one’s ground - are part of this concept.

These laws have the same chilling anti-self defense effect. The many recent pro-gun legal victories should not serve to lull us into complacency.

Because, in spite of them, our current American norm would appear alien to our Founding Fathers should they see how it has been morphed from the vision they created and codified in our bill of Rights.

We need to unite, because we’re all in the same battle.

Proponents of .50-caliber weapons are at the forefront of the battle to keep our .22s. Open-carry proponents are protecting our right to concealed carry. Select-fire proponents are protecting those of us who prefer to possess only semiauto, or single-shot, weapons. This is the same battle – the same enemy.

For example, even if we don’t wish to carry openly, those who do are, in effect, returning us to our original norm. If we don’t wish to pick up that burden, we at least need to acknowledge the benefits they bring to strengthen our norm, and support their efforts. Many of our citizens - in fact, many gun-owners - do not fully understand the lies that have been propagated to create fear of us and our firearms. We need to change that.

We need to bolster our norm by firmly unifying our efforts, by donating to pro-gun groups, by becoming personally pro-active, and by teaching those around us of the benefits of civilian firearm ownership. All of this is needed so that we can rebuild our weakened Second Amendment norm, as we await the predictable, chaotic failure of the U.N.’s international norm, embodied in the Arms Trade Treaty.

The current wave of disarmament will wash over us this decade. It is arguable whether we are strong enough to successfully resist.

We must prepare now for the coming gun battle.

About:
Dillon Precision is the only choice for all your reloading needs. Consider the quality and innovation behind each product, the lifetime “No BS” warranty, and the unparalleled reputation for post-sale service, and there simply isn’t any other option. Your only decision is which machine to buy. Dillon offers a machine for every budget or reloading need. From the “pistol only” Square Deal, the “workhorse” RL 550B, the fully progressive XL 650, to the commercial grade Super 1050. They even offer a progressive shotshell loader that blows away everything on the market. Visit: www.dillonprecision.com

**Image: by Olegvolk.net

United Nations Monument to Gun Control

Dillon Precision

Scottsdale, AZ --(Ammoland.com)- We American gun-owners need to become more familiar with the process of “norming.”

The “norm” of civilian disarmament already surrounds our country and has the potential to nullify our Second Amendment right. When global firearm-prohibitionists speak about “norming,” they are actually discussing the process wherein society becomes increasingly hostile to the possession of arms in the hands of civilians.

This standard, or ‘norm,’ was deliberately created during several decades of lies about the safety and use of firearms, their benefits to society, and the kind of people who possess them.

And yet, we gun-owners remain unaware of its ramifications and its dangers.

During the creation of this norm, we have seen the prohibitionists lie time and time again, magnifying the costs to society of private firearm ownership, minimizing their benefits, and creating widespread fear in the process. We know we’re on the side of truth because we don’t need to manipulate the facts to fit our philosophy, as do the prohibitionists. In two decades of firearms research and experience, we have never seen a deliberate attempt by unbiased firearm researchers to obfuscate data.

The more people who accept the norm, the stronger the norm becomes.

Owen Greene of Saferworld, an anti-gun non-governmental organization (NGO), elaborated: “It is generally agreed that controls on possession by civilians of Small Arms and Light Weapons [SALW, an ambiguous group of weapons that includes ordinary firearms] are a critical element of national controls to prevent, combat, and reduce SALW trafficking, proliferation and misuse.”

Greene is secure in the knowledge that this norm already has extremely vigorous and widespread global support.

The new norm does not allow for self-defense, as government intends to provide that service for us. Even if one might actually comply with strict regulations and even if one might actually be permitted to keep his/her sporting gun at home, instead of being locked up at the local range, these guns will never be available for emergency use.

One of the most damning ramifications of the new norm is that those few remaining gun-owners will be looked upon with disdain.

This is the norm that is presently being codified into a global legally-binding Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) that will encompass all conventional weapons.

It might be possible for our laws to be changed because of this treaty, even without a Presidential signature, or Senate ratification. The ATT is set to become the global norm, and the global firearm-prohibitionists would only need to wait for an opportune time to act. We expect that 175 of the approximately 200 nations in today’s world would sign onto the ATT. Although many of these nations will sign with no expectation of complying with its provisions, this will not affect the strength of the norm.

According to attorney Joseph Bruce Alonzo, “gun control laws could affect United States parties in the event that gun control becomes a customary international law [i.e. becomes a norm]…. Non consensual customary international law may arise as a result of international practice. This international practice may be evidenced by events not approved by the United States but eventually held binding on the United States.”

That’s how this norm, or soft law, has the potential to trump the Second Amendment.

John Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, recognized the norming process, and rejected it as being destructive to our Constitution.

Expressing his displeasure, he wrote: “Much of the development of norming comes as a result of people who are dissatisfied with political outcomes they have achieved at the state and federal level and who are determined to take their argument into the broader international context, who see the norming process as the way to constrain the United States.”

There is another norm—our norm—which was bequeathed to us by our Founding Fathers.

Ed Laurence of the Monterey Institute of International Studies complained : “An opposing norm that favors continued high levels of arms sales—based on the belief that citizens have the “right” to buy guns for self-defense, self-determination, entertainment, or to provide for their families—is preventing the development of a global consensus on small arms policy.”

We are the last remaining hope for the sovereignty of individuals and the civilian possession of firearms.

U.S. civilians own about 270 million firearms, about 30% of the total global stockpile of 875 million firearms. But we estimate that only about 5 million people, out of approximately 70-80 million American gun-owners, have joined in one or more activist groups that have been formed to protect our right to private firearm ownership.

This simply is not enough. We must get gun-owners out of the closet and actively working hard with us.

How undamaged we and our rights emerge from this United Nations firestorm, that will engulf us for the next 5-10 years, depends upon how willing we all are to accept our responsibilities today.

About:
Dillon Precision is the only choice for all your reloading needs. Consider the quality and innovation behind each product, the lifetime “No BS” warranty, and the unparalleled reputation for post-sale service, and there simply isn’t any other option. Your only decision is which machine to buy. Dillon offers a machine for every budget or reloading need. From the “pistol only” Square Deal, the “workhorse” RL 550B, the fully progressive XL 650, to the commercial grade Super 1050. They even offer a progressive shotshell loader that blows away everything on the market. Visit: www.dillonprecision.com

Gun Owners of America

Washington, DC --(Ammoland.com)- In late September, several dozen UN representatives met at the University of Massachusetts in Boston to further discuss their plans for global gun control.

While our President may have a history of being absent for important events --missing over 300 votes while in the U.S. Senate, dissing important dignitaries who visit our country, etc. - he was sure to have his administration represented at this meeting.

The final report for the Boston Symposium on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is posted online and states that:

“In the end, we seek to achieve an ATT that will establish the highest possible common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms, including small arms and light weapons, in order to contribute effectively towards peace and stability. This Symposium has brought us one step closer to achieving that goal.”

So, they are one step closer to their goal. What are there goals for our firearms?

Apart from using generic phrases like “highest possible common international standards” (aka, gun controls), the gun banners are very careful not to publicly post specific anti-gun proposals that would excite the American public against them.

But Paul Gallant and Joanne Eisen, who have attended these UN meetings, spell out what the proposed ATT will really entail.

Writing together with another noted firearms author of the Independence Institute, Dave Kopel, they say that an Arms Trade Treaty would impose:

• Microstamping on firearms, thus increasing the cost of each gun by about $200;
• Registration of all firearms, which is often a prelude to gun confiscation;
• Restrictions on gun sales, especially private transfers (thus, no more gun shows as we know them);
• Embargoes on firearms and materials (such as nickel and tungsten) that would limit access to many of the firearms which are sold in this country.

I’ll never submit to any stinkin’ gun control laws! You might think: “I don’t care what the UN imposes on us, I will never comply with their gun controls.”

Oh really? So, you’ll never buy a new gun from a gun dealer? Because if you do – and that gun has been manufactured according to UN treaty standards – then the microstamping technology on that gun will cost you a couple hundred dollars extra.

Not only that, the signature impressions that the firing pin leaves on your spent cartridge cases will be registered with the government under your name.

No problem, you say, you’re not a criminal — so who cares if the signature from your firing pin is registered with the government.

Well, do you ever take your guns to a shooting range and leave your spent brass? According to Kopel, criminals could easily implicate innocent gun owners by going to gun ranges, collecting the empty casings and dumping them at crime scenes. Moreover, the common practice of selling or giving away once-fired brass could disappear overnight.

Do you still think that a UN treaty won’t affect you? The “master minds” at the UN plan to register every firearms sale that passes through a gun dealer and to cut off (make illegal) any private sale that you might attempt as a means of circumventing their controls.

But we can beat this travesty by electing an Obama-proof Senate this November!

Even if the President signs the Arms Trade Treaty – and he most certainly will when it’s completed – we can strangle this hideous creature in its cradle if he can’t get two-thirds of all the Senators to support him.

Help GOA stop UN gun control

That’s why GOA is here, fighting to make sure he can’t impose a UN gun ban on every American citizen.

GOA has published its 2010 Voter Guide which is available at the GOA website.

And the GOA Political Victory Fund has helped pushed several pro-gun candidates over the hump in their primaries and into the lead for the general election. You can go to the GOA-PVF site to get more details on these races.

This is crunch time. We are less than two weeks away from one of the most important elections in our lifetimes.

Thank you so much for your support!

About:
Gun Owners of America (GOA) is a non-profit lobbying organization formed in 1975 to preserve and defend the Second Amendment rights of gun owners. GOA sees firearms ownership as a freedom issue. `The only no comprise gun lobby in Washington’ – Ron Paul

National Association for Gun Rights

Colorado -–(Ammoland.com)- A storm of liberal anti-gun opinion is swelling to force international anti-gun policies on American citizens as NAGR continues the fight to protect the Second Amendment from international gun grabbers.

Recently we reported that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Obama Administration are pushing for Senate ratification of the United Nations’ “Small Arms Treaty.” The National Association for Gun Rights has taken the lead on stopping this end-run around the Constitution by contacting millions of Americans about this impending threat to their liberties, and working with principled leaders in Washington, D.C. to build a bulwark against the treaty.

NAGR has been the lead organization in opposition to the Small Arms Treaty, conducting high-level meetings with Congressional leaders and delivering hundreds of thousands of signed petitions to members of the U.S. House and Senate, demanding the United States oppose this treaty.

Recently, NAGR Executive Director Dudley Brown met with U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) to lay out strategic plans to defeat this threat to our constitutional liberties. United Nations working groups are meeting this summer to outline the language of the  next “Small Arms Treaty” which is virtually assured to include extensive bans on handguns, semi-automatic rifles and rifle ammunition. The U.N. is planning to vote on the Small Arms Treaty in 2012, and international and local liberals are lining up in support of selling American sovereignty to buy international favor.

In order to prepare the ground work for a treaty that is sure to be a full scale attack on our right to keep and bear arms, national and international gun banners have begun the siren call of international safety over American rights.

These internationalists have the gall to stand before Congress and demand that the United States disregard the Constitution for the good of global society. Mexican President Felipe Calderon addressed a joint session of Congress and demanded that U.S. lawmakers ban so-called “assault rifles” to stop crime in Mexico. President Calderon is powerless to stop the ruthless drug cartels that are destroying his country, yet he is demanding that the U.S. ban your semi-automatic hunting rifles.

Calderon went on to use the well of the U.S. House of Representatives to blame the rampant violence in Mexico on the 2004 repeal of the Clinton/Feinstein assault weapons ban.

While it may seem unlikely that a renewal of the 1994 assault weapon ban would be passed by the full Congress, ratification of the UN gun ban would only take a majority of U.S. Senators to pass. This is why NAGR has placed the UN Gun Ban as its highest priority for 2010.

Not long before Calderon’s outrageous comments before Congress, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley joined the chorus to subjugate American interests to the whim of international favor.

In the face of the Supreme Court overturning Chicago’s handgun ban and after being rebuffed by the high court in his $433 million lawsuit against gun manufacturers, Daley wants the World Court to supersede U.S. law in firearms cases.

In April, Daley convinced dozens of mayors, including Mexico City’s, to join him in petitioning the World Court to overturn U.S. regulations protecting firearms and firearms manufacturers.

Gun banners like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama know the American people don’t support European-style gun bans. They’re hoping to subvert the American people and the electoral process by using international agreements like the UN Small Arms Treaty to achieve their anti-gun ends.

The staff and members of NAGR are continuing to stand against this international arms seizure attempt. To find out the latest, subscribe to AmmoLand Shooting Sports News for the latest news.

About:
The National Association for Gun Rights was founded in 2001 to serve as a grassroots gun rights group focusing on building state-level gun rights groups and lobbying for pro-gun federal legislation. Brown has been a gun lobbyist for more than 17 years. Visit: www.nationalgunrights.org

Editorial Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed above do not necessarily reflect those of the staff, AmmoLand Shooting Sports News, or other sponsors and partners. See the Editorial-Review Process for more details.

National Association for Gun Rights

Washington, DC--(Ammoland.com)- On June 28th, the Supreme Court ruled that the City of Chicago’s handgun ban was unconstitutional and the right to keep and bear arms is fundamental to the Constitution.

Many have called this a stunning victory, but before you pop the cork on the champagne you’ve been saving for a special occasion, let me warn you: the devil is in the details.

This decision does not fundamentally change our continued need to fight to preserve and advance our right to keep and bear arms.

It’s certainly worth celebrating that Justice Samuel Alito specifically cited NAGR’s amicus curiae brief in the majority decision when he wrote “A clear majority of the States in 1868, therefore, recognized the right to keep and bear arms as being among the foundational rights necessary to our system of Government.” (page 30 of the opinion).

However, Justice Alito also stated, “We made it clear in Heller that our holding did not cast doubt on such longstanding regulatory measures as ‘prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill,’ ‘laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.’ We repeat those assurances here. Despite municipal respondents’ doomsday proclamations, incorporation does not imperil every law regulating firearms.”

According to Justice Alito’s ruling, the fight for your Second Amendment rights is just beginning.

What Justice Alito and the court is saying is simple: your right to keep and bear arms is fundamentally guaranteed so long as you abide by the state and federal laws which restrict those same rights.

In the end, some of the worst gun control may be struck down. In some cases, it may only take a few months. Other cases will grind through repeal after repeal. More Supreme Court cases in 2-5 years are all but guaranteed.

Meanwhile, anti-gunners will seize on every upheld state law as an opportunity to pass new gun control and they will respond to every defeated gun control law with new legislation designed to continue their anti-gun crusade (as Congress did with the gun-free school law after it was struck down and the District of Columbia after losing in the Heller case).

Even anti-gun groups like New Yorkers Against Gun Violence are trumpeting the ruling and pointing out that wording of the ruling means, “your [Second Amendment] rights can be restricted.”

Before the ink was even dry on the ruling, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley was already plotting to pass a host of new restrictions on handgun ownership in Chicago, which may follow the letter of the Court’s decision, but will make the requirements for ownership so onerous that the ban will remain in all but name.

Now more than ever gun owners must be active in the public policy arena. The anti-gunners in Washington D.C. and State Legislatures across the country are sure to be preparing the next round of attacks against our rights.

In D.C., anti-gunners like Diane Feinstein and Chuck Schumer want to ban all private firearms sales, and Hillary Clinton is working hard to force United Nations gun bans on American citizens.

And in states legislatures many of the little details of our right to keep and bear arms are under assault – and are being compromised – every day.

Make no mistake, the McDonald decision is not a magic bullet that will reverse generations of gun control legislation.

The only way to fight the anti-gunners is to organize grassroots activists and to turn up the heat on antigun politicians.

About:
The National Association for Gun Rights was founded in 2001 to serve as a grassroots gun rights group focusing on building state-level gun rights groups and lobbying for pro-gun federal legislation. Brown has been a gun lobbyist for more than 17 years. Visit: www.nationalgunrights.org

Editorial Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed above do not necessarily reflect those of the staff, AmmoLand Shooting Sports News, or other sponsors and partners. See the Editorial-Review Process for more details.

National Rifle Association

Charlotte, NC --(Ammoland.com)-The NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action wrapped up its lobbying efforts at the first session of the UN committee drafting an “arms trade treaty.” The “Preparatory Committee for the UN Arms Trade Treaty Conference” (called the “Prep Com”) has been meeting in New York from July 12 to today, July 23. The meeting is one in a series to prepare for a major conference to finalize an arms trade treaty in 2012.

NRA-ILA was one of few pro-gun groups at the meeting. Anti-gun groups had a strong presence led by the International Action Network on Small Arms.

The Chairman of the meeting, Ambassador Roberto Garcia Moritan, released a 14-point outline of a possible arms trade treaty. Several other supporting position papers were also published. The inclusion of civilian firearms remains one of the controversial aspects of the proposed treaty. Countries such as Mexico and the Netherlands want civilian firearms included in the treaty. Other countries, such as New Zealand, want those types of arms excluded from the treaty. In a move that disappointed anti-gun groups, Moritan’s treaty outline includes a category for “Exclusions,” and the supporting position paper lists an exclusion covering civilian firearms. Still, we must remain vigilant on this and series of other threatening issues.

The Prep Com will meet again in New York the week of February 28, 2011. It will meet a second time in July 2011. There are also an extensive series of workshops scheduled for 2011 to “support” the Arms Trade Treaty.

Below, you may view video coverage of these meetings by NRA News correspondent Ginny Simone.

We will report on further developments as they occur.

About:
Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights and sportsmen’s group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation’s leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military. Visit: www.nra.org

Live From The UN Arms Trade Treaty As Planning Continues On Banning Guns

Second Amendment Foundation

Argentina - -(Ammoland.com)- The Following is an up to the minute report from Julianne Versnel, Director of Operations for the Second Amendment Foundation who is representing SAF as an NGO delegate at the United Nations ATT meeting.

The Arms Trade Treaty Prep Committee began on July 12, 2010 and will conclude on July 23, 2010. Ambassador Roberto Garcia Moritan of Argentina is the Chair.

On Friday, July 19, Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) representatives were told that the majority of the meetings would be closed to them. The critical discussions on the scope of the treaty will have no input from any non-governmental entity. Scope is critical in the Arms Trade Treaty process. In North America, some Pan Asian Countries and in some other parts of the world, the arms that we expect to have covered in this treaty are nuclear weapons. In much of Europe and most all of Africa, the delegates anticipate that the ATT will cover rifles, shotguns, handguns and ammunition as well.

There appears little doubt that some sort of treaty will be adopted by 2014, if not by 2012. It is anticipated that the final treaty will attempt to register all firearms, require micro-stamping, destruction of surplus ammunition on a very set schedule, registration of all firearms and restriction on any transfer of arms including between private individuals and many other restrictions.

If the United States is a signatory and this is ratified by the U.S. Senate, this UN treaty would be the law. On October 30, 2009, UN members voted in favor of an ATT. The United States voted in favor of an ATT.

The UN has an aggressive schedule of meetings planned to push for these restrictions and we will be there representing you in every way we can. We will be at the CTOP/COP meeting in Vienna the week of October 18 and a General Assembly meeting at the end of October. In January, the five permanent members of the Security Council will meet and this is on the agenda. There will be another ATT Preparatory meeting at the end of February in New York.

The regional UNIDIR meeting sponsored by the EU will start in March. We will come full circle with the Programme of Action Experts Meeting in May 2011 and the July 17-21 ATT Preparatory meeting that is expected to offer the final draft to the treaty.

Busting Internet Gun Control Rumors

Illinois State Rifle Association

Illinois - -(AmmoLand.com)- Many times a week, ISRA receives the following “important warning”, in this form, or something very similar, sometimes in all caps, large fonts, different colors, you’ve been receiving it too.

Here’s an example:

While you were watching the oil spill, the New York failed terrorist bombing and other critical crises, Hillary Clinton signed the small arms treaty with the UN.

OBAMA FINDS LEGAL WAY AROUND THE 2ND AMENDMENT AND USES IT.
IF THIS PASSES, THERE COULD BE WAR

On Wednesday Obama Took the First Major Step in a Plan to Ban All Firearms in the United States

On Wednesday the Obama administration took its first major step in a plan to ban all firearms in the United States . The Obama administration intends to force gun control and a complete ban on all weapons for US citizens through the signing of international treaties with foreign nations. By signing international treaties on gun control, the Obama administration can use the US State Department to bypass the normal legislative process in Congress. Once the US Government signs these international treaties, all US citizens will be subject to those gun laws created by foreign governments. These are laws that have been developed and promoted by organizations such as the United Nations and individuals such as George Soros and Michael Bloomberg.

[edited for brevity]

Click on the link below for further acknowledgments: http://tiny.cc/5zxuv
Please forward this message to others who may be concerned about the direction in which our country is headed. This is a very serious matter! Silence will lead us to Socialism!!!

So is Hillary coming for your guns?
Like most stories spread on the internet there is some truth to this, some falsehood and some exaggerations.

The talks about the treaty and IANSA exist. That said, we are a sovereign country with our own constitution. Even if the administration signed such a treaty, it has to be ratified by 2/3 of the US Senate, and even if they could ratify it, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that we have an individual constitutionally protected right to own firearms. There has been no signing of any such treaty.

This administration does not have the power to implement such a change in American culture. Look at all the trouble they had passing the health care bill. The resistance to that change would be dwarfed by the people’s resistance if they were looking at a revocation of their second amendment rights.

Still, the threat is being taken seriously. The Second Amendment Foundation has a recently formed International organization that is tracking these, as is the NRA. ISRA works closely with both of these organizations and if there is a credible, immediate threat that requires action, ISRA will be amongst the first to get out the alerts to our friends.

Gunowners must stay organized and informed. Being a member of the ISRA is the best way to achieve that. If you’re not an ISRA member, you can join on-line , or over the phone at 815-635-3198. You can download a printable application form here .

About:
The ISRA is the state’s leading advocate of safe, lawful and responsible firearms ownership. Since 1903, the ISRA has represented the interests of over 1.5 million law-abiding Illinois firearm owners Visit: www.isra.org

United Nations Monument to Gun Control

Montana Shooting Sports Association

Washington, DC --(Ammoland.com)- I’ve probably received 100 emails from folks asking me if it’s true that Obama will sign a U.N. gun control treaty requiring confiscation of firearms in the U.S.

I can no longer take the time to reply individually to these queries, so let me answer the question one final time for everyone.

Civics 101: No treaty is effective unless ratified by a supermajority of the U.S. Senate. The Senate still has not ratified the CIFTA gun control treaty signed by President Bill Clinton years ago. There is currently NOT sufficient political will in Washington to muster a supermajority of the Senate to ratify the U.N. treaty that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is reputed to have said the U.S. will approve. Obama’s political capital is going down the drain. He needs to preserve every ounce of remaining political capital to try to turn 30 million illegal immigrants into legal Obama voters.

So, given the current political climate in Washington, the U.N. gun control treaty is not a threat, not to say that the political climate can’t change and that we shouldn’t be watchful.

Civics 102: There are only two ways the U.S. Constitution may be amended – by a constitutional convention or by a constitutional amendment sent by Congress to and ratified by a supermajority of the states. Amendment by treaty is NOT one of these ways. Any treaty in conflict with the Constitution (and the Second Amendment) is without effect in the U.S. The Supreme Court has done some outrageous things in “reinterpreting” the Constitution. See my essay about “Jury-rigging the Commerce Clause” at: http://www.marbut.com/commerce/

However, given the current balance of the Supreme Court, no “reinterpretation” of the Second Amendment is likely, even if Obama nominee Elena Kagan is confirmed. The U.N. treaty is worth keeping an eye on for this reason, but it is not a current threat.

Some groups have been using the scare story of this potential U.N. treaty as a way to spook people into giving them money. If you receive such a pitch, you should base any donation upon what the group has done to protect your right to bear arms, not on some illusive scare story.

MSSA doesn’t use scare stories to raise money. We have, however, gotten 54 pro-gun and pro-hunting bills through the Montana Legislature in the past 25 years or so. If you have spare change lying around and available to donate, MSSA would sure put it to good and effective use.

The best donation would be to MSSA’s Political Committee, “MSSA PC,” and may be mailed to P.O. Box 4924, Missoula 59806. For our PC we cannot accept checks from corporations (although that may change – another lawsuit underway). For any donation of $250 or more, we also need to know and report the donor’s address, occupation and employer.

Our current major battles are our lawsuit to validate the Montana Firearms Freedom Act, trying once again to get the military destruction of fired brass stopped, evaluating and supporting candidates for the Montana Legislature, and preparing to run the extensive and important issues on our Legislative Agenda in the 2011 Montana Legislature.

To be informed about these important legislative issues for 2011, see our Legislative Candidate Questionnaire at: http://www.ProGunLeaders.org/lcq2010

Best wishes,

About Montana Shooting Sports Association:
MSSA is the primary political advocate for Montana gun owners. Visit: www.mtssa.org

International Association For The Protection Of Civilian Arms Rights

Second Amendment Foundation

Brescia, Italy --(AmmoLand.com)- IAPCAR Ambassadors Julianne Versnel (SAF), Alan Gottlieb (CCRKBA) and Simone Ciucchi and Silvia Gentile (FISAT) attended EXA 2010, the 29th International Sporting Arms, Security, Outdoor Show in Brescia, Italy where they launched an IAPCAR supported class action lawsuit to protect the rights of Italian firearms owners.

At the EXA Show over 1200 gun owners signed up as co-plaintiffs for the first ever gun owner class action lawsuit filed in Europe. IAPCAR owes a very big thank you to the Italian gun magazine, ARMIeTiro who provided the exhibit space for the effort.

So far this year, IAPCAR has held meetings and events at SHOT in Las Vegas, Nevada (USA) IWA in Nuremberg, Germany and at EXA in Brescia, Italy.

IAPCAR now has 14 member organizations from 7 countries on three continents. Several more national organizations are in the process of joining.

IAPCAR Managing Director Mark Barnes will hold an Executive Committee meeting on May 1 in Phoenix, Arizona (USA) where plans for additional meetings, events and activities will be developed. Events, meetings and activities on the executive meeting agenda will include:

NRA Convention and Annual Meeting: (May 14-16) A number of IAPCAR Ambassadors and member organizations will be attending and will have an opportunity to get together and network. The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) will have an exhibit booth at the Charlotte, North Carolina (USA) event.

UN Programme of Action (POA) on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW): BMS4 will be held the week of June 14-18, 2010, in New York. Several IAPCAR Ambassadors and member organizations will attend this important United Nations meeting.

The UN General Assembly has also authorized an Open Ended Working Group (OEWG) to meet in 2011 to review the POA and make recommendations to a major conference on SALW in 2012. The POA OEWG will meet during the week of January 10, 2011. There are plans for will regional meetings in support of the POA in 2011. UNIDIR will be coordinating these meetings. Dates and locations have not been decided but the meeting for the Americas will probably be held in South America (Argentina or Chile).

UN Arms Trade Treaty: The ATT Preparatory Committee (Prep. Com.) meeting will be held from July 12-23, 2010, in New York. As currently planned, there will be further ATT Preparatory Committee meetings in 2011, a short procedural meeting in 2012 followed by a four-week conference in later in the year.

Gun Rights Policy Conference: The event will take place September 24-26, 2010 in San Francisco, California (USA) and include a panel made up of IAPCAR Ambassadors and member organizations as well as a strategy meeting to combat the global threat to civilian arms rights.

United Nations Firearms Protocol: Work continues for the Expert Working Group for the Development of a Model Law on Firearms. There is a tentative meeting set for the first week of July in Vienna. The Protocol will be on the agenda for the Conference of Parties to the Trans-national Organized Crime Convention that meets in Vienna Oct. 18-22, 2010.

International Small Arms Control Standards (ISACS): Reports are due. Please check www.un-casa.org for updates.

International Ammunition Regulations: The UN is circulating draft proposals for stockpile guidelines. This continues to be an area of grave concern as it appears to be a closed.

UN Register of Conventional Arms: There will be a major effort by the international anti-gun rights lobby to expand the UN Register of Conventional Arms to include “small arms and light weapons.” Handguns, rifles and shotguns would fall into this definition and therefore be included in plans for registration and control proposals and treaties. This effort should conclude in 2012.

Future Meetings Calendar

• UN POA – Biennial Meeting of States, June 14-18, 2010.
• UN ATT Preparatory Committee – July 12-16, 2010, New York.
• UN Firearms Protocol – Conference of Parties to the Trans-national Organized Crime Convention that meets in Vienna, Oct. 18-22, 2010.
• UN General Assembly First Committee – October/November, 2010 (exact dates to be announced).
• UN POA OEWG – January 10-14, 2011.
• UN ATT Preparatory Committee – February 28 to March 4, 2011, New York.
• IAPCAR IWA 2011 Meetings – March 11-12, 2011, Nuremberg, Germany.
• UN ATT Preparatory Committee – July 11-15, 2011, New York.

About:
The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nations oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, CT; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers and an amicus brief and fund for the Emerson case holding the Second Amendment as an individual right.

Virginia Gun Owners Coalition

Virginia --(AmmoLand.com)- Now that President Obama is no longer preoccupied with his anti-gun Obama Care bill, he is free to deliver on his promises to the gun control lobby.

You and I have done everything we can to urge Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell to protect our gun rights on a state level.

After the April 21st Veto Session in Richmond, there is very little that we can do until next year in Virginia.

But right now, President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are pushing for passage of the United Nations Treaty on Small Arms.

If Obama and Clinton get their way, Americans could see an international gun control treaty imposing licensing restrictions, bans on most semi-automatic firearms, an end to private sales of guns, and much more.

That is why I hope you will call Senator Jim Webb at 202 224 4024 and urge him to filibuster the U.N. Small Arms Treaty.

And please make as generous a donation as possible at www.vgoc.org to help me mobilize gun owners all across Virginia.

About:
Virginia Gun Owners Coalition is Virginia’s only no-compromise, non-partisan gun lobby patterned after Gun Owners of America on Capitol Hill. VGOC is a non-profit tax-exempt organization under 501(c)(4) of the IRS code. Because we lobby politicians to protect and defend the 2nd Amendment, contributions are not tax deductible for IRS purposes. Visit: www.vgoc.org

This might as well be a monument to what the United Nation would do to pro gun websites on the internet if handed control by Obama White House.

AmmoLand Gun News

Washington, DC – -(AmmoLand.com)- In a recent article titled Obama Surrendering Internet to Foreign Powers by Bradley A. Blakeman, a former deputy assistant to President George W. Bush, he exposed the current plan in motion by the Obama administration to “show the world how inclusive, sharing, cooperative, and international America can be” by moving quietly to cede control of the Web from the United States to foreign powers like the United Nations.

Why should that matter to Gun Owners?
Because as we all know the the United Nations, and in particular powerful international groups like IANSA, would stop at nothing to ban, block, reduce access too or tear down pro gun websites.

“[The] Obama administration [has] set off on a plan to surrender control and key management of the Internet by the U.S. Department of Commerce and its agents.

The key to the control America has over the Internet is through the management of the Domain Name System (DNS) and the giant servers that service the Internet.

Domain names are managed through an entity named IANA, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. The IANA, which operates on behalf of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is responsible for the global coordination of the DNS, IP addressing, and other Internet protocol resources.

In short, without an IP Address or other essential Internet protocols, a person or entity would not have access to the Internet.”

What does that mean for you and me?
For one thing surfing to our favorite pro gun websites could be restricted under various schemes or “protocol”.  From blocking access to particular IP addresses, refusing to register or renew domain names or blocking access to domain names that include particular gun phrases, IE: Ar15, NRA, Ruger, Glock, Remington.

The following domains could all be black listed:

• www.ammoland.com (of particular concern for the author)
• www.nra.org
• www.nraila.org
• www.ar15.com
• www.1911.com
• www.stagarms.com
• www.bushmaster.com
• www.thehighroad.org
• www.nationalgunrights.org
• www.gunowners.org
• www.righttokeepandbeararms.com
• You get the idea..

What dose that mean for freedom?
As gun owners we understand that by having the right to keep and bear arms means we ARE FREE and we promise to make it extremely costly for anyone politician, government or world organization to try and take that from us because of the arms we legally have under our beds and concealed on our persons.

Yes, I understand that the internet is more complicated than my example above but the fact is if you give a body like the Gun Hating United Nations control of IANA you are opening up the opportunity for them to stamp out freedom like we have in the USA and by extension freedom like we have on the internet.

“America needs to wake up. If we lose control over the management of the
Internet, we have given away one of our nation’s greatest assets with nothing
in return to show for it.

The Obama administration’s actions will set in motion a slow and complete takeover of the Internet by the United Nations or some other equally U.S.-hostile and unfriendly international body. And once it is gone, it will be gone forever.

The surrender of the Internet will spell disaster for our nation, financially, as well as for safety, security and our standing as a great power that values freedom and the free exchange of ideas and information.”

I more than agree with Mr Blakeman when he says “America is still the last best hope for a more peaceful and prosperous world and our president should not be looking for
ways to weaken us. Rather, his job is to work to strengthen us and protect our nation’s greatest asset our people’s creativity and ingenuity.”

America is the last hold out for freedom and guns make it that way.

Contact you congressmen or senator and let him know it is unacceptable to let our president hand-over the core operations having to do with the internet to any group that is not 100% under American control!

Buckeye Firearms Foundation

Ohio --(Ammoland.com)- During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama assured gun owners that he was no threat to gun rights. And so far, his administration has publicly steered clear of the issue.

However, behind the scenes, he and his staff have shown support for the U.N. Gun Ban, an international treaty on small arms sales that could sidestep established American gun rights and pose a serious threat to the Second Amendment.

President George W. Bush refused to involve America in any aspect of the U.N. Gun Ban treaty. But the government’s position changed when Obama gave Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the green light to begin the negotiation process.

Worse, the small arms treaty brings up a horrifying proposition that the theory of “international norms” means the U.S. might be bound by the treaty even if we never sign on.

Basically, once the small arms treaty is accepted by enough nations, the argument can be made that the provisions become accepted practice and binding on all nations. Based on that logic, America is hurt by the U.N. treaty whether we are a party to it or not.

Barack Obama is the most anti gun president in history and his anti-gun views are a threat to gun rights. If he can destroy the right to bear arms while cozying up to the U.N., without paying a political price, he will surely do so.

Click here to read the full story.

Gun Rights Roundup is a joint venture of Buckeye Firearms Association and USCCA. We will keep fighting until every American enjoys their natural right to carry and self-defense. For more news on pro-gun law, politics, and events, click here to subscribe to Buckeye Firearms Association’s FREE Newsletter.

About:
Buckeye Firearms Association is a grassroots political action committee dedicated to defending and advancing the right of Ohio citizens to own and use firearms for all legal activities. Visit: www.buckeyefirearms.org

National Rifle Association

FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA --(AmmoLand.com)- NRA News’ investigative reporter Ginny Simone takes a look at the global gun control goals of the United Nations.

By pushing for a binding international treaty aimed at superseding the U.S. Constitution, the United Nations is committed to rendering Americans’ Second Amendment rights to own a firearm meaningless.

Simone interviews past and current U.N. officials and politicians and examines the debates at the United Nations Small Arms Summit to expose the international anti-gun agenda.

View the video above or follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDMeDmV0ufU

What is IANSA?
International Action Network on Small Arms says they are “The International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) is the global movement against gun violence – a network of 800 civil society organizations working in 120 countries to stop the proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons (SALW).”

What they really are is a well organized, well funded group of anti-gun partner organizations, including the Brady Campaign” from around the world, funded by governments that hate and fear the freedoms of the USA.

IANSA has one goal….to take a way the right of free Americans to own guns.

About:
Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights and sportsmen’s group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation’s leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military.

National Rifle Association of America

National Rifle Association

New York, NY - -(AmmoLand.com)- Over the last few weeks, the NRA has received many inquiries regarding the UN and the impact of international treaties on our Second Amendment freedom.

The NRA has been engaged at the United Nations and elsewhere internationally in response to anti-small arms initiatives for over 14 years. In most cases, agendas for the elimination of private ownership of firearms are disguised as calls for international arms control to stem the flow of illicit military weapons. These instruments are generally promoted by a small group of nations and a large number of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working in conjunction with departmental bureaucracies in multi-national institutions such as the UN and European Union.

The new U.S. administration, to no one’s surprise, has changed direction in the UN with respect to international small arms control initiatives that were resisted by the previous administration.

The current issue under discussion, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), is in the early stages of the negotiation process. There is no actual draft text at this time. Work on the ATT is scheduled to continue by a consensus process between now and 2012. It should be noted that any treaty must be approved by two thirds of the U.S. Senate for ratification.

Attempts to thwart our freedoms should be no surprise, given the anti-gun climate of the international community in general, and the current U.S. administration in particular.

More Generally
The NRA does not concern itself with foreign policy or arms control initiatives—except to the extent they would directly or indirectly affect Second Amendment rights.

We have been actively opposing transnational efforts that would limit Second Amendment freedoms. For many years, NRA has been monitoring and actively fighting any credible attempts on the part of the UN to restrict our sovereignty and gun rights. As a recognized Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) at the United Nations since 1997, NRA gives gun owners a strong voice in the UN’s debate over global “gun control.”

As one of over 2,000 NGOs representing everyone from religious groups to the banking industry, NRA has access to UN meetings that are closed to the general public, and is able to distribute informational materials to participants in UN activities.

Most importantly, NRA’s status as an NGO allows us to monitor more closely the internal UN debate over firearm issues and report back to our members. The role NRA plays within the UN as an NGO is almost identical to the role our registered lobbyists play every day on Capitol Hill and in state capitals across the nation—educating and informing decision-makers of the facts behind the debate, and working to protect the interests of American gun owners and NRA members.

Due to our NGO status, NRA was able to take an active role in thwarting the absurdly titled “UN Conference to Review Progress Made in the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects” in 2006, and the previous meeting, the “UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons” in the summer of 2001.

The UN Small Arms Conference ended in deadlock with no formal conclusions or recommendations, due in large part to the NRA. In the final analysis, the complexity of the issue and the concerns of hunters, sport shooters and firearm owners world-wide prevailed. The failure of the program was total; no recommendations on ammunition, civilian possession or future UN meetings, or for that matter any other subjects, were adopted.

In addition to its UN activities, NRA is a founding member of the World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities (WFSA). The WFSA is an association of hunting, shooting, and industry organizations that was founded in 1996. The WFSA includes over 35 national and international organizations, and represents over 100 million sport shooters worldwide.

NRA members and gun owners in general, may rest assured that the NRA is actively engaged in international matters. We have never hesitated, nor will we hesitate, to use the political and other resources available to us to resist any international agreement that could in any way affect our Second Amendment rights.

About:
Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights and sportsmen’s group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation’s leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military.

NICS Back Ground Checks for October 2009

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Washington, DC --(AmmoLand.com)- Data released by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) reported 1,233,982 NICS Checks in October 2009, a 4 percent increase from the 1,183,279 reported in October 2008.

So far that is roughly 11,403,417 gun bought this year! The total is probably more as NICS background checks may cover the purchase of more than one gun at a time.

This latest jump in background checks show that Americans are solidly in-favor of keeping firearms in the hands of law abiding citizens.

This clearly shows that the Obama Administration’s OK to proceed with a United Nations Arms Trade Treaty, that could be an end run on our 2nd amendment rights, is in direct opposition to his claim that he supports the 2nd amendment.

That is like saying I support the right to free speech as long as it is censored..!