By Paul Gallant, Sherry Gallant, Alan J. Chwick, and Joanne D. Eisen
New York –-(Ammoland.com)- Now that the Arms Trade Treaty is just waiting for ratification, we have a moment to reflect.
Proponents are expecting that the 50 ratifications needed for entry into force should occur by the end of 2014.
ControlArms ( https://controlarms.org/en/ ) , a non-governmental organization which encourages strong firearm regulation leading to disarmed civilians said, “It creates a new global norm against which states’ practice will be measured, by other states and by international civil society.”
The “global norm” that they refer to will give our home-grown firearm-prohibitionists the impetus to continue regulating our firearms far past the point of silliness —regulating not out of safety considerations— but as part of a disarmament scheme.
Yet each time Obama squints our way, he sells guns and ammo. In fact, he has been dubbed “gun salesman of the year.” Each time we learn of the changing international norm and the threat to our civilian firearm ownership, we Americans go out and buy more guns and ammo. We watch as the demand for concealed-carry licenses rises. We wait as legislators begin to recognize our unity and strength.
While our norm of civilian weapons possession and self-defense continues to grow stronger in America, the UN’s philosophy of civilian disarmament—as the only road to “world peace”—continues to fail miserably, in practice.
One of the major reasons for that failure is the need for self-defense and the fact that firearms are the best tools for self-defense, and the defense of one’s family. The firearm-prohibitionist philosophy of disarmament stems from false premise that the costs of private firearm ownership outweigh their benefits.
That perspective is foolish: the benefits of private firearm ownership far outweigh the costs. And it’s not just Americans who know that.
In Macedonia in 2003, authorities, aided by the UN, attempted to regain control of illegal weapons owned by between 100,000 to 170,000 people. Many NGOs helped publicize an amnesty campaign. After 45 days only 6,400 firearms were collected. Many “awareness activities,” that is, programs designed to frighten citizens about the dangers of gun possession, have been carried out in the region.
“You can imagine yourself as a villager, isolated in the mountains, out of sight of the nearest house . . . . If you’re in trouble, threatened, and the police can’t come to help you because they don’t have a vehicle, then you can’t really be blamed for wanting to hang on to a weapon for your own protection.”
An article entitled Human Rights and Gun Confiscation contains a section dealing with firearm-related surveys in 13 countries, most of them under the auspices of the UN or one of its agencies. And the conclusion of those studies was, overwhelmingly that the people surveyed wanted to retain firearm possession for protection of self, family and business.
Among the article’s other conclusions are:
Voluntary disarmament will generally be possible only after a government has proven that it is able to protect the security of the people to be disarmed. Second, forcible attempts to disarm people who still need guns to defend themselves—including for protection from predatory governments—are likely to lead to massive resistance, and to an escalating cycle of human rights abuses by government forces, and finally, to re-armament by the victim population.
The UN already has the knowledge, whether it wants to admit it or not, that until citizens feel safe—not only from common street felons, but from their police and their own government— disarmament programs will not work, whether their latest effort is called an “Arms Trade Treaty” or any other fancy name it chooses.
We wish to protect our families, and so we will not surrender our arms. Yet we Americans refuse to permit our “leaders” to legislate us into felons, as is happening elsewhere around the world.
So we need to continue to strengthen our norm in order to protect the legality of civilian weapons ownership and carriage, and the use of those weapons for protection.
We authors simply don’t know the future. Will we continue to own our arms legally, or will we be forced to become felons? Can we outlast the strong but faulty new global norm that is on its way towards us?
We must persevere until the UN’s efforts fail one more time. And looking at the UN’s track record, it’s an odds on favor that they will.
About the authors:
Dr. Paul Gallant and Dr. Joanne D. Eisen practice optometry and dentistry, respectively, on Long Island, NY. They have collaborated on firearm politics for the past 20 years, and are Senior Fellows at the Independence Institute in Denver, CO. Alan J. Chwick is currently the Managing Coach of the Freeport Junior Club (FJC), at the Freeport NY Revolver & Rifle Association, Freeport, NY. Sherry Gallant has collaborated in their writing for the past few years and has participated in the writing activities of Drs. Gallant and Eisen over the years.
Respective E-Mail addresses are:
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
BlackDog, on September 21, said: “You are preaching to the choir.” I have no disagreement with anything else you said in your comments, except for the opening sentence, above, about preaching to the choir. AmmoLand pieces are read by both those who actively support our Constitution (and particularly our Second Amendment, which is the only Amendment that can give teeth to the rest of our Bill of Rights), as well as those who would do everything possible to disarm us. For example, we (the authors of this current piece) received a scathing diatribe (2 pages typed!) that didn’t even address… Read more »
When any politician want to infringe on our 2nd Amendment rights, you need to ask yourself what that politician has in their agenda that would make them fear armed law abiding citizens. What are they wanting to do that will piss use off so bad that they can’t afford for us to be armed.
You are preaching to the choir. As this ‘treaty’ draws near, Americans have not just been abandoned by their representatives, but willfully Sold Down The River. For votes. Our system of government is broken. We all know that. The ONLY way to circumvent this anathema called Liberalism is to Buy Guns, Buy Ammo, Buy Components, Don’t Tell Anybody, and most importantly, HAVE THE COURAGE TO ACT! You heard it here first.
Obama, and the U.N., are underestimating the drive to keep our freedoms. The Constitution is more than a piece of paper. They will find it to be one F-ing big hill to overcome.
In the entire history of the world NOTHING good has EVER come from disarmament of the people , be they servants , sovereigns citizens or subjects . Every attempt has been followed by a holocaust of huge proportions sooner or later , and sooner more often than later . ONLY TYRANTS DESIRE TO DISARM PEOPLE !!!
The UN does not run our country and it is time for them to be kicked out of our country for good. We have picked up the tab for them ever since they came to be. Freebies for all their members in NYC, wars that only we do the fighting, dying, and paying for, and not they want to tell us we can’t own guns. They are nothing but a bunch of cowards with blue helmets, and if they come for our guns, they will find out what real war is. We don’t play so they’d best take their football… Read more »
Good luck disarming my neighbors… LOL!!!
I’m only accepted in the community because I’m a crack shot. 🙂
This article is spot on. This whole “New World Order” is the EU and friends trying to disarm everyone… and our current administration is trying to force it on us… to what true end?!
I won’t willingly become a victim – neither will my neighbors, and they have way more guns than I do. LOL 🙂