…the Barack Hussein Obama administration made a move designed to separate us from our guns. Or did they?
U.S. reverses stance on treaty to regulate arms trade
(Reuters)- The United States reversed policy on Wednesday and said it would back launching talks on a treaty to regulate arms sales as long as the talks operated by consensus, a stance critics said gave every nation a veto.The decision, announced in a statement released by the U.S. State Department, overturns the position of former President George W. Bush’s administration, which had opposed such a treaty on the grounds that national controls were better.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States would support the talks as long as the negotiating forum, the so-called Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty, “operates under the rules of consensus decision-making.”
“Consensus is needed to ensure the widest possible support for the Treaty and to avoid loopholes in the Treaty that can be exploited by those wishing to export arms irresponsibly,” Clinton said in a written statement.
While praising the Obama administration’s decision to overturn the Bush-era policy and to proceed with negotiations to regulate conventional arms sales, some groups criticized the U.S. insistence that decisions on the treaty be unanimous.
“The shift in position by the world’s biggest arms exporter is a major breakthrough in launching formal negotiations at the United Nations in order to prevent irresponsible arms transfers,” Amnesty International and Oxfam International said in a joint statement.
However, they said insisting that decisions on the treaty be made by consensus “could fatally weaken a final deal.”
“Governments must resist US demands to give any single state the power to veto the treaty as this could hold the process hostage during the course of negotiations. We call on all governments to reject such a veto clause,” said Oxfam International’s policy adviser Debbie Hillier.
The proposed legally binding treaty would tighten regulation of, and set international standards for, the import, export and transfer of conventional weapons.
Supporters say it would give worldwide coverage to close gaps in existing regional and national arms export control systems that allow weapons to pass onto the illicit market.
Nations would remain in charge of their arms export control arrangements but would be legally obliged to assess each export against criteria agreed under the treaty. Governments would have to authorize transfers in writing and in advance.
The main opponent of the treaty in the past was the U.S. Bush administration, which said national controls were better. Last year, the United States accounted for more than two-thirds of some $55.2 billion in global arms transfer deals.
Arms exporters China, Russia and Israel abstained last year in a U.N. vote on the issue.
The proposed treaty is opposed by conservative U.S. think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, which said last month that it would not restrict the access of “dictators and terrorists” to arms but would be used to reduce the ability of democracies such as Israel to defend their people.
The U.S. lobbying group the National Rifle Association has also opposed the treaty.
A resolution before the U.N. General Assembly is sponsored by seven nations including major arms exporter Britain. It calls for preparatory meetings in 2010 and 2011 for a conference to negotiate a treaty in 2012.
This doesn’t tell us an awful lot and neither do recent emails stating that Clinton has already signed the treaty; she has not.
Jeff Mowry at Before It’s News tried fact checking the treaty but as Nancy Pelosi once said: ‘we have to pass it to see what’s in it’. Many organizations have come out with statements about the treaty, but what is the actual language?
And remember – two thirds of the Senate must approve international treaties before they go into effect. A call or email to your congressman about this topic wouldn’t go amiss, but it could be 2012 before any action is taken. Maybe by then we’ll have the text of the thing?
17. June 2010 at 11:30 am
considering this is pretty much the only country that has the right to keep and bare arms for it’s citizens as a constitutional right – what difference does it make if any county could veto? with Obama/Clinton types casting the vote for the US we’d be toast here… Thank goodness for the 2/3s thing, it could be our only saving grace.
17. June 2010 at 12:02 pm
That’s what I’m thinking. And if the vote isn’t til 2012… well, hopefully we’ll have enough freedom loving lawmakers by then to kill it. With extreme prejudice.
17. June 2010 at 12:08 pm
I wonder how they can make a treaty that goes against our constitution? Wouldn’t it be illegal the minute they signed it?
17. June 2010 at 12:12 pm
I’m sure they would couch the language in a way pleasing to leftists. The rest of us would remain untouched, of course.
The constitution is an old, outdated, flawed piece of paper… to our president and his minions.
17. June 2010 at 12:10 pm
I also was reading somewhere that people were starting to wonder what there major screw-up of the oil spill was actually covering for.
Now we know, they screw up the oil spill stuff and citizens are outraged and focused on that and while we are not paying attention Obama and gang are going after our gun rights.
17. June 2010 at 12:15 pm
I doubt it, because this is an ongoing thing that will see committee meetings for years before -ostensibly- any action is taken.
And who knows what the damned things actually says? My palms are itching; I want to read what they have so far…
But really… if they want to start another civil war… try taking our guns away. We may be the only country in the world that would rise up to protect our right to bear arms.
17. June 2010 at 12:23 pm
Yet another reason to be ever vigilant…
The leftist policy wonkers never rest… Sometimes they seen to retreat but they are always ready to push forward on their way to the new world order… Time to tell ‘em to piss off, November cannot come quickly enough…
Jefferson, Adams, Washington, Henry, Franklin et. al. would be disgusted…
And Travis, Austin and Bowie would think it’s time for a new Texas Republic…
davek
17. June 2010 at 12:25 pm
17. June 2010 at 6:52 pm
I am worried, many of the best values in firearms today come from Brazil, Italy and China, yes, Red China.
My cowboy action shooting revolvers come from Italy, my hammer double shotgun from China and my lever action rifle from Brazil. It isn’t that I would not like to have bought American but, in the case of my revolvers, I spent less on all three of my single actions than one Colt would have cost. There are no, that is zero, that’s less than one, mule eared doubles made in America, and the lever action is almost that bad, the Winchester my rifle is a copy of was last made in America in 1939 or 1940.
So, we don’t even have to agree with this deal, if everyone else does those outfits in Italy, Brazil and Red China will go out of business, the American companies won’t be able to pick up the slack at a price consumers can afford.
If you have planned on getting a shootin’ iron, now is the time. If you have to eat chili rice four days a week and beans and weenies the other three, it’s still the time. Otherwise, there may not be a time. The Second Amendment says we have a right to own a gun, it says nothing about us having a right to be able to afford to buy that gun.
17. June 2010 at 8:44 pm
Hear hear. I’m looking for a way to afford an AK-47 right now. Anyone want to give a donation to a worthy cause – early birthday present?
Peter – what is the name of the Brazilian company?
21. June 2010 at 5:11 am
Is that the email I forwarded to you? I’ve had so many come my way recently that my head is spinning. I feel like there’s something even worse come down the pike and I don’t like that feeling.
21. June 2010 at 8:37 am
Oh, honey… this was 4 days ago… I can’t remember that far back! Now, if you want to know my favorite place to eat when I was 4 years old…?
21. June 2010 at 10:15 pm
I’m with ya, Pam. Now, about that pastrami sandwich…
22. June 2010 at 10:26 am
It was Piccadilly Cafeteria. Somewhere near West Covina or Alhambra… must’ve been…