The Arms Trade Treaty and the US Constitution

On April 2, the United Nations General Assembly voted 153-4 to pass the Arms Trade Treaty, with the United States voting in favor. The Community Organizer in Chief reportedly will sign the treaty early in June. The primary beneficiaries of this treaty will be third-world dictators who will be relieved of concerns that freedom fighters might be able to overthrow tyranny.

Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) urged Senate opposition, declaring, "It's our job to make sure any treaty the US enters doesn't interfere with our sovereign ability to uphold the rights of Americans....The arms treaty simply doesn't include strong enough protections to pass that test, and I won't support any treaty that undermines the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Montanans."

Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) joined in by saying, "I have great concerns that this treaty can be used to violate the Second Amendment rights of American citizens, and do not believe we should sign any treaty that infringes on the sovereignty of our country."

Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) added, "The UN Arms Trade Treaty that passed in the General Assembly today would require the United States to implement gun-control legislation as required by the treaty, which could supersede the laws our elected officials have already put into place."

I find the text of the approved treaty to be deeply troubling because threatens the rights and privacy of American gun owners. Signatories are encouraged to keep information on the "end users" of arms imported into their territory and supply such information to the exporting country. The treaty also encourages states to adopt domestic legislation to facilitate the treaty's onerous requirements. It is clear that the Obama Administration is eager to do so.

If ratified by the US Senate, this treaty would join the US Constitution as a significant part of "the supreme law of the land." Ratification of the treaty would require the consent of 67 senators, something which seems unlikely.

Unfortunately, once a treaty has been signed, it typically haunts American Liberty in perpetuity, unless a later president withdraws from it. Even if not ratified by the Senate, history proves that anti-Constitution presidents and bureaucrats can and will do much to comply with unratified treaties through administrative action. Congress also can, and likely will, do much to comply with an unratified Arms Trade Treaty through legislation that doesn't need the two-thirds treaty-ratification vote.

It is every senator's sworn duty to defend the US Constitution. I therefore urge every senator to not only work aggressively toward Senate rejection of the UN Arms Trade Treaty, but to implement legislation that will defund and/or prohibit any and all Administration efforts to comply with any feature of the treaty which adversely affects American rights to arms.

Further, this vote highlights how important it is for the Senate to never confirm a presidential nominee who is an enemy of the Constitution. If the Senate took this essential role seriously, there never would have been anyone representing the US to the UN who would have voted for this monstrosity.