UN Arms Trade Treaty. During consideration of the budget resolution (Senate Concurrent Resolution 8), Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) offered an amendment to \”uphold Second Amendment rights and prevent the United States from entering into the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.\” As firearms researcher John Lott pointed out in \”Buyers, beware: UN Arms Trade Treaty will regulate individual gun ownership,\” posted on FoxNews.com: \”Unsurprisingly, the U.N. treaty provisions are the long-time favorites of American gun control advocates: registration and licensing of guns and ammunition, along with restrictions on the private gun transfers.\” Although Inhofe\’s amendment is non-binding, it provides encouragement that if and when the UN Arms Trade Treaty is brought to the Senate floor for a vote, there will not be the necessary two-thirds majority required for ratification.
The Senate adopted Inhofe\’s amendment on March 23, 2013 by a vote of 53 to 46 (Roll Call 91). We have assigned pluses to the yeas because a UN treaty that infringes on the Second Amendment of the Constitution should not be ratified.
