During his speech April 26 to the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, President Donald Trump revealed that he will end the participation of the United States in the United Nations’ Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).
“Today, I’m proud to announce another historic step to protect your Second Amendment rights,” the president told those gathered to discuss the future of the right to keep and bear arms.
Then, after informing the audience that he had not informed the NRA-ILA leadership in advance that he intended to make this praiseworthy parting of ways with the UN, President Trump spelled out his motivation for abandoning the ATT:
So, in the last administration, President Obama signed the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty. And in his waning days in office, he sent the treaty to the Senate to begin the ratification process.
This treaty threatened your subjugate — and you know exactly what’s going on here — your rights and your constitutional and international rules and restrictions and regulations.
Under my administration, we will never surrender American sovereignty to anyone. We will never allow foreign bureaucrats to trample on your Second Amendment freedom. And that is why my administration will never ratify the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty. I hope you’re happy.
Just in case anyone didn’t hear the president clearly, or for those who were worried that he would do the tyranny two-step after he wasn’t surrounded by hundreds of card-carrying NRA members, President Trump put a fine point on his policy and his philosophy:
I am officially announcing today that the United States will be revoking the effect of America’s signature from this badly misguided agreement. We’re taking our signature back. The United Nations will soon receive a formal notice that America is rejecting this treaty.
As part of this decision, I will sign right now, in front of a lot of witnesses — a lot — it’s a lot of witnesses — a message asking the Senate to discontinue the treaty ratification process and to return the now-rejected treaty right back to me, in the Oval Office, where I will dispose of it. [The photo above shows the president holding up the message after he signed it.]
Here’s hoping that as soon as the motorcade pulled into the White House, the call went out from the Oval Office to the UN and the U.S. Secretary of State’s office, informing them that the UN would have to come up with a new plan for disarming American civilians and for using a treaty to repeal the Second Amendment.
I am especially pleased by the president’s announcement, as I was there in the United Nations — speaking in favor of the Second Amendment — when the call came from then-President Obama ordering the U.S. delegation to vote in favor of the Arms Trade Treaty.
Later, on September 25, 2013, then-Secretary of State John Kerry signed the Arms Trade Treaty “on behalf of the president and the people of the United States.”
For readers requiring a little refresher, here are a few provisions in the now-futile Arms Trade Treaty.
Article 2 of the treaty defines the scope of the treaty’s prohibitions. The right to own, buy, sell, trade, or transfer all means of armed resistance, including handguns, is denied to civilians by this section of the Arms Trade Treaty.
Article 3 places the “ammunition/munitions fired, launched or delivered by the conventional arms covered under Article 2” within the scope of the treaty’s prohibitions, as well.
Article 4 rounds out the regulations, also placing all “parts and components” of weapons within the scheme.
Perhaps the most immediate threat to the rights of gun owners in the Arms Trade Treaty is found in Article 5. Under the title of “General Implementation,” Article 5 mandates that all countries participating in the treaty “shall establish and maintain a national control system, including a national control list.” This list should “apply the provisions of this Treaty to the broadest range of conventional arms.”
Article 12 adds to the record-keeping requirement, mandating that the list include “the quantity, value, model/type, authorized international transfers of conventional arms,” as well as the identity of the “end users” of these items.
Finally, the agreement demands that national governments take “appropriate measures” to enforce the terms of the treaty, including civilian disarmament. If these countries can’t get this done on their own, however, Article 16 provides for UN assistance, specifically including help with the enforcement of “stockpile management, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes.” In fact, a “voluntary trust fund” will be established to assist those countries that need help from UN peacekeepers or other regional forces to disarm their citizens.
With that brief sketch of the agreement’s provisions, it is obvious why the government of the United States should never have signed on to that clear and present threat to the natural right of the people to protect their persons, their property, and — should the government take a tyrannical bent — to alter and abolish it, by force of arms, if necessary.
“By taking these actions, we are reaffirming that American liberty is sacred and that American citizens live by American laws, not the laws of foreign countries,” President Trump told those attending the conference.
In the coming days, Americans determined to defend their right to keep and bear arms should pay close attention to the news, hoping to hear that the president has taken the necessary steps to fulfill his promise and to withdraw completely and permanently from the United Nations’ Arms Trade Treaty and from any and all agreements that would infringe on the rights protected by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Photo of President Trump at the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum: AP Images
