UN gun ban debacle
I find it ironic that so many of the nations the United States helped liberate in World War II are now working with dictatorships and terrorist states to impose a worldwide ban on civilian ownership of firearms. Our friends Great Britain, Sweden, The Netherlands, France, Japan, and Belgium are leading the charge.
These six countries, along with more than 500 gun-ban groups and private entities such as billionaire George Soros, are coordinating and funding a 100-nation drive to eliminate the right of private citizens around the globe to own guns. In Summer 2006, at United Nations headquarters in New York City, the UN will hold an international conference to draft a nobly-titled document called the Treaty on Small Arms.
I have since learned another reason why the radical Left is so vehemently opposed to John Bolton's appointment as UN ambassador. In a 2001 speech at the UN addressing a session on banning small arms, one of Mr. Bolton's points of focus stated:
"...There are, however, several aspects of the draft Program of Action that we [U.S.] cannot and will not support. Some activities inscribed in the Program are beyond the scope of what is appropriate for international action and should remain issues for national lawmakers in member states. Other proposals divert our attention from practical, effective measures to attack the problem of the illicit trade in SA/LW [small arms/light weapons] where it is most needed. This diffusion of focus is, indeed, the Program's chief defect, mixing together as it does legitimate areas for international cooperation and action and areas that are properly left to decisions made through the exercise of popular sovereignty by participating governments."
In other words, we'll help crack down on the international brokerage of small arms, but keep your socialist hands off of our Constitution and Second Amendment.
Because that's what the proposed treaty will attack. All it takes is a future U.S. president to sign and a willing U.S. Senate to ratify such a treaty, and the Second Amendment will be history along with the right of American citizens to keep and bear arms. A ratified treaty would be binding on all U.S. citizens and hold the full force of American law. Citizen-owned guns would be outlawed, hunting and shooting would be prohibited, and the right to self defense and the Second Amendment would be extinguished.
This threat to American independence is not imagined, nor is it exaggerated. If you think so, a look at the recent Supreme Court decision regarding seizure of private property is enough to illustrate what can happen. No, the threat is very real and the treaty's proponents are well-funded and formidable. If you are a member of any organization that is fighting to defeat this wrong-headed treaty and defend the rights of American citizens, you should immediately start doing whatever you can to help.