Treaty a threat to 2nd Amendment, says gun group (OneNewsNow.com)

Treaty a threat to 2nd Amendment, says gun group (OneNewsNow.com)

onenewsnow.com

Treaty a threat to 2nd Amendment, says gun group
Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 7/16/2012 4:20:00 AM

A non-profit lobbying organization that aims to preserve and defend the Second Amendment says the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty currently under debate is "extremely dangerous."


The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs says many governments have voiced concerns about "the absence of globally agreed rules for all countries to guide their decision on arms transfers" -- thus the negotiations on an arms trade treaty. "A robust arms trade treaty can make a difference for millions of people confronted with insecurity, deprivation and fear," states the website for treaty conference.

Erich Pratt of Gun Owners of America (GOA) sees the treaty quite differently. "We think this treaty is extremely dangerous -- not only to our American sovereignty but to the Second Amendment," he tells OneNewsNow. "Registering gun owners and their firearms is one of the key threats in this treaty."

Proponents of the treaty say it is about controlling international gun trafficking. Pratt's reaction?

"When you listen to the official delegates at these conferences, you see that what they're really after is our firearms," says the GOA spokesman. "In fact, that was stated very clearly by the Mexico delegate this month during one of the sessions. He said that individual rights, like our Second Amendment freedoms, are not a reason to keep them from imposing restrictions upon those rights."

Organizations like Amnesty International USA claim this treaty would rein in unregulated weapons that they say kill an estimated 1,500 people a day globally. Still, Pratt says that is not the fault of the tens of thousands of responsible gun owners.

"The places where we have gun bans -- or have had gun bans -- are the most dangerous places to live," he contests. "When Washington, DC, was under its very draconian gun ban for over 25 years, that's when it became the nation's murder capital. It wasn't until the U.S. Supreme Court struck down that gun ban in 2008 that DC's murder rate went down."

Meanwhile, another concern with the treaty involves Iran being given a key role in these talks. Pratt calls that hypocritical. "Some of the greatest ... international thugs, those who have really had a war on people's liberties, they're the ones that are trying to disarm the people of the world so that they have a monopoly of force," he responds.

Iran aside, there is also the fact that the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, including the United States, are among the world's top arms dealers.

The international talks are expected to continue through July 27.