John Kerry signed the UN gun trade treaty yesterday. It goes to the senate now for ratification. Hopefully it won't have a chance, but the way things are goin......please write your senators!!!!

The NRA, for example, has warned that some of the regulations that would require officials importing and exporting weapons to collect information on sellers and buyers would be a violation of the Second Amendment. The United States is one of the world’s largest arms exporters.

Kerry tried to knock down the criticism in his remarks as he signed the treaty.

“This treaty will not diminish anyone’s freedom,” said the secretary. “In fact, the treaty recognizes the freedom of both individuals and states to obtain, possess, and use arms for legitimate purposes.”
Ok well who decides what a legitimate purpose is....let me guess....we have a few examples in Aussie land to compare....

“Make no mistake, we would never think about supporting a treaty that is inconsistent with the rights of Americans, the rights of American citizens, to be able to exercise their guaranteed rights under our constitution,” he said. ”This is about keeping weapons out of the hands of terrorists and rogue actors. This is about reducing the risk of international transfers of conventional arms that will be used to carry out the world’s worst crimes.”

Uh huh...make no mistake the constitution has been has been re-screwed with left handed threads and fundamentally changed by re-defining the words therein. Make no mistake the change part of hope and change has been a reality and while sitting on our duffs hasn't stopped the change, the momentum is heading us into never never land.

Write your senators!!

It makes specific note that the treaty places no limit upon greater gun control efforts within individual nations, and additionally places no expiration on the agreement.

Repeatedly, the treaty obligates States (which means countries) to establish “national control systems” to meet the particulars of the treaty. While the phrase “within national laws and regulations” appears to suggest that the 2nd Amendment would limit the implementation, properly read in the context of the wording and history itself, it really only invites new “regulations” where no “law” can be established.

The first “principle” outlined in the preamble reads: “1. The inherent rights of all States to individual or collective self-defense.” While the language of the treaty appears to recognize the legal right to keep such arms, the text actually recognizes the “inherent right of States” to “individual and collective” self-defense.

This is NOT the same as individual persons’ inherent right to keep and bear arms as recognized and enumerated in the United States’ Bill of Rights. Instead, it puts the collectivist unit known as the State above the individual, in complete defiance of the system set-up in the United States. Individual defense for a State, for instance, refers to what is known on the international scene as “unilateral war,” while collective defense is recognize in such actions as that of NATO or other allied bodies. The States’ right to maintain internal order has also been recognized by the UN, but all other purposes for arms ownership are seen as illegitimate.

Who would you write to? Your Senators!!!

"Gun ownership for legitimate sporting uses". The founding fathers intended the real purpose of arms ownership is a balance of power at the individual level in order to discourage tyranny at the State level. Nothing to do with sporting, everything to do with managing tyranny. You wanna call them assault weapons? Damn right they're assault weapons and we have a few million people that can re-define "sporting" too!

OTTAWA - The Harper government faced sharp criticism Wednesday for its continued refusal to sign a landmark treaty to regulate the global arms trade.

A group of non-governmental agencies, called the Control Arms Coalition, said it was frustrated and disappointed that the government did not follow the United States and more than 90 other countries in signing the Arms Trade Treaty.

Meanwhile, the federal NDP accused the government of indulging in conspiracy theories because it continues to express concern that the treaty might have an impact on lawful gun owners within Canada.

The criticism was unleashed after Secretary of State John Kerry signed the treaty on behalf of the U.S. on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

Kerry called it a "significant step" in keeping the world safe.

And he shot back at political opponents, saying that the treaty would have no effect on domestic gun ownership inside the U.S., where there is strong concern that it could violate the cherished rights of Americans to bear arms.

"This treaty will not diminish anyone's freedom," Kerry said, adding that the U.S. "would never think about supporting a treaty that is inconsistent with ... the rights of American citizens to be able to exercise their guaranteed rights under our Constitution."

Kerry's view appears to differ sharply from those expressed by the Harper government on the issue.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has said there is a potential link between signing on to the treaty and Canada's now-abolished long gun registry.

Baird's spokesman said earlier this week that the government is still doing consultations on whether the treaty would affect lawful recreational firearms owners in Canada.

"It is past time for Canada to get beyond spurious claims that the treaty will affect legal Canadian gun-owners and join the states that want to save lives by ending irresponsible arms transfers," Ken Epps of the group Project Ploughshares said in a statement.

Project Ploughshares is a member of the Canadian coalition, along with Oxfam Canada, Oxfam Quebec and Amnesty International.

NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar said he was shocked that the U.S., which has a much tougher gun lobby, has signed the treaty before Canada.

"The fact that the government continues to refuse to sign the treaty indicates a preference for conspiracy theories over the simple truth: this is a treaty that will help save the lives of millions of civilians around the world and it has no impact on domestic owners of firearms," Dewar said in an email.

"Today's signature by the United States just makes it more obvious that the Conservatives are making this decision based on gun-lobby ideology and not reality."

Robert Fox, executive director of Oxfam Canada, urged the government to sign the treaty without delay.

"Every day, conventional arms are used to commit serious acts of violence against women and girls, including rape," Fox said in a statement.

"We are deeply disappointed that Canada has not signed the treaty as this undermines our ability to champion women's rights, peace and security."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper was at a United Nations panel on maternal and child health on Wednesday, while Baird was to expected to speak later in the day on the issue of the forced marriage of children.

It is not clear what impact the treaty would have in curbing the global arms trade, estimated at between $60 billion and $85 billion annually. Much will depend on which countries ratify it, and how stringently it is implemented once it comes into force.

The treaty will not control the domestic use of weapons in any country.

It prohibits the transfer of conventional weapons if they violate arms embargoes or if they promote acts of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes, and if they could be used in attacks on civilians or civilian buildings such as schools and hospitals.

The treaty covers battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, large-calibre artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles and missile launchers, and small arms and light weapons.

It would require ratifying country to establish national regulations to control the transfer of conventional arms and components and to regulate arms brokers.

Hopefully ratification will not be on our dessert plates. Currently the Senate needs to make the decision and hopefully they know better than to wade in those waters.

I love that statement about conventional arms are currently used in acts of violence against women. Ya gotta have a victim or it ain't gonna have any teeth. Liberals always play up the victims to pull your heart strings. First they champion the single mothers. Used to be shunned if you were an unwed mother, now you're a hero and called a single mom. This guy's doin the violence against women "including rape" is a nice eye poke. Conspiracy theories over the truth? That's a good one too and certainly comes from someone who hasn't read the re-defined dictionary of the Libertards.

Harper didn't sign because he feels snubbed by Canada not being placed on the security council of the UN. He has kept the promise of killing the gun registry but has managed to royally FUC^ up our environmental law, downsizing of the government to the point that services can not be provided effectively, opened the country up for privatization of government pension, services as a way of supposedly stabilizing the economy so that we don't get hit with a recession. Make not mistake about it, Natural Resources Canada wants desperately to control and to get reloading equipment and components out of the hands of our citizens. Always touting that oh its a UN policy that Canada has signed and has to honour. F That!

I've contacted my representatives more in the last five years than I did in the rest of my lifetime put together. The attacks on our freedoms and our constitution have made it necessary. I can't say whether it's done much good, but I'll keep at it. Our guns are, as it should be, our last line of defense against corrupt government and it's imperative that we retain that ability. Anyone that doesn't believe that our government is capable of tyranny need only look at historical examples such as the Wounded Knee Massacre.

I certainly hope that the Senate does not ratify the UN Treaty. From what I have read, this treaty may hang around for a long time and be acted upon by a future Senate session. All the best...
Gil

Called both of my Senators and Grassley will never vote for the treaty but idiot Harken will!!

Already wrote my Sentators asking them not to sign the ratification and impeach Kerry for not following the Constitution.

dust54 wrote:

impeach Kerry for not following the Constitution.

I need to include that in my letter also!

I also had to write Ruger. They took the link off their website that lead you to your government representative. I was using that frequently whenever I wanted to voice my opinions. I asked them to bring it back. It made me associate Ruger with Freedom.