As the international community for years debated a global treaty to regulate the cross-border arms trade, gun advocates in the United States cried foul over how the U.N. gun ban might impact Second Amendment rights at home.
The furor gained steam in 2013 when the United Nations approved the Arms Trade Treaty and the United States signed on.
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Pressure from gun rights activists helped prevent the U.S. from ratifying the treaty. But enough other nations ratified the U.N.'s so-called gun ban that it took effect on Christmas Eve in 2014, triggering a fresh flood of concern that President Barack Obama would try to take away citizens’ guns.
Here are seven reasons why the
Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) won’t lead to Americans losing their guns.
1. The treaty only regulates international trade.
Per the treaty, its regulations only apply to the “international trade in conventional arms.” That includes the import, export, or transfer of weapons across an international border.
2. The ATT reaffirms national gun rights.
In its preamble, the treaty reaffirms every nation’s “sovereign right” to “regulate and control conventional arms exclusively within its territory, pursuant to its own legal or constitutional system.”
And it states the U.N. won’t intervene “in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any State.”
3. The treaty supports legitimate gun trade and ownership.
The ATT reaffirms each nation’s rights to acquire weapons for self-defense and peacekeeping efforts. It also recognizes gun ownership “for recreational, cultural, historical, and sporting activities” as allowed by law.
4. The Obama administration affirmed Second Amendment rights.
During a 2013 treaty signing ceremony, Secretary of State John Kerry said, “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.”
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5. The treaty doesn’t significantly change U.S. policy.
Many regulations included in the ATT are standards the United States already abides by. For example, the U.S. already requires records on imports and exports.
And while the treaty encourages nations to share those records, there’s no requirement to turn them over to the U.N. to make an international gun registry.
6. The ATT hasn’t been ratified.
Though the Obama administration signed the U.N. gun ban in 2013, the United States isn’t bound by the treaty’s regulations unless the legislature ratifies it.
The Republican-controlled Senate hasn’t ratified the treaty — and the numbers indicate it likely won’t in the foreseeable future.
7. Obama can’t use executive action to change the Constitution.
While some opponents have expressed concern about Obama using executive action to ratify the treaty, that power doesn’t extend to altering the Second Amendment.
The right to bear arms could be upended only by a constitutional amendment, which must be ratified by by three-fourths of the states after being proposed by either a two-thirds majority vote in each house house of Congress or a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the state legislatures.
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