U.S. Rep to U.N. Says Obama Wants Senate to Ratify Arms Treaty

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- The Obama administration "is seeking advice and consent" for Senate ratification of an international small arms treaty, and also supports the inclusion of small arms in the UN Register of Conventional Arms, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms learned [recently].

The disclosure is found in the text of a statement to the First Committee of the 66th session of the UN General Assembly, delivered by Laura E. Kennedy, the permanent United States representative to the Conference on Disarmament. CCRKBA obtained a copy of the statement.

In her statement, Kennedy recalls that the United States in 1997, under the Clinton administration, signed the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Materials. However, the Senate never ratified the document, and there was no interest in pushing the treaty during the Bush administration. American firearms rights activists have steadfastly fought against inclusion of small arms in any such treaty.

"More than half the members of the Senate have already advised Barack Obama that they will not ratify any treaty that threatens the Second Amendment rights of American citizens," noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, "so it's not clear why he is – according to Kennedy's revealing statement – suddenly seeking Senate ratification of this measure.

"If the Obama administration is this eager to push adoption of a treaty that's been gathering dust for eleven years," he added, "one can only imagine how fast this president will want to see action on the proposed global Arms Trade Treaty.

"This suggests that Obama fears he may be a one-term president," Gottlieb stated, "and he feels a compelling need to finally bring his anti-gun agenda to the surface and push it through. We have known all along about his desire to bind this country to an international gun control scheme, and now Kennedy's statement confirms that."

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