By Dave Workman | Senior Editor 
Secretary of State John Kerry has signed the controversial United Nations Arms Trade Treaty, a document that Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) warned in a letter to the former Massachusetts senator, will not be ratified by the Senate.
Inhofe warned Kerry in his letter that the ATT will “collect dust alongside the Law of the Sea Treaty, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Kyoto Protocol, to name a few, which have all been rejected by the U.S. Senate and the American people.”
Sen. Bob Corker, ranking Republican member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a stern warning to the Obama administration against “taking any action to implement the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty without Senate advice and consent.”
“As you know,” Corker said in his letter to President Barack Obama, “Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution requires the United States Senate to provide its advice and consent before a treaty becomes binding under United States law. The Senate has not yet provided its advice and consent, and may not provide such consent. As a result, the Executive Branch is not authorized to take any steps to implement the treaty.”
Corker’s letter may be seen here.
The National Rifle Association immediately issued a statement promising to fight ratification in the U.S. Senate.
“The Obama administration is once again demonstrating its contempt for our fundamental, individual Right to Keep and Bear Arms,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action. “This treaty threatens individual firearm ownership with an invasive registration scheme. The NRA will continue working with the United States Senate to oppose ratification of the ATT.”
Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, said signing the treaty could be followed by a backlash from American gun owners.
“If Secretary Kerry and President Barack Obama pursue this farce,” Gottlieb warned, “the full fury of American firearms owners could come back to haunt them. Second Amendment sovereignty is not up for grabs, and we will encourage our members and supporters to contact their senators about this treaty.”
Kerry, a career anti-gunner during his time in the Senate, signed the measure President Barack Obama. Reuters noted that the action would put the Obama administration “at odds with the powerful American gun lobby,” as though this is not already the case.
Gun rights organizations including the NRA and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms have long opposed the treaty, describing it as global gun control. The treaty and its ramifications will no doubt be scrutinized during this weekend’s Gun Rights Policy Conference in Houston, Tex. The 28th annual event features a panel discussion Saturday morning.
In his letter to Kerry, Sen. Inhofe reminded him that 53 senators voted on a measure in March to uphold the Second Amendment and prevent adoption of this treaty. The letter names all 53 of those senators, primarily Republicans with a handful of Democrats.
“The U.N. should not be deceived into thinking the U.S. will ratify a treaty just because it has been signed by the President or someone in his Administration,” Inhofe wrote.
Gun rights activists have opposed the treaty, insisting that it is a threat to Second Amendment sovereignty and the privacy of American gun owners.
Quoting an unidentified State Department official, Fox News reported that the treaty is seen as a means of reducing “the risk of international transfers of conventional arms” that could be used “to carry out the world’s worst crimes.”
Many in the gun rights community are already wondering what that says about the Obama administration’s efforts to arm Syrian rebels after press reports that they have links to al Qaeda.
Gun rights advocates have long maintained that this treaty could be the launch pad for increased regulation of private firearms owners.
