The U.N. thinks that international light arms sales emboldens dictators, totally forgetting that Hitler’s Germany made their own guns anyway.
In 2013, Obama signed the U.S. onto the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty. Although not yet ratified by the Senate (hey, this is politics and it’s only been 6 years so far), the “Treaty” is an attempt to restrict the sales of conventional light arms from one country to the other, and not simply government-to-government security usage sales. It was to also restrict public/commercial access to self-defense weapons, i.e., from your home country’s gun shops.
This past week, Trump announced we’re taking back our signature, and we’ll mail a letter next week with more than enough stamps to get there to officially declare it.
Oxfam America President Abby Maxman complained, “The United States will now lock arms with Iran, North Korea and Syria as non-signatories to this historic treaty whose sole purpose is to protect innocent people from deadly weapons.”
Ever hear of Oxfam? Neither had I, until I Wiki’d it:
“Oxfam is a confederation of 20 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International.”
Well, I’m not too impressed by this, especially considering that the U.S. hasn’t sold a single bullet to Iran, North Korea or Syria in a very long time. (I guess it doesn’t take much brainpower to become president of Oxfam.)
But we’re not finished yet:
Amnesty International USA’s Adotei Akwei said, “With this announcement the Trump administration will re-open the floodgates for arms sales with weakened human rights criteria.”
Huh? Human rights criteria? Whose human rights criteria!? And I guess that the three years between Obama’s 2013 signing and Trump’s 2017 inauguration didn’t open these floodgates and weaken human rights.
Only Trump weakened them! Just last week! In just one day!
Originally, 130 countries agreed to the Treaty, but only 101 have formally and officially signed on so far. Twenty-nine, including the U.S., have yet to do so, and the U.S. isn’t going to.
But there are a total of 193 U.N. nations, so what the hell happened to the other 63? Is it expected that these 130 will follow the rules in the first place (good luck with that), the other 63 don’t even have to try, and the U.S. alone is deserving of criticism for pulling out of this nonsense?
In what alternate reality, what parallel universe, do certain members of the U.N. live in that they think the U.S. is going to abdicate its responsibilities to help our allies and fight our enemies? Let alone allow the U.N. to decide who those allies and enemies should be?
It’s another win for Trump, but an easy win and a no-brainer. The U.S. is not going to take lessons from the rest of the world when it comes to individual gun ownership rights, and what happens when you restrict that right.
Just ask anyone still alive who lived in Eastern Europe between 1939 and 1945, or ask anyone who knows the history, like Trump obviously does.