Roanoke Tea Party

There is growing concern about reports that Hillary Clinton will sign the United Nations Arm Trade Treaty (ATT) on Friday. But based on the emails from some liberty and gun groups I have been getting lately, you would expect blue helmeted U.N. thugs to be crashing in my door next week to try and take my guns.

Is it bad? Yes. However, before you get to freaked out, lets get the facts straight.

1. It Isn’t Going Into Effect Friday Even if Clinton signs it…

• There isn’t going to be a vote on this in the Senate, which has to ratify this treaty, for probably a month or so.
• It has to pass with a 2/3 majority. That means that assuming that all 53 Democratic Senators vote yes, 14 Republicans have to also vote to ratify this treaty.

Make no mistake, the anti-gun, anti-Constitution Obama Administration and their minions of supporters will put on a full court press for ratification. But so will the gun lobby groups. Based on the influence of gun lobby groups, I am optimistic they can keep this from ratification, for now. But that is certainly not a sure thing with the corrupt nature of many Senators. So keeping heat on Senators is important, but keeping it on closer to the actual vote would be more helpful.

What Does The Treaty Actually Do?

I keep hearing about this, but I rarely get a good description of the actually treaty. Some of that is based on the fact that the U.N. has been keeping a lid on some of the finer points of the treaty. But here are some points of concern…

1. The latest draft of the ATT stated that the treaty covers “the transfer of title or control over the conventional arms.” While the focus is on international transfer of guns, it is written to specifically cover all firearms inside the U.S.
2. “This is not the end of the process. The ATT will be elaborated at review conferences, where the U.S. goal is to develop “best practices” for its implementation. Similarly, if President Obama were to sign the ATT but not submit it to the Senate for ratification, the U.S. would hold itself obligated to “refrain from acts which would defeat the object and purpose” of the ATT.”
3. “Finally, the ATT is part of a process that will inspire judges and legal theorists who believe that the Constitution needs to be reinterpreted in light of transnational norms. This is the most important problem of all, though it is broader than the ATT.”

In a personal correspondence with E.W. Jackson, he accurately described this as “another potential erosion, a slippery slope that puts another tool in the hands of the Federal government with the aid of the UN bureaucracy to make it more difficult to purchase a firearm or add another level of pain to the process. Bureaucracies never die, they just expand and take more of our freedom as time goes by.”

What To Do?

• Contact your Senator. That would be Warner and Webb. Tell them to reject this treaty.
• Recognize that the right to bear arms is a natural right. You need to be able to protect yourself and your family. The Constitution does not grant you this right. It just guarantees this right.
• Treaties do not supersede the Constitution. Period.
• Elect Senators and a President who will not support judges like Justice Ginsberg, that want to consider “transnational norms” in Constitutional interpretation.
• Don’t budge an inch on these principles. Because the progressives, as is their time honored strategy, will incrementally restrict, regulate and destroy the 2nd Amendment. Compromise on principle = defeat.
• Be prepared to address this on a state level. The Firearms Freedom Act was proposed a few years ago and that would have set up a procedure to ensure that guns made in Virginia and kept in Virginia were not subject to Federal guns laws. It was effectively a nullification action. Nullification and the 10th Amendment are the most direct and effective ways to ensure the Federal government and their U.N. friends don’t infringe on your natural rights.

This is all part of the incremental approach to killing the 2nd Amendment. It is sometimes called death by a thousand paper cuts. But that kills your freedom just as dead as a thrust to its heart.