Our Founding Fathers guaranteed us the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment, putting into place a fundamental liberty to safeguard against tyranny and protect our sacred nation.
This right, which has been protected through the sacrifice of the members of our Armed Forces past and present, is under assault.
The United Nations General Assembly is currently convened in New York to draft language for an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The conference has taken a controversial turn as delegates from Norway, Mexico, France, Germany and other nations have echoed the calls of anti-gun groups in demanding that the ATT include provisions to regulate civilian firearm transactions in member nations.
This would mean that the UN would have a say in the regulation of our nations domestic gun ownership. It does not sit well with me that a foreign entity, be it a nation state or a multinational organization, is attempting to undermine our countrys Constitution by restricting our liberties.
Any such attempt in the ATT negotiations to include a civilian arms component should be met with staunch opposition by U.S. Ambassadors and the Secretary of State. Congress must fight to ensure that this never comes to pass, and must take action if a reference to domestic arms is included anywhere in the ATT. These efforts have begun and I have signed on as a cosponsor to HR 3594, the Second Amendment Protection Act, which would prohibit funding to the UN until the president certifies that none of the treaties adopted violate our Second Amendment rights.
In order for the ATT to be ratified, it will need to pass the Senate by 2/3 vote. I am pleased to report that 58 Senators have signed a letter to the president saying that they will oppose any treaty with provisions to control domestic firearms.
This assault on our liberty is the latest questionable move by the UN, an organization that oftentimes throws all sense to the wind in the interest of appeasing member nations that include some of the worlds worst actors such as Iran and Syria. Because of this type of overreach by the UN and their tendency to draw moral equivalencies between free nations and totalitarian regimes, President Bush went so far as to remove the United States from UN negotiations in the past. President Obama has since reversed that decision.
I will continue to be vigilant on this and other attempts by the United Nations to challenge Americas Constitutional rights. Furthermore, any UN treaty, including the ATT, must not trump the foreign policy, security and strategic goals of the United States and our allies. The ATT must not obstruct U.S. efforts to fulfill its obligations, including those to the state of Israel. The ATT deserves to be highly scrutinized, and I will fight any attempt to undercut the Second Amendment rights of U.S. citizens. It will not stand.
U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, represents Colorados 3rd Congressional District. Contact him by phoning (202) 225-4761, faxing (202) 226-9669, or visiting http://tipton.house.gov/ .