Mississippi senators tell Obama it would be ‘pointless’ to sign UN Arms Treaty

Last week, the Senate voted 53-46 on an amendment to the 2014 budget resolution that would prevent the United States from entering into the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty.

{mosads}The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty would regulate international arms sales; negotiations of the treaty end on March 28.

“The Senate has a constitutional responsibility to provide advice and consent on treaties,” Wicker said. “Protecting Americans’ basic freedoms, including the right to bear arms, is part of that obligation. As the Senate has made clear, the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty threatens to infringe this fundamental right.”

Both senators are cosponsors of a resolution introduced by Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.). S. Con. Res. 7 expresses the unwillingness of the Senate to ratify any U.N. Arms Trade Treaty that does not protect the Second Amendment rights provided by the Constitution.

Republicans have been critical of President Obama’s decision to consider the treaty, although Obama has said he would not vote for anything that would violate the Second Amendment. 

However, the Senate resolution states that the current draft of the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty does not explicitly protect Americans’ Second Amendment rights.

“[The] Arms Trade Treaty fails to expressly recognize the fundamental, individual right to keep and to bear arms and the individual right of personal self-defense, as well as the legitimacy of hunting, sports shooting, and other lawful activities pertaining to the private ownership of firearms and related materials, and thus risks infringing on freedoms protected by the Second Amendment,” S. Con. Res. 7 states.

If the U.N. committee clears the treaty, then the entire U.N. body will vote on whether to accept it.