VA-ALERT: Action Item - dangerous UN Gun Treaty

[OakRidgeStars]

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While VCDL generally does not get directly involved in Federal issues (all of our resources are needed to take care of Virginia issues), on occasion we will get involved if the situation is important enough to warrant it. We also like to investigate the issue to make sure we are not "crying wolf," as some organizations are known to do when fundraising.

One of those important situations has arisen.

Right now the United Nations is considering a global "small arms" treaty (referred to as the Arms Trade Treaty or "ATT") that could affect gun owners around the world and here in America. And the Obama Administration plans on signing that treaty on July 27th.

There is a very good chance that one of the key reasons that the Administration ran the "Fast and Furious" gun walking program was to "soften up" American opinion on the ATT by showing all the carnage caused by the evil American gun dealers. Luckily, the project was exposed for the monstrosity that it is.

Before we go too far down the road on this subject, let me say this to keep things in perspective: such a treaty would have to be approved by 2/3 of the Senate to become law of the land. While that is highly unlikely and it still could not override Constitutional protections, WE WOULD BE REMISS IF WE DIDN'T CONTACT OUR SENATORS. If it were somehow to become ratified, it would be on par with the Second Amendment! That would truly change this country forever. Even if it were contradictory to our Constitution, it would take a drawn out battle in the courts to overturn it.

The U.N. has never been a friend to freedom nor to gun ownership. Many of the governments represented in the U.N. are tyrannical and would love to see worldwide disarmament of citizens. Heck, IRAN is going to be running the show on the ATT talks!

Governments are the ones who have used guns and other small arms to massacre millions and millions of innocents worldwide, yet the ATT exempts governments from its terms!

( For more on rogue-government sponsored massacres, see this JFPO video: http://tinyurl.com/73buwht )

What can we do?

We need to contact both of our Senators (Webb and Warner) and make it clear that we do not want them to vote to ratify this dangerous treaty. So far answers from both Senators have been non-commital. That is NOT acceptable! There is an ACTION ITEM at the end of this alert.

Here is a video by Dick Morris on the treaty:

http://tinyurl.com/726qexa

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Here is information on the treaty on Forbes.com:

http://tinyurl.com/3h3zcmo

U.N. Agreement Should Have All Gun Owners Up In Arms

It may not come as surprising news to many of you that the United Nations doesn’t approve of our Second Amendment. Not one bit. And they very much hope to do something about it with help from some powerful American friends. Under the guise of a proposed global “Small Arms Treaty” premised to fight “terrorism”, “insurgency” and “international crime syndicates” you can be quite certain that an even more insidious threat is being targeted – our Constitutional right for law-abiding citizens to own and bear arms.

What, exactly, does the intended agreement entail?

While the terms have yet to be made public, if passed by the U.N. and ratified by our Senate, it will almost certainly force the U.S. to:

• Enact tougher licensing requirements, creating additional bureaucratic red tape for legal firearms ownership.
• Confiscate and destroy all “unauthorized” civilian firearms (exempting those owned by our government of course).
• Ban the trade, sale and private ownership of all semi-automatic weapons (any that have magazines even though they still operate in the same one trigger pull – one single “bang” manner as revolvers, a simple fact the ant-gun media never seem to grasp).
• Create an international gun registry, clearly setting the stage for full-scale gun confiscation.
• In short, overriding our national sovereignty, and in the process, providing license for the federal government to assert preemptive powers over state regulatory powers guaranteed by the Tenth Amendment in addition to our Second Amendment rights.
Have no doubt that this plan is very real, with strong Obama administration support. In January 2010 the U.S. joined 152 other countries in endorsing a U.N. Arms Treaty Resolution that will establish a 2012 conference to draft a blueprint for enactment. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has pledged to push for Senate ratification.

Former U.N. ambassador John Bolton has cautioned gun owners to take this initiative seriously, stating that the U.N. “is trying to act as though this is really just a treaty about international arms trade between nation states, but there is no doubt that the real agenda here is domestic firearms control.”

Although professing to support the Second Amendment during her presidential election bid, Hillary Clinton is not generally known as a gun rights enthusiast. She has been a long-time activist for federal firearms licensing and registration, and a vigorous opponent of state Right-to-Carry laws. As a New York senator she ranked among the National Rifle Association’s worst “F”-rated gun banners who voted to support the sort of gunpoint disarmament that marked New Orleans‘ rogue police actions against law-abiding gun owners in the anarchistic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

President Obama’s record on citizen gun rights doesn’t reflect much advocacy either. Consider for example his appointment of anti-gun rights former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels as an alternate U.S. representative to the U.N., and his choice of Andrew Traver who has worked to terminate civilian ownership of so-called “assault rifles” (another prejudicially meaningless gun term) to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Then, in a move unprecedented in American history, the Obama administration quietly banned the re-importation and sale of 850,000 collectable antique U.S.-manufactured M1 Garand and Carbine rifles that were left in South Korea following the Korean War. Developed in the 1930s, the venerable M1 Garand carried the U.S. through World War II, seeing action in every major battle.

As an Illinois state senator, Barack Obama was an aggressive advocate for expanding gun control laws, and even voted against legislation giving gun owners an affirmative defense when they use firearms to defend themselves and their families against home invaders and burglars. He also served on a 10-member board of directors of the radically activist anti-gun Joyce Foundation in Chicago during a period between 1998-2001when it contributed $18,326,183 in grants to anti-Second Amendment organizations.

If someone breaks into your home when you are there, which would you prefer to have close at hand: 1) a telephone to call 911, or 2) a loaded gun of respectable caliber? That’s a pretty easy question for me to answer. I am a long-time NRA member, concealed firearms license holder and a regular weekly recreational pistol shooter. And while I don’t ordinarily care to target anything that has a mother, will reluctantly make an exception should an urgent provocation arise. I also happen to enjoy the company of friends who hunt, as well as those, like myself, who share an abiding interest in American history and the firearms that influenced it.

There are many like me, and fewer of them would be alive today were it not for exercise of their gun rights. In fact law-abiding citizens in America used guns in self-defense 2.5 million times during 1993 (about 6,850 times per day), and actually shot and killed 2 1/2 times as many criminals as police did (1,527 to 606). Those civilian self-defense shootings resulted in less than 1/5th as many incidents as police where an innocent person was mistakenly identified as a criminal (2% versus 11%).

Just how effectively have gun bans worked to make citizens safer in other countries? Take the number of home break-ins while residents are present as an indication. In Canada and Britain, both with tough gun-control laws, nearly half of all burglaries occur when residents are present. But in the U.S. where many households are armed, only about 13% happen when someone is home.

Recognizing clear statistical benefit evidence, 41 states now allow competent, law-abiding adults to carry permitted or permit-exempt concealed handguns. As a result, crime rates in those states have typically fallen at least 10% in the year following enactment.

So the majority in our Senate is smart enough to realize that the U.N.’s gun-grab agenda is unconstitutional, politically suicidal for those who support it, and down-right idiotic—right? Let’s hope so, but not entirely count on it. While a few loyal Obama Democrats are truly “pro-gun”, many are loathe to vote against treaties that carry the president’s international prestige, causing him embarrassment.

Also, don’t forget that Senate confirmation of anti-gun Obama nominee Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Many within the few who voted against her did so only because of massive grassroots pressure from constituents who take their Constitutional protections very seriously.

Now, more than ever, it’s imperative to stick by our guns in demanding that all Constitutional rights be preserved. If not, we will surely lose both.

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ACTION ITEM

To send a message to Senator Warner via his webmail, click here:

http://www.warner.senate.gov/public//in ... ontactPage

For "Topic" choose "Second Amendment RIghts"

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To send a message to Senator Webb via his webmail, click here:

http://www.webb.senate.gov/contact.cfm

For "Subject" choose "Crime/Law Enforcement"

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Suggested subject: Do NOT ratify the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty!

Suggested message:

I urge you NOT to ratify the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) if signed by President Obama.

This treaty will do nothing about making the world safer. Its goal is to disarm law-abiding citizens, while ignoring the true threat that comes from rogue governments.

Let me know how you will vote on the Arms Trade Treaty when it comes to the Senate for ratification.




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VA-ALERT is a project of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
(VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.

VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org [http://www.vcdl.org/]
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[Hokieman1987]

I will email Senators Warner and Webb this weekend. Thanks for posting this. I kept me from searching through numerous articles in search of the truth.

[scrubber3]

Great post. I'm on it.

[dragonzfury050]

I contacted both Webb and Warner last week, but Webb is the only one to respond as of this morning. Thought that I would share his response:

Dear Mr. X:

Thank you for contacting my office regarding a proposed United Nations (UN) treaty to regulate international arm sales. I appreciate your taking the time to share your views.

As a gun owner and a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment, I am aware of the issues raised by the gun owning community regarding provisions in this treaty. Please be assured that I fully appreciate these concerns.

The stated purpose of negotiating such a treaty is to set international standards to curtail manufacturing and trafficking of illicit firearms, ammunition, and explosives. Illegal weapons threaten U.S. security and, in particular, endanger law enforcement and border protection personnel. Illicit organizations profit from firearms trafficking and provide individuals and groups with the means to inflict harm on our nation’s civilian and military personnel. Additionally, many of these firearms ultimately end up in high conflict regions and can be used to perpetrate human rights abuses. I believe ending the trade and manufacture of illegal weapons, ammunition, and explosives is an important part of protecting the rights of lawful gun owners. However, be assured that I will closely scrutinize any proposed treaty seeking to regulate international arms sales to ensure that American sovereignty and citizens’ Constitutional rights are not infringed upon.

Your correspondence is helpful to me and my staff and I hope you will continue to contact my office in the future. I also invite you to visit my website at www.webb.senate.gov for regular updates on issues that are important to Virginia and our nation.

Thank you once again for contacting my office.

Sincerely,


Jim Webb
United States Senator