Draining the Swamp at the U.N. – Start With the Arms Trade Treaty
When looking to “drain the swamp” of meddling bureaucrats and global
do-gooders, there is perhaps no better place to start than on the banks
of the East River in New York, home to the headquarters of the United
Nations. And, with the United States’ newest U.N. Ambassador, former
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, sworn into office, there is no
better time to start than now.Four years ago, then Secretary of State John Kerry signed the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), an international agreement regulating the sale, transfer, and export of conventional weapons, including “small arms and light weapons” – meaning virtually every firearm on the market. Ostensibly, the treaty was to prevent the “human suffering” attributed to the international trade in “illicit” arms.
However, rather than promoting “world peace” and protecting citizens of member nations from the scourge of “illicit” firearms, the multi-year U.N. effort was a thinly-veiled attempt to engage in gun control both internationally and domestically within member nations.
Under the decisive leadership of the Bush Administration’s then-Undersecretary of State (and, later, acting Ambassador to the U.N.) John Bolton, the U.S. made clear it would neither support nor allow to be adopted any international instrument that directly or indirectly infringed any constitutionally-protected rights. Kerry’s signature on the ATT in 2013 reversed this approach, and instead committed the U.S. government -- as a signatory -- not to act “contrary to” the ATT’s terms, even if those actions conflicted with the interests and constitutional rights of U.S. citizens, and not withstanding that the Senate had not ratified the treaty itself.
