United Nations Arms Trade Treaty

Floor Speech

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Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, Congressman Kelly from Pennsylvania, for yielding me the time. I would also like to thank my good friend, the senior Senator from Oklahoma, Jim Inhofe, who has been the upper Chamber's fiercest opponent of the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty. I am proud that Senator Inhofe also stands firmly with Senator Cruz in his fight to defund ObamaCare. There seems to be some confusion about that back in Oklahoma, but he has been standing with Senator Cruz from the beginning.

Mr. Speaker, already this year, the President tried to ban guns he thinks look scary. They don't operate any differently--they just look scary--so he tried to ban them.

Rejected by Congress, the President tried to create what is effectively a national gun registry. The American people and their representatives rejected that plan as well. In response, President Obama today had his Secretary of State sign what is effectively an international gun control treaty that will ultimately force all of us to register our guns and our names and our information into an international database.

President Obama once again demonstrated his hostility to the Constitution, to the Second Amendment, and to the U.S. sovereignty by signing the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty. This President is fundamentally antagonistic toward both our constitutional right to keep and bear arms and American independence from international bodies.

Why is the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty so dangerous? First, the treaty is ambiguously worded. Its basic terms are not even defined, which permits gun-grabbing U.N. bureaucrats the widest possible interpretive scope. We all know that the U.N. gun-grabbers will interpret this treaty just as loosely as the President interprets the Constitution of the United States.

Second, the Arms Trade Treaty is a direct shot at the Second Amendment of the Constitution. Lawful ownership and use of firearms--including for self-defense--are basic constitutional rights. The treaty does not recognize this. In fact, the Arms Trade Treaty ``encourages governments to collect the identities of individual end users of imported firearms at the national level.'' This is the core of a national gun registry.

The treaty also creates a national ``responsibility'' to prevent the ``diversion'' of firearms to illegal trade. Since illicit trade is not defined, does this mean one American selling a gun to another American counts as illegal? Who is to say? Groups like Amnesty International have already stated that the Arms Trade Treaty is a ``start'' down the path of control for ``domestic internal gun sales.'' This is international gun control, plain and simple.

Mr. Speaker, the Arms Trade Treaty is fully consistent with the President's policy of ceding more U.S. sovereignty to international bodies. He's pushed the Senate to ratify treaties that do nothing except diminish U.S. sovereignty. These treaties include the U.N. Conventions on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities, the Rights of Children, and the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.

Does this mean that the United States finds no morally compelling interest in protecting disabled persons, children, or women? Of course not. In each of these, cases U.S. domestic law imposes far higher standards of protection than many of the countries that have ratified all three of these treaties. For example, such beacons of human freedom as Cuba, China, Nigeria, Russia, and Syria have ratified all three of these treaties. North Korea and Iran have ratified two of the three. Unlike these countries, though, the United States actually upholds its treaty obligations.

Mr. Speaker, the Arms Trade Treaty is a perfect example of a dangerous trend in international legal thinking called ``transnationalism.'' The goal of transnationalists is to ``circumvent resistant legislatures'' and ``download'' so-called ``global norms.'' We've heard the President talk about global norms ad nauseam. But the idea is to circumvent resistant legislatures and download global norms into U.S. and other domestic law. Let me say that again: the transnationalists pushing the Arms Trade Treaty, like Amnesty International, want to avoid Congress, they want to avoid us--the people's representatives--and impose international law from foreign bodies.

Mr. Speaker, perhaps the pro-Arms Trade Treaty supporters need a lesson in the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. We choose those that govern us and under which laws we live. We should not give up our God-given rights and liberties to foreign bodies such as the United Nations. The Second Amendment is not up for debate. The individual right of Americans to keep and bear arms is not a matter of discussion for foreigners.

The President will treat the Arms Trade Treaty as binding on America no matter what the Senate does. He can't impose gun control in Congress so he's going to use an international treaty instead. I pray that the Senate rips this treaty to pieces and that our next President removes America's signature and, with it, this hideous assault on our Constitution.

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