{"id":2206,"date":"2013-09-25T11:56:29","date_gmt":"2013-09-25T17:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/?p=2206"},"modified":"2013-09-25T11:56:29","modified_gmt":"2013-09-25T17:56:29","slug":"united-states-signs-global-arms-trade-treaty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/united-states-signs-global-arms-trade-treaty\/","title":{"rendered":"United States Signs Global Arms Trade Treaty"},"content":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Hayes Brown<\/a>, Think Progress
\nclick here for original article<\/a><\/p>\n

UNITED NATIONS \u2014 The United States on Wednesday finally added its name to the signatories of the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), a step sure to please human rights activists and enrage Republicans.<\/p>\n

Secretary of State John Kerry signed the treaty on behalf of the United States on Wednesday, making the U.S. the 91st country to do so. \u201cI signed it because President Obama knows that from decades of efforts that anytime we work with cooperatively with the illicit trade in conventional weapons, we make the world a safe place,\u201d Kerry said. \u201cAnd this treaty is a significant step in that effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

The legal arms trade, comprised of both the import and export weapons, constitutes around $70 billion annually. Attack helicopters, tanks, and other larger arms are covered under the treaty, as well as small arms and ammunition for these weapons. Under the\u00a0terms of the treaty<\/a>, states are required to determine whether the shipment of arms to a second country would be used to commit atrocities or violate human rights or if they could diverted for such a purpose, and report back to the U.N. Secretariat on their efforts.<\/p>\n

Counter to worries that the ATT will constitute an infringement of the Second Amendment in the United States, the American Bar Association has concluded that Americans needn\u2019t fear such an outcome. As the ABA points out in their\u00a0white paper<\/a>, import restrictions on firearms have been ruled constitutionally valid. At present, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms already\u00a0regulates and tracks<\/a>\u00a0the import of firearms into the United States, leaving no need for further domestic legislation regarding the ATT\u2019s implementation. Exports of firearms, the ABA also notes, are not protected under the Second Amendment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis treaty will not diminish anyone\u2019s freedom,\u201d Kerry said. \u201cIn fact the treaty recognizes the ability of both individuals and states to obtain, possess, and use arms for legit purposes. Make no mistake, we would never think about supporting a treaty that is inconsistent with the rights of Americans, the rights of American citizens, to be able to exercise their guaranteed rights under our Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S.\u00a0voted<\/a>\u00a0in favor of the treaty in April, as did the vast majority of the world. In fact, only Syria, Iran, and North Korea\u00a0voted against it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Activists have been urging President Obama to sign the Arms Trade Treaty for months now. At the end of a meeting with Obama administration officials in August, members of a coalition of activists ranging from religious evangelicals to arms control advocates to\u00a0passed along a letter<\/a>\u00a0to the President, urging swift action on the ATT. \u201cYour Administration demonstrated leadership by supporting the Treaty through its development,\u201d the letter read. \u201cSigning the Arms Trade Treaty will demonstrate strong US leadership and help create important momentum for the treaty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conservatives\u00a0have been insisting<\/a>, absent real evidence, that the ATT will kick the U.S. down a\u00a0slippery slope<\/a>\u00a0towards mass gun confiscation. The National Rifle Association \u2014\u00a0never fans<\/a>\u00a0of the treaty \u2014\u00a0has been fundraising<\/a>\u00a0based on that premise, urging its members to write to their senators to vote against the treaty. For the treaty to be ratified, two-thirds of the Senate will have to vote in favor of it, giving the ATT slim prospects in the face of virulent GOP opposition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Hayes Brown, Think Progress click here for original article UNITED NATIONS \u2014 The United States on Wednesday finally added its name to the signatories of the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), a step sure to please human rights activists and enrage Republicans. Secretary of State John Kerry signed the treaty on behalf of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2207,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[170],"class_list":["post-2206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-arms-trade-treaty"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/photo-3-e1380118111414-555x416.jpg?fit=288%2C416&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2208,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206\/revisions\/2208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}