NRA accused of stirring 'anti-UN panic' in campaign against Arms Trade Treaty

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

NRA accused of stirring 'anti-UN panic' in campaign against Arms Trade Treaty

Karen McVeigh in New York
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 17 March 2013 19.51 GMT

The National Rifle Association is stepping up its opposition to a UN treaty aimed at halting the illicit trade of guns into conflict zones, after months of silence on the issue believed to be due to its focus on domestic gun control.

Human rights campaigners said that the resurgence of the NRA's campaign was designed to "stir up anti-UN panic" ahead of the UN conference on the Arms Trade Treaty, which opens on Monday in New York. The Obama administration indicated in a statement on Friday that it would sign the pact.

For years, the NRA has painted the UN as a bogeyman figure, claiming in its literature and fundraising drives that there is an international conspiracy to "grab your guns". Last July, when negotiations on the Arms Trade Treaty broke down – in part because of US resistance to global regulations on gun sales – the gun lobby group claimed victory for "killing the UN ATT".

Supporters of the treaty accuse the NRA of deceiving the US public about the pact, which they say will have no impact on US domestic gun ownership as it applies only to exports.

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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/17/nra-un-panic-arms-treaty

[Paul E Ester]

1. I don't know that it's so far fetched. The UN urged the USA to crack down on Colorado and Washington

following the legalization of marijuana which they argue violates a treaty the United States is a signature of.

UN: Colo., Wash. legal pot violates drug treaties

A United Nations-based drug agency urged the United States government on Tuesday to challenge the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in Colorado and Washington, saying the state laws violate international drug treaties.

The International Narcotics Control Board made its appeal in an annual drug report. It called on Washington, D.C., to act to "ensure full compliance with the international drug control treaties on its entire territory."

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said last week that he was in the last stages of reviewing the Colorado and Washington state laws. Holder said he was examining policy options and international implications of the issue. Marijuana is illegal under federal law.

The federal government could sue the states over legalization or decide not to mount a court challenge. Washington and Colorado became the first states to pass laws legalizing the recreational use of marijuana in last fall's elections.

"The entire international system is based on countries respecting the rules, and there's a broad fabric of international treaties that are part and parcel to that," said David Johnson, the U.S. delegate to the Vienna-based board.

The control board is the independent monitoring body for the implementation of United Nations drug control conventions. Its head, Raymond Yans, also called on Holder to challenge the laws soon after voters in both states approved them in November.

The small arms treaty has numerous provisions in it, that a zealously minded bureaucrat could apply to much of american gun culture/business.