President Obama is expanding gun control “under the radar,” he reportedly promised Sarah Brady. “I just want you to know we are working on it,” Brady recalled the President saying. “We have to go through a few processes, but under the radar.”
It was the 30th anniversary of the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan. Jim Brady, the White House Press Secretary who was severely wounded at the time, and his wife, Sarah, were meeting with current Press Secretary Jay Carney. The President joined the meeting. Current law, named for Brady, requires immediate background checks on handgun purchases. The Bradys had come to Washington seeking stricter legislation.
Obama’s remarks were posted On HOTAIR May 25 reporting on a Washington Post lifestyle article on Steve Croley, the White House czar on gun regulation policy. The article indicated Obama’s furtive plans.
It was while campaigning in 2008 that Obama showed his true collors about gun control. He disparaged some people in small towns who “cling to their guns and religion.”
Obama has a knack for skirting the bounds of the Constitution. Whether it’s going to war in Libya without congressional approval, or condoning labor union threats in the sovereign State of Wisconsin, or toying with the Second Amendment, Obama is the imperial president.
The justice Department, according to the May 25 story, reportedly is holding meetings discussing White House options for enacting new regulations on its own or through executive agencies or departments.
The committed internationalist President apparently can’t wait for an international treaty expected this summer that will deal with arms control—including firearms. That’s when the United Nations is expected to release for ratification their Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).
Although the supposed purposes of the treaty may sound beneficial, it will surely to contain such provisions as gun registration and bans on guns. The danger is that it could snatch away our Second Amendment rights. And the notion of global gun control through international agreements appears to have the full approval of the Obama administration.
That certainly is the concern of Ronald Schmeits, past president of the National Rifle Association, along with most gun owners. The controversial matter has been percolating for several years.
When planning on the treaty began in 2006, Then-UN Ambassador John Bolton, under George Bush, unequivocally opposed the treaty. But in 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton formally reversed that position, indicating we would rather have firearms freedom defined by foreign gun banners than by our own Constitution.
The International Action Network for Small Arms is the standard-bearer for practically all the world’s anti-gun organizations. Among the financiers of this network is the notorious billionaire, George Soros, whose vision is a world where national sovereignty dutifully bows to “global norms.” Strikingly similar to Obama thinking.
Although the Arms Trade Treaty “is considered the most imminent threat to the Second Amendment, it’s hardly the only one,” says NRA’s Schmeits. Back in 2001, the United Nations instituted its “Program of Action” for gun control. It pressures governments to tighten firearms restrictions.
Unlike the ATT, the restrictions are not binding. At least not as of now, But they could be changed by a UN vote, Schmeits maintains. Still another treaty, the Organization of American States (OAS) is in the background, waiting to be ratified when the time is right.
Administration officials said Obama will push for Senate ratification of a Latin American arms trafficking treaty, according to an April Associated Press story.
No treaty has yet been ratified. But as the NRA maintains, “Any of these broad international agreements could foster the growth of a global gun-ban bureaucracy, with all the taxes, inefficiencies, waste and corruption that have characterized bureaucracies since the beginning—yet with no effect on crime.”
That’s certainly what we’ve seen in many countries—from Australia and South Africa to England and Canada. They have adopted the types of gun bans that the UN now wants to impose on the U.S.
Transparency is missing in the UN talks. Last summer, the UN closed the doors on all non-governmental organizations—including, naturally, the NRA. Citizens also were barred from listening to the discussions on the Arms Trade Treaty.
It should be “no mystery why many of the world’s repressive regimes [and plenty of them are UN members] would want to keep firearms out of the hands of their subjects,” said Schmeits. He quoted Thomas Paine, who said: “It is the responsibility of the patriot to protect his country from its government.”
“If foreign powers insist upon pushing their idea of ‘global norms’ across our borders,” Schmeits said, “the NRA will be the first to alert and mobilize the American people to stop them.” And it would still take a two-thirds vote of the Senate to ratify a Treaty.
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart Stores is bringing back rifles, shotguns, and ammunition to half of its 3,500 U.S. locations. A spokesman, David Tovar, said, “We realized the appeal is broader than we had thought.” Gun sales have been on the rise throughout the county, mainly handguns, quite possibly in fear of future gun controls.
As Thomas Jefferson wisely said: “The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, at last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”
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