The Obama Administration's Curious Record on Firearms

What’s The Obama Administration Up To On Firearms?, Forbes, December 28, 2016, "The Obama Administration’s record on firearms is curiously mixed. On the one hand, the President deserves an award – which he is unlikely to receive or want – as America’s greatest gun salesman. All of his musings about gun control have gone hand in hand with boom times for the firearms industry."

UN Programme of Action Lives On

U.N. ‘Programme of Action’ Does Little Damage, So Far, Heritage Foundation Foundry, September 11, 2012. "The 2012 Review Conference for the U.N.’s “Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects” (PoA), concluded with a consensus agreement on Friday. The agreement continued the PoA’s track record of over-promising and under-delivering, but, in the context of the PoA, that is about the best outcome the U.S. could realistically have achieved."

The Administration Is Wrong: ATT's Criteria Are Not Ours

The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty’s Criteria for Transfers Pose Problems for the U.S., Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #2706, July 9, 2012. "The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is being negotiated in July. The framework on which the ATT is likely to be based is clear: it will set out criteria that signatories must apply to proposed arms transfers, and require them to decide if the proposed transfer poses a risk under any of the criteria. This approach is troubling in part because the criteria are likely to be ill-defined. It is also troubling because the ATT’s ‘checklist’ model differs fundamentally from the ‘guidance’ model the U.S. currently employs. Worst of all, though, is the fact that the ATT will enumerate criteria that will be easy to expand in ways that the U.S. cannot control. If the ATT is to exist, it should be based on a commitment by willing and democratic signatories to develop effective systems of border and export control."

The UN Steps on Its Shoelaces

The U.N. Speaks: The Arms Trade Treaty Will Affect ‘Legally Owned Weapons', Heritage Foundation Foundry, June, 22, 2012. "Yesterday, the U.N. released its press kit for the July conference that will finalize the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The most interesting item in the kit is a lengthy paper by the U.N.’s Coordinating Action on Small Arms (CASA) program titled “The Impact of Poorly Regulated Arms Transfers on the Work of the UN.” This paper perpetuates the belief, on which much of the ATT is based, that the big problem the world faces is a lack of agreed standards on arms transfers. That’s wrong: The big problem the world faces in this regard is that many U.N. member states are dictatorships, supporters of terrorists, or simply incapable of controlling their own borders."

Sen. Moran's Leadership on ATT

Senator Moran Speaks at Heritage on the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, Heritage Foundation Foundry, June 21, 2012. "Yesterday, Senator Jerry Moran (R–KS) gave an important speech at The Heritage Foundation on the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), negotiations on which will open on July 2 in New York. Through letters to the Administration, legislation, and amendments, Moran has played the leading role in seeking to ensure, with his colleagues in both parties, that the ATT does not infringe on rights protected under the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Moran made a valuable contribution by pointing out that concerns about the ATT should not focus only on the Second Amendment. As he noted, the ATT will apply equally to dictatorships and democracies, a dangerous idea that implies that dictatorships have the same right to buy and sell weapons that democracies do. But in the context of the Second Amendment, the Senator noted that we should not be content with the Administration’s pledge not to negotiate a treaty that infringes on our rights. That is a step forward, but it is not enough. The Senator then set out four criteria that would put flesh on the bones of that pledge."

A Classic Aspirational Treaty

The Risks the Arms Trade Treaty Poses to the Sovereignty of the United States, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #3622, June 4, 2012. "The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) will be negotiated in July in New York. One reason to be concerned about the ATT is the risks it poses to U.S. sovereignty. Some of these risks are specific to the ATT, but the fundamental problem with the ATT is that it is an aspirational treaty and, as such, will impose constraints on the U.S. that will not in practice affect the dictatorial regimes at which the treaty is nominally aimed."

Risks to Second Amendment from ATT

American Rights Need American Defenders, Hays Daily News, Kansas, March 30, 2012. "Is the Arms Trade Treaty about a U.N. army coming to take away our guns? That’s crazy. But this is a pro gun-control administration, negotiating at the pro gun-control U.N. with countries that have no Second Amendment. A treaty could fall far short of gun confiscation and still restrict our freedoms."

Establish U.S. Red Lines on ATT

U.S. Needs Red Lines for Arms Trade Treaty Negotiations, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #3548, March 22, 2012. "The final Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) in February decided that, in preparation for the July 2–27 conference in New York that will finalize the ATT, U.N. member states should by March 31 submit short statements on the provisions that they believe should define any ATT. The U.S. should use this opportunity to establish firm red lines for the July conference and to make it clear that it will reject an unacceptable ATT that originates in either the July conference or in any other venue."

OAS Shows Why We Don't Need CIFTA

CIFTA: Treaty Without a Purpose, Heritage Foundation Foundry, February 4, 2011. "CIFTA is a bad treaty: It poses serious risks to liberties guaranteed by the First and Second Amendments and would undermine U.S. sovereignty by legally binding it to fulfill obligations that some current signatories already disregard. The OAS’s latest statement on “Reducing the Threat of Arms and Munitions in the Americas” demonstrates that the treaty is pointless as well as bad."

Four Points to Critics on CIFTA

Responding to Cmments on CIFTA, Heritage Foundation Foundry, December 21, 2010. "Several comments have taken issue with my post on the recent Washington Post article on the supposed prevalence of gun smuggling from the U.S. to Mexico. I’m glad to respond to their concerns."

More WaPo Exaggerations on CIFTA

Yet Again, Media Exaggerates Scale of Gun Smuggling from U.S. Into Mexico, Foundry, December 13, 2010, "The Washington Post today ran a lengthy front-page story headlined “As Mexico drug violence runs rampant, U.S. guns tied to crime south of border.” The title pretty much sums it up: the Post states that an “unprecedented number of American guns [are flowing] to the murderous drug cartels across the border” and that this is fueling the violent battle between drug runners and the Mexican government."

CIFTA, Again

CIFTA: More Than A Bad Treaty, National Security Policy Proceedings, vol. 3, Fall 2010. "My subject today is the CIFTA Convention, which has been negotiated under the auspices of the Organization of American States (OAS). CIFTA, in turn, is a Spanish abbreviation for the “Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials.” CIFTA is a bad treaty, but it is not simply a bad treaty. It raises three broader issues about the process and purpose of U.S. diplomacy that we should all be concerned about."

Adminstration Still Backs CIFTA and ATT

Confused Administration Keeps Pushing Conventional Arms Treaties, Heritage Foundation Foundry, August 23, 2010. "The State Department has posted a speech by Ann K. Ganzer, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Threat Reduction, Export Controls, and Negotiations. Delivered on August 4 at the South American Conference on Interdiction and Regional Security of Small Arms & Light Weapons, Ganzer’s speech sheds valuable light on the Administration’s intentions on several treaties, including the U.N.’s Arms Trade Treaty, and reveals serious contradictions and flaws in the Administration’s position."

The Arms Trade Treaty PrepCom Concludes

As Arms Trade Treaty Meeting Concludes, U.S. Frustrations Grow, Heritage Foundation Foundry, July 23, 2010. "The Preparatory Committee for the U.N.’s Arms Trade Treaty is nearing the end of its second and final week of meetings. The Preparatory Committee is not engaged in negotiating a treaty, but in defining what should be included in the treaty when it is negotiated. As a result, many of the statements by the participating states are very general. But enough has been said to show that the Obama Administration’s decision to participate only on the basis of “consensus”—which it justified as a way to ensure that the final treaty is satisfactory—was ill-advised."

U.N. Arms Trade Treaty Preparatory Committee Convenes

Danger Ahead: The U.N. Begins Work on the Arms Trade Treaty, Heritage Foundation Foundry, July 13, 2010. "Beginning this week, and running through July 23, the United Nations will hold back-to-back meetings of the Preparatory Committee for the Arms Trade Treaty. The Preparatory Committee will discuss the content of the treaty, in advance of a meeting of the Conference in 2012 to finalize the treaty and open it for ratification."

The 2010 Preparatory Committee for the Arms Trade Treaty

The 2010 Preparatory Committee for the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty: Five Dangers the U.S. Must Avoid, Heritage Foundation WebMemo #2953, July 8, 2010. "On July 12–23, the United Nations will hold back-to-back meetings of the Preparatory Committee for the Arms Trade Treaty. This process poses five serious dangers that the U.S. should avoid. If the U.S. does not do so, any arms trade treaty that comes into existence will pose a threat to U.S. liberties, to American interests, and to effective and serious diplomacy."

Once Again, Misleading Claims About Guns on the Border

President Calderon's Misleading Claim, Heritage Foundation Foundry, May 21, 2010. "In his speech before a Joint Session of Congress yesterday, President Felipe Calderon of Mexico made a bold claim."

Calderon's Visit and CIFTA

What We Shouldn't Be Doing to 'Help' Mexico, Foxnews.com, May 20, 2010. "Mexican President Felipe Calderón is in Washington for a two day state visit from May 19-20. He and President Obama have a lot to talk about, ranging from reaffirming a shared commitment to the North American Free Trade Agreement to the vital need for both countries to emphasize competitiveness, technological innovation, and creative entrepreneurship. In Mexico, these policies will increase growth and employment and reduce the economic pressures that drive illegal immigration across the U.S. border."

President Calderon's Visit and the OAS Convention

President Calderón’s Visit Should Not Lead to Support for the OAS’s Firearms Convention, Heritage Foundation WebMemo #2905, May 19, 2010. "On May 19, Mexican President Felipe Calderón will arrive in Washington for a two-day state visit, during which he is likely to urge U.S. ratification of the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacture of and Trafficking in Firearms (commonly known by its Spanish acronym, CIFTA). The convention is purportedly necessary to stem the flow of firearms legally purchased in the U.S. and then illegally exported to Mexico."

The OAS's Firearms Convention

The OAS Firearms Convention Is Incompatible with American Liberties, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #2412, May 19, 2010. "President Barack Obama has called on the Senate to ratify CIFTA, the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacture of and Trafficking in Firearms, but the convention poses serious prudential risks to liberties guaranteed by the First and Second Amendments. The convention appears to be an end run around domestic obstacles to gun control. Furthermore, ratification of the convention would undermine U.S. sovereignty by legally binding it to fulfill obligations that some current signatories already disregard. The U.S. would be best served by continuing existing programs, cooperating with other countries on a bilateral basis, and making and enforcing its own laws to combat the traffic in illicit arms."