UN Arms Trade Treaty

This is from an email I received from my U.S. Senator.  BHO continues to ignore the rule of law and the treaty ratification process required via the Senate.  Congress has the only power to hold a president in check and the current Congress shows no signs of requiring the imposter in the White House to follow the law or be answerable.

U.N. Arms Trade Treaty
Last Wednesday, April 2, marked the first anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations’ Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). In October, I led 50 bipartisan U.S. Senators – half of the Senate – in writing to President Obama regarding our substantive concerns with the ATT, in particular its inherent threat to the Second Amendment rights of Americans. Unfortunately, we never received even the courtesy of an acknowledgement, let alone a formal written response. Even worse, the Administration has begun new efforts to implement the ATT without having first obtained the advice and consent of the Senate.
On January 15, 2014, the Obama Administration issued a new conventional arms export control policy, effectively reversing the policy which had been in place since the Clinton presidency. The new policy language, while never specifically referencing the ATT, mirrors the treaty nearly word for word in criteria and standards. I am disturbed by both the secrecy behind producing the new policy and the disregard it shows for the role of the Senate in this process.

As such, on Wednesday I delivered another letter to the White House expressing my regret at these actions and at the President’s failure to respond to our letter from the fall. I have called upon President Obama to withdraw the new arms control policy and to consult fully with relevant Congressional committees and concerned offices and he works to revise the policy. I was also compelled to, once again, reiterate the wide bipartisan, bicameral opposition to the ATT in Congress, and restate our previous notice that we do not regard the U.S., as bound to uphold the treaty’s object and purpose.
The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty is an issue I have been following and opposing for years. [Include links] In May 2012, I spoke on the Senate floor about S. 2205, the Second Amendment Sovereignty Act, which I introduced to prohibit funding to negotiate the U.N. ATT. Last spring, I introduced S. Con. Res. 7, a concurrent resolution sponsored by 35 Senators, outlining specific criteria that must be met for the U.N. ATT to be ratified by the U.S. Senate. Click here to view my recent letter to the president.