A little over a year ago, Secretary of State John Kerry signed the United Nations Small Arms Treaty. Fortunately for the US, the Senate had already taken a position on the treaty and deemed it unconstitutional and unworthy of recognition as a violation of the Second Amendment. However, that isn’t stopping the UN treaty from advancing forward in the eyes of the world on December 24, 2014.
According to the United Nations Office for Disarmament (could they be more explicit in what their goals really are?):
The landmark Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), regulating the international trade in conventional arms – from small arms to battle tanks, combat aircraft and warships – will enter into force on 24 December 2014.
The New American’s Joe Wolverton writes, “It is ironical that on the day before the world’s 2.18 billion Christians commemorate the coming of Jesus Christ to the Earth, the United Nations will officially put into motion a plan to deny them of a right given to them by the very God whose birth they celebrate.”
While the UN’s disarmament site claims that the United States has ratified the treaty on September 25, 2013, nothing could be further from the truth. While Kerry may have signed the document, the United States Senate is required to ratify it by two-thirds. They have not done so.
Article II, §2, cl. 2, U.S. Constitution, says the President:
… shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur…
Article VI, Clause 2 goes on to state:
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. [emphasis added]
The US Constitution is the fundamental law in the United States, not a treaty of the United Nations. Therefore, there are rules in place in the US Constitution that keep the UN Small Arms Treaty from becoming law, even if the Senate were to ratify it, namely the Second Amendment.
Publius Huldah writes, “Because the Constitution is “fundamental” law (Federalist No. 78, 11th & 12th paras), it is The Standard by which the legitimacy of all Presidential Acts, all Acts of Congress, all Treaties, and all Judicial Decisions is measured (Federalist No. 78, 10th para).
The federal government may not lawfully circumvent the U.S. Constitution by international treaties,” she adds. “It may NOT do by Treaty what it is not permitted to do by the U.S. Constitution.”
Wolverton adds, “While that is the process that the Constitution establishes for the implementation of treaties, fundamental principles of construction and constitutional law dictate that no treaty that violates the Constitution can become the supreme law of the land. In the case of the UN’s Arms Trade Treaty, there is no doubt that regardless of presidential signatures or congressional consent, this treaty cannot pass constitutional muster and therefore will never be the valid law of the land.”
Understand that John Kerry and Barack Obama have lied to the American people about the UN Small Arms treaty. It is, in fact, a national gun registration. To demonstrate the lies of the Obama administration, Wolverton points out that Article 5 of the treaty, “mandates that all countries participating in the treaty ‘shall establish and maintain a national control system, including a national control list.’ This list should ‘apply the provisions of this Treaty to the broadest range of conventional arms.'”
The treaty also denies men the right to own, buy, sell, trade or transfer any means of armed resistance, ammunition or parts and components of weapons. Plus, it adds strict record keeping requirements and also demands that national governments use “appropriate measures” to enforce the terms of the treaty, using a “voluntary trust fund” to assist UN “Peacekeepers” in disarming citizens.
Americans, at no time in our history have we ever given any authority to the federal government to engage in any of this activity. In fact, we have sat by silently while they have made laws to restrict and regulate arms at the federal level. It is a God-given right, enshrined in the words of the Lord Jesus when He said,
And He said to them, “When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?” So they said, “Nothing.” Then He said to them, “But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.
For those who would like to say that Jesus was speaking metaphorically or that he would never endorse such a thing as arming one’s self, consider that his concern was for His followers. Second, consider that Christ, though the Prince of Peace, is a “man of war” (Exodus 15:3). If your pastor has led you down the primrose path of just submitting to every unlawful dictator and mass murderer in history, then my advice to you is to get out now. Once you do that, take up Gordan Runyan’s excellent exposition of Romans 13 here, and then arm yourselves. After all, if you are unwilling to demonstrate your love for those closest to you by arming yourself for their defense, then your claims of “loving them” are at best hypocritical.
We stand on the precipice of either a great victory or certain defeat. I call upon my fellow Americans to remember the spirit of our forefathers who have come before us and play the man. Stand up and be counted and let those we have elected to office know that we will not stand for lawless behavior any longer and that this treaty is an undermining of the biblical mandate and their charge under the Constitution!
Finally, don’t think that just because we oppose the treaty and it doesn’t get ratified that all is well. Remember how Bill Clinton began implementing the UN Agenda 21 via executive order even though it was never ratified by the Senate. Keep this in mind as we move forward.
