Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Monday that the United States will sign the U.N.’s Arms Trade Treaty. “The Treaty is an important contribution to efforts to stem the illicit trade in conventional weapons, which fuels conflict, empowers extremists, and contributes to violations of human rights,” Kerry said in an official press statement.
The treaty aims to end the “‘free-for-all’ nature of international weapons transfers,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon stated. It establishes international standards that will apply to global trade in conventional arms, ranging from handguns to tanks, as well as munitions and parts for weapons.
Though the treaty states that it will not interfere with the sovereign right of each nation to regulate its domestic arms trade, lawmakers are concerned that the terms of the agreement will be used as justification to tamper with gun rights within the United States. One hundred and thirty members of Congress, representing both parties, sent a letter to President Obama and the secretary of state asking them to reject the treaty:
We strongly encourage your administration to recognize its textual, inherent and procedural flaws, to uphold our country’s constitutional protections of civilian firearms owners, and to defend the sovereignty of the United States, and thus to decide not to sign this treaty.
In his statement yesterday preceding the signing, Kerry assured Americans that “the ATT will not undermine the legitimate international trade in conventional weapons, interfere with national sovereignty, or infringe on the rights of American citizens.”
The treaty will have to be ratified by the Senate in the coming months. In a show vote on the measure in March, 53 senators — the entire Republican caucus and eight Democrats — opposed U.S. ratification of the agreement, so it’s not likely to pass the Senate anytime soon. In theory, though, the Senate could ratify it at any time in the future.