JULY, 2012 "In The Crosshairs"
July 25, 2012
http://www.scifirstforhunters.org/advocacy/contactcongressman
Dear SCI members,
Over the last four weeks the United Nations has been engaged in
final negotiations on the terms of an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). This
treaty has the purported goal of reducing the illicit trade in arms.
However the ATT is massive in scope, possibly covering every
conventional weapon, from battleships and missiles to your common
deer hunting rifle and ammunition.
The ATT has been in the works for more than a decade, and SCI has
continually and consistently monitored its progress to protect
hunters from the threats that it could pose. SCI has continually
lobbied to exclude hunting firearms and ammunition entirely from the
scope of the treaty.
Negotiations have been moving slowly during the months of June and
July, however on July 24, 2012 a draft version of the treaty was
released and it contains numerous provisions that are extremely
dangerous to hunters. Some of the worst provisions of the draft are
listed below.
- The current draft ignores the
position of millions of sport shooters worldwide and includes
all sporting arms, hunting rifles, and ammunition, instead of
excluding this legal trade from the scope of the ATT. Sadly, the
current United States administration has stated their support
for the inclusion of sporting arms in the scope of the treaty.
- The current draft would require all
signatory nations to establish a “national control system” to
control the export of firearms and ammunition. This national
control system could easily be interpreted as a national gun
registration system by an anti-hunting administration.
- The draft fails to exclude the
temporary import or export of firearms from its scope. This
could add burdensome reporting requirements for even the
temporary export of a firearm for a hunting trip.
- Article 11 of the draft treaty
requires states to keep ten years of records for all arms
exported. A country must keep records of “quantity, value,
model/type, authorized arms transfers, arms actually
transferred, details of exporting State(s), recipient State(s),
and end users.” This requirement also applies to arms that
merely transit or transship through a country. This huge
bureaucratic undertaking could devastate traveling hunters as it
is much more likely that air carriers will stop shipping
firearms than comply with this unduly burdensome requirements.
- Article 13 would establish a new
U.N. bureaucracy that would oversee national implementation of
the treaty. This Orwellian named “Implementation Support Unit”
would facilitate and oversee the implementation of the treaty.
- Finally, the draft treaty also
contains an insidious clause in Article 23 that would
essentially apply the treaty to countries whether or not they
even sign the treaty. This clause requires that “States Parties
shall apply Articles 3-5 to all transfers of conventional arms
within the scope of this Treaty to those not party to this
Treaty.” This unacceptable position undermines state sovereignty
and must be opposed.
The bitter irony of all this is that the United States already
has the most comprehensive set of export controls in the world.
Other nations could simply emulate these protocols and address any
problem, real or perceived.
We need every SCI member and hunter to contact their senators and
the President and urge them to oppose this dangerous treaty. Please
click here to
contact your legislators now.
http://www.scifirstforhunters.org/advocacy/contactcongressman
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