Way back in 2001, the United Nations decided to take on the task of trying to restrict the Second Amendment-protected rights of American citizens through its Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons In All Its Aspects (PoA). Incredibly, that program continues to live on, with the most-recent 10-day review conference just wrapping up last month in New York.
While the initial PoA was held ostensibly to “create a framework for activities to counter the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons (SALW), which includes handguns, fully automatic weapons, ammunition, explosives, and land mines,” it was actually an avenue to curtail the rights of lawful Americans through international means.
I remember being involved in America’s 1st Freedom’s initial coverage of the first meeting back in 2001, and the outrage from the NRA and other pro-rights advocates was extremely high. Tom Mason, NRA-ILA’s lead representative at the U.N. proceedings at the time, summed the real purpose of the treaty up nicely.
“The key words are ‘In All Its Aspects,’” Mason told America’s 1st Freedom at the time. “They’re not just looking at illicit trade, they’re looking at the legal manufacture, commerce and ownership of firearms all over the world. For the first time in United Nations history, the arms they want to regulate are not held by nations, but arms owned by citizens.”
Since the initial meeting, the PoA has ebbed and flowed. In 2013, then-President Barack Obama (D) signed the Arms Trade Treaty, signifying U.S. support; however, in 2019, then-President Donald Trump (R) “unsigned” the Arms Trade Treaty during an address at the NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits in Indianapolis, Ind.
“We will never surrender America’s sovereignty to an unelected, unaccountable, global bureaucracy,” said Trump to thunderous applause.
The danger of the PoA to American gun owners hasn’t changed much over the past nearly 23 years. And neither has the NRA’s dedication to fighting the multinational effort. As with the initial conference and all other meetings since, the NRA was there, standing as the one dedicated force to battle further expansion of the treaty.
“As the only American firearms user group attending in a sea of anti-firearm nations and Non-Governmental Associations (NGOs), the NRA fought fiercely to stem the PoA’s growth and preserve the rights of American firearms and ammunition users against increased international standards meant to destroy those very rights afforded to us by our Second Amendment,” reported NRA-ILA.
According to the NRA-ILA report, the unwritten theme for this year’s review conference was expansion, as there were calls to expand the PoA into new areas, like the environment, technology, and gender dominions, including the exploration of the relationship between firearms, “masculinities,” and “genders in all their diversity.”
The most significant item was a call for the creation of an Open-Ended Technical Expert Group to study and develop international regulations and oversight on what the UN considers “new technologies” (polymers, modular weapons, and 3D printing).
“The justification for expansion of the PoA is transparent, as the inclusion of new language and regulations not only hamper the ability of civilians to use and possess firearms, but also allow for the PoA to continue to exist,” ILA noted. “It is hard to debate against the continuation of a body that has shown no real impact on the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons, or that only 50% of its members even bother to report to; however, if one can show continued growth an argument can be made that life still exists.”
Fortunately, according to the report, by the end of two weeks of negotiations, and considerable efforts working friendly delegations, most of the calls for expansion were either removed from consideration entirely or watered down with limiting language, leaving them barren of any real-world implications.
In the end, the PoA will likely live on for decades, as representatives from countries with limited freedom don’t want to see freedom live.
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