Glock Blocking

This is the response received from the Senator who eventually hopes to be re-elected.  Snopes says that the treaty is not an end run around the Constitution, but I seriously doubt that President Bush would have squelched it for no good reason. What I think is that the treaty is aimed at terrorism, but the executive branch sees it as a means of applying additional pressure on states to enact laws that dovetail their objective, disarming citizens. All that said, a resolution written in support of the Constitution seems a bit over the top.

Dear Mr. Voterman:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty. I appreciate your thoughts and am grateful  for the opportunity to respond.  I apologize for my delayed response.  I have received an unusually high volume of letters in the last few months and that is the reason for the delay.  Please know that your opinion was taken into consideration at the time your letter was received.

As you are aware, the United Nations approved the Arms Trade Treaty on April 2, 2013, by a vote of 154 to 3. On September 25, 2013, Secretary of State John Kerry signed the treaty on behalf of the United States.  The Obama administration and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton supported the drafting of a U.N. Arms Trade Treaty that is designed to curb hostilities in areas of the world experiencing political instability, and supporters of this treaty believe that an international effort to reduce small arms will help achieve this goal. The United States supported the adoption of the treaty. Syria, North Korea, and Iran opposed it, and another 23 countries, including Russia, abstained from the vote. The treaty will only have the force of law in this country if it is ratified by two-thirds of the U.S. Senate.

Under former President George W. Bush, the United States was the only nation to oppose a 2006 resolution to create an international treaty on the sale of small arms and light weapons. I have joined my Senate colleagues in sending numerous letters to the Administration stating my opposition to this treaty since I believe it violates our Second Amendment rights. Additionally, I cosponsored S.2205, the Second Amendment Sovereignty Act of 2012 , during the 112th Congress. The bill stated that U.S. sovereignty and the constitutionally protected freedoms of American gun owners must be upheld and cannot be undermined by the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty. While the bill was never considered on the floor of the Senate, it was important to express our concerns about potential violations of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.   In March 2013, I supported Sen. Inhofe's (R-Okla.) Amendment 139 to S.Con.Res.8, the Senate Budget Resolution for fiscal year 2014, which would prevent the  United States from entering into the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty .  This amendment was agreed to by a vote of 53-46-1.  However, because S.Con.Res.8 has not been passed by the House and signed by the President, this amendment does not have the force of law.

While I believe it is important to reduce the availability of small arms to terrorist organizations and groups that undermine regional political instability, I would never support any international  agreement that would undermine the Second Amendment rights of American citizens in any way. If the Senate considers ratification of a U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, I will seek to address these concerns. In the meantime, I will continue to explore ways to reduce international violence without undermining our own Constitution.

Thank you again for contacting me.  Please visit my webpage at

http://isakson.senate.gov/ for more information on the issues important to you and to sign up for my  e-newsletter .

Sincerely,

Johnny Isakson

United States Senator

 You have to love the NRA.