Trump Announces He Is Removing John Kerry’s Signature From U.N. Small Arms Treaty
Luke Rohlfing
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On the campaign trail, then-candidate Donald Trump pledged that “we will no longer surrender this country or its people to the false song of globalism.”
And today he took a massive step towards following through on that pledge by announcing he is removing the U.S. signature from the U.N. Small Arms Treaty, which was signed by former Secretary of State John Kerry in 2013.
“My administration will never surrender American sovereignty to anyone. My administration will never ratify the UN Arms Treaty,” Trump said while speaking at the National Rifle Association conference in Indiana.
The U.N. Small Arms Treaty is designed to create regulations on the import and export on small arms, which includes everyday firearms that U.S. citizens have the right to own. But gun rights advocates have long been concerned about having a global system of gun regulations, especially with the vast majority of nations leading the effort being vehemently anti-gun.
Gun rights groups like the National Association for Gun Rights have long been sounding the alarm on the treaty, calling it a “global gun control scheme” which could result in global gun licensing requirements, an international gun registration, and bans on the private ownership of certain firearms.
Big League Politics spoke to Dudley Brown, who is the President of the National Association for Gun Rights to discuss the monumental decision.
“It’s been a long slog since Hillary Clinton announced our country would support the Treaty in 2009,” Brown told Big League Politics. “And finally a stake has been put in the heart of this vampire. Now we just need to make sure we’re not still paying for it, which we have been.”
The Treaty first gained traction in October of 2009 when then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the U.S.’s support, stating that, “The United States is committed to actively pursuing a strong and robust treaty that contains the highest possible, legally binding standards for the international transfer of conventional weapons.”
This was quickly followed by Congress voting to support the measure at a 2012 U.N. conference. In 2013 is when Kerry put his signature on the move, only having ratification left to accomplish.
But because of the work of group’s like the National Association for Gun Rights and figures like U.S. Sen Rand Paul, the move never gained any traction beyond the signature. The U.S. has continued to fund the implementation of the treaty, despite efforts to remove those funds. It is unclear if Trump removing the signature will also cancel any future funding.
Trump remove the signature makes clear the U.N. that the U.S. is not in any way involved in their global gun control scheme.
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