Thursday, April 16, 2009

"President Obama Backs Inter-American Arms Treaty" (But since the NRA signed off on it, I'm SURE we have nothing to worry about.)

Note: It is appropriate to roll your eyes and groan at this point.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/16/AR2009041602694.html?hpid=topnews

President Obama Backs Inter-American Arms TreatyBy Scott WilsonWashington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 16, 2009; 1:52 PM

MEXICO CITY, April 16--President Obama will announce in a visit here today that he will push the U.S. Senate to ratify an inter-American arms trafficking treaty designed to curb the flow of guns and ammunition to drug cartels and other armed groups in the hemisphere.

Senior administration officials confirmed that he will make the announcement after meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon this afternoon. The meeting is the centerpiece of Obama's first visit to Mexico, whose government is engaged in a broad war against heavily armed drug cartels now threatening the integrity of the state.

"The Obama administration's commitment to seek ratification [of the treaty] is important because stemming the number of illegal firearms which flow into Latin America and the Caribbean is a high priority for the region and addresses a key hemispheric concern relating to people's personal security and well-being," said a senior Obama administration official.

Obama's visit here, the first by a U.S. president to the capital in 13 years, represents a show of support for Calderon, who two years ago became the first Mexican president to so fully deploy the army against drug cartels supplying a enormously lucrative American market.

Since then, more than 10,000 people have died in drug-related violence that is most intense along the U.S.-Mexican border. The Bush administration won approval for a three-year, $1.4 billion counter-narcotics package for Mexico and some Central American countries in June 2008, but the military hardware has been slow in arriving.

Many of the guns used by the drug cartels travel south from the United States. Some assault rifles recovered by Mexican authorities have been traced back to U.S. military bases.

In the days leading up to the president's visit here, senior Obama administration officials said the government was focused on enforcing existing U.S. laws to stop arms smuggling, although Mexican officials have called for more help.

Obama's announcement on the treaty -- formally known as the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and other Related Items -- will mark an additional step.

The Clinton administration signed the treaty, better known by its Spanish acronym CIFTA, after the Organization of American States adopted it in 1997. In all, 33 countries in the hemisphere have signed the treaty. The United States is one of four nations that have yet to ratify the convention, although Obama administration officials say the U.S. government has sought to abide by the spirit of the treaty for years.

The treaty requires countries to take a number of steps to reduce the illegal manufacture and trade in guns, ammunition and explosives.

In addition to making illegal the unauthorized manufacture and exporting of firearms, the treaty calls for countries to adopt strict licensing requirements, mark firearms when they are made and imported to make them easier to trace, and establish a cooperative process for sharing information between national law-enforcement agencies investigating arms smuggling.

Advocates for the treaty have argued that the United States, even if it is trying to follow many of the convention's requirements, is undermining its credibility by failing to ratify it. The treaty was sent to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1998, but no action has been taken since then.

U.S. gun-rights groups participated as observers in drafting the treaty, which experts say includes language stating that it does not impinge on the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment. But U.S. advocates of the treaty say its passage bogged down in the waning days of the Clinton administration, and never emerged as a priority for the Bush administration.

Jorge Chabat, a professor of international studies at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics in Mexico City, said Obama's advocacy for the treaty marks "an important step toward ending the permissiveness in the United States" toward arms trafficking on its border.

"Obviously there is a part of this that is symbolic," Chabat said. "But President Obama has moved to do more against this arms trafficking from the U.S., and this is part of that. There is a great deal of fear behind this that the border violence will enter the United States."

Johanna Mendelson Forman, senior associate of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said "this goes beyond symbolism."

"It sends not only a positive message to Mexico, but also to the region that the United States wants to be a reliable partner in improving security," she said.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

and so it begins....

CorbinKale said...

Obama is a domestic enemy of the Constitution, according to his own Oath. Nothing less than treason.

Caleb said...

Have no fear, Caleb is here with the power of Fact Checking!

NRA Did not participate in the treaty.

Shockingly enough, the MSM was wrong - NRA was aware of the treaty, but did not "participate", "oversee", or "sign off" on the treaty in any way. In fact, NRA opposes the ratification of the treaty.

I mean, if you want to flagellate NRA for stuff that's fine, I get that you don't like them. But at least make sure you're going after them for something they actually did, and not because the smacktards in the media like to mislead.

Anonymous said...

I want to know just WHO the gun-rights observer was that nodded yes to this. . . There are too many so-called guns rights groups out there that AREN'T.

B Woodman
SSG (Ret) U S Army

Anonymous said...

Whether the nra "participated" or not this time is questionable, they lie a lot and compromise every chance they get, as a life member of 30+years I know and have a right to criticize. Check history, they have endorsed EVERY major fed bill to come down the pike including the 34 NFA, and undercut many state groups on local legislation. If they don't "participate" on this you can bet your bottom dollar they will endorse it before its done.

W W Woodward said...

Has anybody asked the Obama-mama if he intends to curtail the US Government's giving, lend leasing, and/or selling weapons to the Mexican military?

Haven't those idiots figured out yet that's where a considerable number of the cartels' so-called military grade weapons are coming from?

You can lead an idiot to knowledge but you can't make him learn.

thedweeze said...

Wayne Lapierre was on with Beck this afternoon, and he flat out said that the NRA had nothing to do with this.

Yeah, they're still poopyheads, but not for this.

rexxhead said...

Everyone in DC is under a lot of stress these days. They have to get all the drug-war-related anti-gun legislation pushed through quickly before the actual drug war that it's based on evaporates for lack of public support.

The anti-gun laws will, of course, remain after their justification is gone. Can't let a good crisis go to waste, y'know...

Anonymous said...

Thanks Caleb for the heads up. I find the NRA as the only group that stands up for my 2nd ammendment rights. Dad became disallusioned with them in the 90's when some government agents were called "jackbooted thugs." I never took offense to this, Dad did, bless his soul.

Gun Monkey said...

"Some assault rifles recovered by Mexican authorities have been traced back to U.S. military bases"

I call BS!
As a former military Armorer I can safely say that every weapon we issued had a lot of paperwork to go with it, and they just don't disappear. If a weapon isn't where it's supposed to be whole bases get shut down until it's found. And the last person to sign for it will be taking with whatever investigative agency has jurisdiction (CID, NCIS, ect.). If "Destroyed" you better bring back all the pieces or the same thing happens.
I do love how the media subtly insinuates our soldiers are involved though.

kbarrett said...

Probably some dickwad at AHSA, or some other shill group.

Anonymous said...

Well Caleb,
If this treaty passes will the NRA take the position of "Enforcement of Gun Laws" agian?
Will the EVER tell the public that ALL gun laws are unconstitutional?
People believe the worst of the NRA for very good reason.