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Charlton Heston's New Exodus By James L. Hirsen, J.D., Ph.D.
Although it is doubtful that any individual or group can completely halt the momentum that gun control enthusiasts have built up in their pursuit of firearm confiscation, the newly elected president is one of the best spokespersons imaginable to lobby lawmakers. The NRA is dedicated to improving their public relations image and to broadening the overall appeal of the organization. Towards this end, there is a compelling matter that warrants the attention of every citizen who cherishes individual liberty as well as national sovereignty. The fact of the matter is that gun legislation may soon be arriving from a different and perhaps unexpected source than the Congress of the United States. Of course there are people within our own country who wish to totally expunge the language that our Founding Fathers crafted in the Second Amendment. However, the average person may not know that there are also "reformers" who are vigorously at work on a global level with the express intention of interfering with our right to bear arms by manipulating international law. When ratified, international treaties become the "supreme law of the land." A strong anti-gun sentiment already exists outside of our borders, and so these activists have decided to launch an assault on gun rights by utilizing a method that has worked so effectively for like-minded individuals in the past seeking to circumvent domestic law. They are using the United Nations to achieve their desired goals. Unfettered by the inconvenience of representative government, the blueprint for an eventual treaty is being developed at this international venue. In various meetings and behind closed doors, creators of international law have been busily designing what they hope will ultimately become a package of binding gun control regulation. Last year at a meeting in Vienna, Austria, the United Nations adopted a proposal for international gun control originally drafted by Japan. The plan calls for a "Universal Declaration of Principles on Firearms Regulation." The adopted proposal indicates that the declaration will require all nations to pass laws that compel gun "turn in" programs, licensing for all gun owners and universal registration of all guns at all times. This type of international declaration is a stepping stone to a "convention" or treaty. In order to become binding domestic law in the United States, a treaty must be ratified by the Senate. Unfortunately, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that a future Senate could ratify a treaty such as the one described. This could produce the gun control adherent's dream the categorical abrogation of the Second Amendment. Even before a treaty is drafted, executed and ratified, gun
control proponents realize that the power of international consensus
and the persuasiveness of a UN document can be an influential
tool to fashion firearm policy and lobby legislatures around
the globe. The report of the Secretary General on "Measures to Regulate Firearms" echoes the sentiments of the anti-Second Amendment crowd. Its propositions effectively eliminate individual handgun ownership and make the possession of sporting arms increasingly burdensome. A transparent inauguration of an international gun control bureaucracy is in the works. The NRA has been the sole impediment to the furtive activities by UN "legislators." NRA representatives have recently proposed that the UN remove its usual shroud of secrecy and open its planning sessions to public scrutiny. The idea is simple and basic. Lawmaking should be conducted in full public view. Is there hope that such a recommendation will be considered by the UN? Probably not. But we can count on the usual response. A thoughtful study will be conducted and the idea will be thrown in with the stack of other reform plans that have never been implemented. It seems inconceivable that in order to preserve the heritage of the Bill of Rights it is likely that we will have to take our case abroad and convince unelected globalists to cease their attempts at tampering with our freedoms. Welcome to the new millenium.
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