Gun owners accuse UN of July 4 conspiracy
By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Americans mistakenly worried the United Nations is plotting to take away their guns on July 4 -- U.S. Independence Day -- are flooding the world body with angry letters and postcards, the chairman of a U.N. conference on the illegal small arms trade said on Wednesday.
Firstly, are Americans "mistakenly" worried about the date? Becuase it's always been pretty darn clear about the intentions of the UN. They've been more concerned with disarming the free American public than with disarming Al Qaeda for decades.
"I myself have received over 100,000 letters from the U.S. public, criticizing me personally, saying, 'You are having this conference on the 4th of July, you are not going to get our guns on that day,"' said Prasad Kariyawasam, Sri Lanka's U.N. ambassador.
So What? Is Mr. Kariyawasam objecting to free speech, now?
"That is a total misconception as far as we are concerned," Kariyawasam told reporters ahead of the two-week meeting opening on Monday. For one, July 4 is a holiday at U.N. headquarters and the world body's staff will be watching a fireworks display from the U.N. lawn rather than attending any meetings, he said. For another, the U.N. conference will look only at illegal arms and "does not in any way address legal possession," a matter left to national governments to regulate rather than the United Nations, he added.
Lies, lies, lies...
The campaign is largely the work of the U.S. National Rifle Association, whose executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, warns on an NRA Web site (http://www.stopungunban.org/) of a July 4 plot "to finalize a U.N. treaty that would strip all citizens of all nations of their right to self-protection."
Kariyawasam said, "The U.N. conference will not negotiate any treaty to prohibit citizens of any country from possessing firearms or to interfere with the legal trade in small arms and light weapons."
Well, according to the UN Firearms Protocol document posted here, "By ratifying the Protocol, Member States of the United Nations commit them selves to adopting a series of crime-control measures and to introducing into their legislation provisions to criminalize the manufacture and trade of firearms,..."
U.N. CONSPIRACY -- OR STRONGER CONTROLS?
LaPierre, who also uses the site to pitch his new book, "The Global War on Your Guns," asks NRA members to send letters to Kariyawasam and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warning that "the American people will never let you take away the rights that our 4th of July holiday represents."
The group also asks members to write to John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, urging him to "ensure the defeat of this treaty." Bolton's office confirmed he had received tens of thousands of cards from concerned Americans.
"We understand their concerns and will work during the conference to communicate their concerns," Bolton spokesman Richard Grenell said.
At the same time, 1 million people around the world -- symbolizing the number of people killed by guns since the last U.N. small arms conference in 2001 (I would like to see the number of people who have been saved by guns since the last U.N. small arms conference in 2001, represented. Thus far, I think we can count the majority of the people in Iraq. Is that over 1 million?)-- have signed a petition backing stronger controls on arms deals in a campaign organized by Oxfam International, Amnesty International and the International Action Network on Small Arms.
Hmmm... This would seem to contradict Mr. Kariyawasam's assertion that the UN has no interest in controlling legal arms trade.
The June 26-July 7 U.N. conference was called to review a 2001 U.N. action plan aimed at stemming the illegal global trade in small arms, which, as defined by the United Nations, range from pistols and grenades to mortars and shoulder-fired anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles.
The action program set out broad guidelines for national and global measures to track arms sales, promote better management of government arms stockpiles and encourage the destruction of illicit arms.
Wow, prevent the proliferation of illegal weapons, by governing legal weapons... That would be like stemming the tide of illegal immigration by putting tracking collars on every U.S. Citizen. Now why didn't we think of that?
06/21/06 17:35 © Copyright Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of Reuters Ltd. (yeah, whatever)
Disarming the civilian population has always been the first step towards fascism and tyranny. Tracking arms has always been the first step towards disarming the civilian population. Have we learned nothing from history, or are we doomed to repeat the same mistakes every five generations? Every citizen has not only the right, but the duty, to protect themselves from aggression. They must be given the tools to excercise that right.
By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Americans mistakenly worried the United Nations is plotting to take away their guns on July 4 -- U.S. Independence Day -- are flooding the world body with angry letters and postcards, the chairman of a U.N. conference on the illegal small arms trade said on Wednesday.
Firstly, are Americans "mistakenly" worried about the date? Becuase it's always been pretty darn clear about the intentions of the UN. They've been more concerned with disarming the free American public than with disarming Al Qaeda for decades.
"I myself have received over 100,000 letters from the U.S. public, criticizing me personally, saying, 'You are having this conference on the 4th of July, you are not going to get our guns on that day,"' said Prasad Kariyawasam, Sri Lanka's U.N. ambassador.
So What? Is Mr. Kariyawasam objecting to free speech, now?
"That is a total misconception as far as we are concerned," Kariyawasam told reporters ahead of the two-week meeting opening on Monday. For one, July 4 is a holiday at U.N. headquarters and the world body's staff will be watching a fireworks display from the U.N. lawn rather than attending any meetings, he said. For another, the U.N. conference will look only at illegal arms and "does not in any way address legal possession," a matter left to national governments to regulate rather than the United Nations, he added.
Lies, lies, lies...
The campaign is largely the work of the U.S. National Rifle Association, whose executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, warns on an NRA Web site (http://www.stopungunban.org/) of a July 4 plot "to finalize a U.N. treaty that would strip all citizens of all nations of their right to self-protection."
Kariyawasam said, "The U.N. conference will not negotiate any treaty to prohibit citizens of any country from possessing firearms or to interfere with the legal trade in small arms and light weapons."
Well, according to the UN Firearms Protocol document posted here, "By ratifying the Protocol, Member States of the United Nations commit them selves to adopting a series of crime-control measures and to introducing into their legislation provisions to criminalize the manufacture and trade of firearms,..."
U.N. CONSPIRACY -- OR STRONGER CONTROLS?
LaPierre, who also uses the site to pitch his new book, "The Global War on Your Guns," asks NRA members to send letters to Kariyawasam and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warning that "the American people will never let you take away the rights that our 4th of July holiday represents."
The group also asks members to write to John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, urging him to "ensure the defeat of this treaty." Bolton's office confirmed he had received tens of thousands of cards from concerned Americans.
"We understand their concerns and will work during the conference to communicate their concerns," Bolton spokesman Richard Grenell said.
At the same time, 1 million people around the world -- symbolizing the number of people killed by guns since the last U.N. small arms conference in 2001 (I would like to see the number of people who have been saved by guns since the last U.N. small arms conference in 2001, represented. Thus far, I think we can count the majority of the people in Iraq. Is that over 1 million?)-- have signed a petition backing stronger controls on arms deals in a campaign organized by Oxfam International, Amnesty International and the International Action Network on Small Arms.
Hmmm... This would seem to contradict Mr. Kariyawasam's assertion that the UN has no interest in controlling legal arms trade.
The June 26-July 7 U.N. conference was called to review a 2001 U.N. action plan aimed at stemming the illegal global trade in small arms, which, as defined by the United Nations, range from pistols and grenades to mortars and shoulder-fired anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles.
The action program set out broad guidelines for national and global measures to track arms sales, promote better management of government arms stockpiles and encourage the destruction of illicit arms.
Wow, prevent the proliferation of illegal weapons, by governing legal weapons... That would be like stemming the tide of illegal immigration by putting tracking collars on every U.S. Citizen. Now why didn't we think of that?
06/21/06 17:35 © Copyright Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of Reuters Ltd. (yeah, whatever)
Disarming the civilian population has always been the first step towards fascism and tyranny. Tracking arms has always been the first step towards disarming the civilian population. Have we learned nothing from history, or are we doomed to repeat the same mistakes every five generations? Every citizen has not only the right, but the duty, to protect themselves from aggression. They must be given the tools to excercise that right.
posted by Madeline | 6:41 PM
5 Comments:
Finally - a new post! Phew - I was suffering withdrawals!!
My only comment is you said: must we suffer the same fate every five generations? Was WWII really all that long ago????
Well,
I guess its time to give the U.N. the size 11 across the butt and show 'em the door, because you see, we have something called a constitution that is the foundation of our Country. And within that Constitution is something called the 2nd Amendment:
Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
If the foundation of a structure is removed, then that structure will tumble to the ground. Likewise, the removal of the foundation of this Country, or any part there of will also result in the destruction of this Country.
Go Navy!
The UN can pass any treaty it wants to. It still won't give them any power over us as US citizens. Like Gawfer said, we have a constitution here, not the UN. They can try to take our guns away from us, but it's not going to happen.
Hi Sues, thanks for stopping by. I wish I had your faith that the Constitution would be upheld in the face of UN pressure. Under our current president, I hope we're safe, but there seem to be an awful lot of people ignorant of what it means to be a sovereign nation. Globalization looms darkly!
Don't worry, y'all, the South will rise again! We learned (that's "lernt") from the War of Northern Aggression and are READY this time!!Bring the confiscators on...we will win one or two for the Gipper!! Our Motto is "Live Free or Die"...woops..wrong state...the Green Mountain Boys are ready too, I presume??? Our motto is "Esse Quam Videre", which loosely translated means "To really get results rather than to SEEM to get results" We can even recruit our 350.000+ illegal aliens this time!
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