The UN should not be allow to squash the US Constitutional 2nd Amendment
right that allow citizens to bear arms.
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Letters against gun meeting swamp U.N.
By Betsy Pisik
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
June 23, 2006
NEW YORK -- U.N. officials have received more than 100,000 letters, many
of them generated by a National Rifle Association campaign, protesting a
U.N. forum on illicit small arms that starts Monday and runs through
July Fourth.
"The 4th of July is America's most revered national holiday. Yet,
you have nevertheless chosen that day to meet at the U.N., on American
soil, in your drive to ban civilian firearm ownership worldwide. In
doing so, you have placed the U.N. squarely on the side of freedom's
enemies," reads a form letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan made
available on an NRA Web site (www.stopungunban.org).
Another sample letter, addressed to Sri Lankan Ambassador Prasad
Kariyawasam, who will preside over the conference, says: "The American
people will never let you take away the rights that our 4th of July
holiday represents. Our freedoms are not to blame for the world's
problems, and this is a battle you can never win."
Mr. Kariyawasam, who sought to allay American concerns at a press
conference this week, said he had received more than 100,000 such
letters "from the U.S. public, saying you're having this meeting on the
Fourth of July, and you will not take our guns away on this day."
Mr. Kariyawasam insisted that the timing of the two-week Small Arms
Review Conference was purely coincidental and that the conferees would
not discuss the legal possession, manufacture or transfer of weapons.
The main page of the NRA Web site says the purpose of the conference
is "to finalize a U.N. treaty that would strip all citizens of all
nations of their right to self-protection, and strip you of your rights
under the Second Amendment."
No treaty is up for discussion.
Mr. Kariyawasam said, "Some members of the U.S. public are totally
misinformed. This conference is about illegal weapons."
Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the NRA, said in an
interview last night that the letter-writing campaign was important to
show U.N. officials they cannot take away the individual's right to
self-protection.
"I've seen their statements that say it's only illegal guns and
illegal trading," he said. "But the U.S. specifically tried to narrow
this U.N. conference down to military style machine guns, and that was
rejected. They are talking about every rifle, shotgun and handgun."
The United Nations agreed in 2001 to fight the illicit trade in
small arms and light weapons after a divisive battle to define the scope
of their efforts. Governments pledged to collect and destroy illegal
weapons and tighten legislation to squeeze out illicit importing,
exporting and sales.
The effort is restricted to small arms and light weapons --
basically, anything that can be fired by a person or transported on the
back of a pickup truck. Such weapons represent a $4-billion-a-year
business, according to U.N. statistics, of which an estimated $1 billion
is illicit.
So far, 50 nations have destroyed excess weapons by burning them in
"flames of peace" bonfires or crushing them under massive bulldozers.
The Bush administration has worked vigorously over the past five
years to repel language endorsed by many European nations that would
tighten controls on legally owned civilian firearms, and to compel
manufacturers to mark each weapon and set up a registry to trace its
ownership.
Most U.N. members are expected to participate in next week's
conference, whose purpose is to assess how much progress has been made
since 2001 and to plan future steps.
Some nations and private groups will explore the potential of an
international agreement to record and track arms sales and transfers,
but Mr. Kariyawasam said such talks would be on the sidelines of the
main event.
The U.S. delegation to the conference will be led by Robert Joseph,
who succeeded John R. Bolton as the undersecretary of state for arms
control and international security.
Mr. Bolton, now the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is the
intended recipient of another NRA form letter.
"I urge you to use every means at your disposal to ensure the defeat
of this treaty, and make sure that not one single dollar of American tax
money is used by the U.N. to advance this global gun-control scheme," it
says.
The NRA, officially recognized by the United Nations as a
nongovernmental organization (NGO), is one of 210 such groups expected
to attend the conference. Others represent pro-gun groups from Canada,
Brazil, Britain, Italy, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
Several shooting and sporting advocacy groups plan to speak during a
day set aside for NGOs.
http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060623-120347-1805r
or
http://tinyurl.com/r9hry
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Regards,
LelandJ
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