Iran, North Korea, the NRA and Syria All Oppose The UN Arms Trade Treaty

When you open the right wing propaganda site, Townhall, the first thing that pops up onto your screen is the form they use to mine screen names they sell to various right-wing organizations (above). What a business model-- but it does get them the target audience of low-info/high-anger morons they're looking for. I was there to read about the latest caterwauling from the gun nuts about their rights being infringed on by a conspiracy with the UN.

A 40-word, straight-forward call to action in the first paragraph sums the whole crazy effort up perfectly for any wing-nuts with ADD: "Your guns are in danger. Obama has stopped defending the Second Amendment. He did not get his gun control agenda passed in the Senate. So, he’s unconstitutionally trying to use the United Nations to control your guns. Don’t let him."

The problem for them is the UN Arms Trade Treaty which, they claim, will mean "the Second Amendment is toast. And your guns will be in the control of dictators around the world." They know it sounds like a conspiracy theory but they have proof: a letter signed by "Rep. Mike Lee" and 130 other congressmen. There is no Rep. Mike Lee, but presumably they're talking about the neo-fascist dirt bag from Utah, Senator Mike Lee. And the rest of it is even more wrong.



They claim it starts a gun registry, which it doesn't. They claim that Obama wants "foreign governments to know whether you own a gun. That way, if you even think about jumping ship and leaving the United States to seek freedom elsewhere, there will effectively be an asterisk next to your name." Yes, sounds like a conspiray theory, but it is. And it gets goofier. They claim the UN would control all guns and ammo under the treaty. This is all nonsense, of course and the actual treaty wasn't even negotiated by Obama but by George W. Bush's government. It is meant to spread American standards on international arms shipments to the rest of the world. The opponents, aside from right-wing sociopaths in the U.S. and NRA kooks-- are the terrorist nations that export illicit arms-- North Korea, Iran and Syria. There's virtually no chance of ratification since a treaty needs 67 votes and 35 Republicans plus Max Baucus (D-MT) have already said "Hell no, not ever."

The treaty, which took 7 years to negotiate is meant to force sellers to consider how their customers will use the weapons and to make that information public. American arm sellers, which pay massive bribes to conservative politicians in the U.S. are alarmed, although America already has stricter standards than the treaty does. The goal is to curb the sale of weapons to rogue states that use them to kill civilians. Obviously there's something about that that bothers fascists like Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Miss McConnell, etc., even if they can't quite put their fingers on what it is.

The treaty calls for sales to be evaluated on whether the weapons will be used to break humanitarian law, foment genocide or war crimes, abet terrorism or organized crime or slaughter women and children.

...Among the opponents is Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the second-ranking Republican. In a statement last month, he said that the treaty contained “unnecessarily harsh treatment of civilian-owned small arms” and violated the right to self-defense and United States sovereignty.

In a bow to American concerns, the preamble states that it is focused on international sales, not traditional domestic use, but the National Rifle Association has vowed to fight ratification anyway. The General Assembly vote came after efforts to achieve a consensus on the treaty among all 193 member states of the United Nations failed last week, with Iran, North Korea and Syria blocking it. The three, often ostracized, voted against the treaty again on Tuesday.

When Oklahima gun nut James Inhofe offered an amendmnet to a budget that opposed the treaty 8 of the duller knives in the Democratic drawer didn't know what the treaty was about but went along with the amendment anyway because... well that's what you can expect from cowardly conservative idiots like Mark Begich (D-AK), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Kay Hagan (D-NC), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Jon Tester (D-MT). Let's face it, these confused Democrats should never be allowed up that late without careful supervision.

The U.S. bishops want Obama to sign the treaty but their conservative allies are blocking it. What will they do? How important is it to them?

America's top Catholic body on Thursday urged the Obama administration to sign the United Nations arms trade treaty.

“In light of the position of the Holy See, I urge the Administration to expedite a thorough review of the Treaty so that the President can sign it in early June,” Des Moines Bishop Richard Pates, the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops's Committee on International Justice and Peace, wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry. “As a world leader and a major arms exporter, our nation should set a positive example for other nations to follow in efforts to reduce the flow of weapons into situations that violate human rights and cause terrible suffering.”

Is Rick Santorum weeping bitterly? What about Rubio? Is he back to being a Mormon or is he a Catholic again? I know Vitter makes believe he is.