Microsoft Word - NRA lies final WITH FINAL EDITS FEB. 11.docx

The National Rifle Association (NRA) and its allies have mounted

a campaign of lies and deliberate distortions to build American

opposition to an international Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) that will

keep weapons out of the hands of human rights abusers around

the globe. Here are the facts that set the record straight.

• The massive and poorly regulated global trade in arms and ammunition

continues to threaten the security and rights of millions of people around the

world, exposing them to death, rape, assault, and displacement.

• The ATT establishes legally binding arms export standards, similar to those in

the US, for the international transfer of conventional weapons. The standards

will help keep weapons out of the hands of those who would use them for

human rights abuses or war crimes, or to stall development.

• The ATT being negotiated at a UN gathering of countries in March does not

infringe on the Second Amendment to the Constitution, nor does it hamper

the ability of the US to defend itself or its allies.

• The ATT will prevent the irresponsible sale, gift, or lease of weapons and

ammunition across borders and will close the many loopholes unscrupulous

traders now navigate with impunity.

Stand with truth and justice. Support the Arms Trade Treaty.

The truth about the Arms Trade Treaty

Debunking the NRA’s lies

February 2013

THE SECOND AMENDMENT

The lie:

[E]very gun owner concerned about the future of our Right to Keep and Bear Arms

should be aware that the United Nations and the global gun eradication movement

are attempting to eliminate our Second Amendment freedoms by drafting a U.N.

Arms Trade Treaty.” — May 25, 2012, story on the National Rifle Association’s

Institute for Legislative Action web site

The truth:

The ATT explicitly states that it has no impact on the domestic ownership or

domestic transfer of arms. In fact, no international treaty can override US

constitutional rights, including Second Amendment rights.

The current draft treaty states that it is the “sovereign right and responsibility of any

State to regulate and control transfers of conventional arms that take place

exclusively within its territory, pursuant to its own legal or constitutional systems.”

The treaty also takes note of “the legitimate trade and use of certain conventional

arms, inter alia, for recreational, cultural, historical, and sporting activities and lawful

ownership where such ownership and use are permitted and protected by law.”

TRACKING

The distortion:

[The treaty has] numerous calls for record-keeping, and firearms tracking from

production to eventual destruction. That's nothing more than gun registration by a

different name. — Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the NRA

The truth:

The draft treaty does not require individuals to register weapons nor does it require

countries to track weapons after they enter the stream of commerce. The treaty

addresses the official export and import of weapons by nations. It requires each

importing state party to “adopt appropriate measures to prevent the diversion of

imported conventional arms under the scope of this Treaty to the illicit market or for

unauthorized end use.” The record-keeping requirements meet current US law and

are limited to “export authorizations or actual exports of the conventional arms under

the scope of this Treaty.” The US already meets these requirements and maintains

such records aimed at keeping weapons out of illicit markets. No change in US policy

or practice is required to implement this section of the draft treaty.

REPORTING TO THE UN

The lie:

[T]he Arms Trade Treaty risks imposing costly regulatory burdens on United States

businesses, for example, by creating onerous reporting requirements that could

damage the domestic defense manufacturing base and related firms. — House

Resolution 814, Nov. 16, 2012

iii

The truth:

The treaty will not require any additional regulatory burdens or reporting by US

companies. The US already has one of the world’s most transparent reporting

systems for arms transfers. The State Department currently publishes a

Congressionally mandated public report—the Section 655 Military Assistance

Report—that lists the value and quantity of defense equipment and services sold to

each foreign country from US arms and defense manufacturers. The US also

annually reports to the UN Register of Conventional Arms. The treaty will not require

any additional reporting by US companies.

SECURITY CONCERNS

The distortion:

The Arms Trade Treaty places free democracies and totalitarian regimes on a basis

of equality, recognizing their equal right to transfer arms, and is thereby dangerous to

the security of the United States. — House Resolution 814, Nov. 16, 2012

The truth:

On the contrary, what this treaty does is enhance the security of the US by extending

standards similar to those in US law to all nations, regardless of their political

systems, in order to prevent bad actors from the careless transfer or misuse of

weapons. Under international principle of sovereign equality, any country, be it a

democracy or a totalitarian regime, is allowed to export weapons unless it has been

sanctioned or has voluntarily limited its sovereign right to export weapons. The ATT

will operate in the context of this current international law.

DEFLECTION OF RESPONSIBILITY

The distortions:

• [T]he ATT will effectively bind only the democracies that accept it.

• The ATT ... will have more in common with the U.N.'s aspirational treaties on

human rights, which repressive regimes use to deflect attention from their

misdeeds by pointing to supposed U.S. ... violations. — Theodore Bromund,

Heritage Foundation, June 4, 2012

The truth:

Like any other treaty, the ATT will bind all countries that adopt it and will send a

strong message to those that don’t. Countries that violate the treaty law will face

international pressure and condemnation. Elevating the rest of the world to

something close to US standards is key to defining appropriate behavior to which

bad actors can be held accountable. While the US already has strict controls on

arms transfers, there is no international law making arms trafficking to human rights

abusers or war criminals illegal. The ATT will for the first time hold countries that

facilitate abusive actions through arms sales accountable.

http://www.nraila.org/legislation/federal-legislation/2012/5/tester-moran-amendment-to-block-use-of-taxpayer-

money-to-lobby-for-un-gun-ban-passes-by-voice-vote.

http://home.nra.org/iphone.aspx/blog/253.

iii

http://beta.congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/house-resolution/814/text.

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/06/arms-trade-treaty-and-the-sovereignty-of-the-united-states.