On the recordSeptember 25, 2013
As a gun owner and lifetime member of the NRA, I support the Second Amendment and every individual's right to keep and bear arms. But today, that right is threatened by the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty. I am outraged by the administration's intention to sign this treaty--a treaty that directly attacks our Second Amendment rights through subversion and bureaucratic tricks. How does the treaty do so, you ask? I'll name two . . . First, this treaty is purposely ambiguous. It binds the United States to a treaty that has yet to be fully written. That means that only after signing will the treaty's fine points be written. Why are we signing onto a treaty when we don't know what's in it? How many times have the American people endured thousands of regulations written into a law only after it has been signed by the administration? Second, and most offensive, is the treaty's encouragement to signing governments to collect the identities of the ultimate owners of imported firearms. This treaty appears to give the administration the cover it needs to start a gun registry--a gun registry that I'm sure they will claim is harmless. For those and other reasons, I am disturbed by the consequences this treaty could have on America's Second Amendment rights. And many of my constituents back home in Texas share this same concern. No government--be it foreign or domestic--should be allowed to infringe on our constitutional Second Amendment rights.…
