There has been an enormous number of emails, Tweets, and Facebook posts in the last few days about the proposed UN Arms Treaty and the devastation it would do to the Second Amendment were it to be signed and ratified.
NOT SO -- IF we know and understand the Constitution!! Here is a perfect example of why we ALL need to understand this vital Founding Document.
The Constitution gives the Federal government the power to negotiate, sign, and ratify treaties only over areas where We, the People, gave them jurisdiction. The right to keep and bear arms is our God-given, Constitutionally acknowledged and protected, individual right. The Second Amendment clearly states that the Federal government has NO authority to abridge this right.
Therefore, ANY treaty affecting this right would be (in Jefferson's words) a "usurpation of powers not granted; null and void."
However we need to KNOW the Constitution -- and our states, state governments, and our US Congress-critters and executive ALL need to know this fact. Shout it from the rooftops! Email your Congress-critters! This treaty must NOT be ratified here -- and if ratified, must by NULLIFIED by each and every state, and refused implementation by each and every enforcement office, as utterly unConstitutional and antithetical to our Constitutional Republic.
For a fabulous Constitutional analysis of the treaty-making powers of the US, see the blog by renowned Constitutional scholar Publius Huldah at http://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/category/treaty-making-powers-of-the-united-states/
NOT SO -- IF we know and understand the Constitution!! Here is a perfect example of why we ALL need to understand this vital Founding Document.
The Constitution gives the Federal government the power to negotiate, sign, and ratify treaties only over areas where We, the People, gave them jurisdiction. The right to keep and bear arms is our God-given, Constitutionally acknowledged and protected, individual right. The Second Amendment clearly states that the Federal government has NO authority to abridge this right.
Therefore, ANY treaty affecting this right would be (in Jefferson's words) a "usurpation of powers not granted; null and void."
However we need to KNOW the Constitution -- and our states, state governments, and our US Congress-critters and executive ALL need to know this fact. Shout it from the rooftops! Email your Congress-critters! This treaty must NOT be ratified here -- and if ratified, must by NULLIFIED by each and every state, and refused implementation by each and every enforcement office, as utterly unConstitutional and antithetical to our Constitutional Republic.
For a fabulous Constitutional analysis of the treaty-making powers of the US, see the blog by renowned Constitutional scholar Publius Huldah at http://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/category/treaty-making-powers-of-the-united-states/