Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Reply from Pat Toomey re: UN arms trade treaty

July 13, 2012



Dear Mr. Haas,


Thank you for contacting me about the United Nations (U.N.) Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and the Second Amendment Sovereignty Act of 2012 (S. 2205). As a supporter of S. 2205, I appreciate hearing from you about this important issue.

Like many Pennsylvanians, I have long been a supporter of Second Amendment rights. They are of fundamental importance to our nation, and I believe that Americans have a personal, constitutional right to self-protection and to engage in recreational activities involving firearms. In fact, during my previous tenure in the House of Representatives (1999-2005), my record of supporting gun owners' rights earned me an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association.

That said, I understand and share your concerns about the ATT. As you may know, this treaty was created in 2006 by U.N. General Assembly Resolution A/RES/61/89. Its purpose is to create international standards for the arms trade. Like you, I am deeply concerned by this treaty because of its potential infringement on our right to keep and bear arms. You may be pleased to know that I recently joined 44 of my Senate colleagues in sending a letter to President Obama and Secretary Clinton opposing ratification of the ATT.

In addition, Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) introduced S. 2205 on March 19, 2012. Among its provisions, this measure expresses the sense of Congress that U.S. sovereignty and the constitutionally protected freedoms of American gun owners must be upheld and not be undermined by the ATT. I share your views on the issues underlying this bill and am proud to cosponsor it. S. 2205 is currently pending before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations for review. Although I am not a member of this committee, please be assured that I will continue working with my Senate colleagues on advancing this legislation and protecting Second Amendment rights.

Thank you again for your correspondence. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of assistance.


Sincerely,

Pat Toomey
U.S. Senator, Pennsylvania

Contact your senators and let them know what you think! They (sometimes) do pay attention.

I'll be writing him too. And the other guy.
I wrote a column about it for tomorrow's newspaper. Once it's published, they'll be hearing from me.

Steve.

45 Senators sent a letter to Obama against it?

That's really good news!

No way that it gets ratified....

what you don't think he'll pull some cheep trick and let it be ratiffied anyway ,dictator obammer won't let it rest

norm

A treaty requires 2/3 of the Senate to ratify. 55 didn't sign the letter, presumably because they're in favor of it. So, O'bama starts with a majority. Then he needs only 12 to flip. Given the way he passed the Patient-Unaffordable-Careless-Tax/Penalty-Act, or whatever it was called, they might not be too tough.

Steve.

I also wrote Toomey and Casey regarding this issue. Toomey's reply to me was identical to this one. So far no word from Casey. I expect he will support the treaty, he is a typical democrat scumbag. Has supported BO in every issue since elected.

I don't think O expects it to be ratified by this senate. I don't think there is any prohibition to him signing it in the hopes that some future Senate where the grabbers hold more sway will approve it later.