UN Guns Treaty: 7 Ways United Nations Pact Could Infringe on Americans' Right to Bear Arms

The UN guns treaty, formally known as the Arms Trade Treaty, has many conservatives up in arms, believing that it could have a significant impact on American citizens’ right to bear arms. While the United Nations bills the ATT as a trade regulation and nothing more, many conservatives are positive that domestic regulation of firearms is the ultimate goal.

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“Those who will be punished by this are law-abiding American gun owners, not those guilty of Fast and Furious-level crimes. But then again, perhaps that is the point?” Dana Loesch said on her radio show. 

Let’s take a look at seven ways the UN guns treaty could impact Americans’ right to bear arms.

1. The treaty calls for a national gun registry (Article 5, Section 2)
2. Mandates control of firearms (Article 5)
3. Mandates control of ammunition (Article 3)
4. Mandates regulation of gun parts (Article 4)
5. National gun registry must be made available to all members of the UN General Assembly (Article 5, Section 4)
6. Limits ability of gun stores to sell firearms (Article 10)
7. It will hamper gun trade further (Article 7)

For gun advocates, one of the most worrisome points is the call to create a national gun registry, although in the treaty it is referred to in the record-keeping section as maintaining records.

Fox News reported that National Rifle Association representatives have called that provision in the treaty “northing more than gun registration by a different name” and “an invasive registration scheme.”

A national gun registry would require every firearms owner in America to register his or her guns with the government, which would in turn mean the government knows exactly how many guns and what caliber of gun every gun-owning citizen has. Then, by the language put forth in the UN guns treaty, the United States government would be required to hand over that entire registry to the UN.

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Article 5, Section 4, of the treaty states, “Each State Party, pursuant to its national laws, shall provide its national control list to the Secretariat, which shall make it available to other States Parties. States Parties are encouraged to make their control lists publicly available.”

While the UN continually states that the goal of this treaty is to prevent arms trade from happening in war-torn countries like Syria (where illegal arms trade is purportedly responsible for a large portion of dictators’ armies weapons), the NRA calls the organization out on that language, saying, “We are told, ‘Trust us, an ATT will only affect the illegal trade in firearms. ’But then we’re told that in order to control the illegal trade, all states must control the legal firearms trade.”

The U.S. Senate has not ratified the treaty. Until then, it cannot legally take effect on American soil.

This article does not constitute legal advice. Check the current gun laws before purchasing or traveling with a firearm.

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