Republicans look to defund UN treaty on conventional arms trade

Two House Republicans have put forward a bill that would block funding for or implementation of a United Nations treaty they fear could interfere with the Second Amendment right of Americans.

"The Second Amendment is an individual constitutional right and we must never allow that right to be trampled on by an international treaty," Rep. Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.) said Monday. "This U.N. treaty is a direct threat to American sovereignty and the constitutional rights of all Americans.

"Congress needs to put its foot down, and make clear that it, not the United Nations, is the only body with the constitutional right to impose laws in the United States," he said.

Quayle introduced the Second Amendment Sovereignty Act, H.R. 5846, to counter the U.N.'s Arms Trade Treaty, which he and co-sponsor Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) said could limit the rights U.S. citizens have under the Second Amendment. Quayle said the treaty is expected to be concluded sometime this year.

Specifically, Quayle said the treaty could force countries to create national gun registries to make sure domestic weapons aren't exported, and set up a fund to pay for any violence caused in other nations through the export of conventional arms.

"Law-abiding American gun owners should never have to pay compensation or damages for violence in foreign countries that they had absolutely nothing to do with," Quayle said. "This is typical United Nations overreach, and the United States should not allow it under any circumstances."

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