{"id":51684,"date":"2014-12-29T12:00:14","date_gmt":"2014-12-29T12:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=51684"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:27:08","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:27:08","slug":"merry-christmas-un-declares-arms-trade-treaty-to-go-into-effect-dec-24-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/12\/merry-christmas-un-declares-arms-trade-treaty-to-go-into-effect-dec-24-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Merry Christmas: UN Declares Arms Trade Treaty to Go Into Effect Dec. 24 [2014]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/un-arms-trade.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-51685 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/un-arms-trade.jpg\" alt=\"un arms trade\" width=\"380\" height=\"201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/un-arms-trade.jpg 380w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/un-arms-trade-300x159.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 380px) 100vw, 380px\" \/><\/a>On its official website, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (yes, that\u2019s really a thing and yes, it is housed right here in the United States) announced that the UN\u2019s Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) \u201cwill enter into force on 24 December 2014.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Merry Christmas!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">It is ironical that on the day before the world\u2019s 2.18 billion Christians commemorate the coming of Jesus Christ to the Earth, the United Nations will officially put into motion a plan to deny them of a right given to them by the very God whose birth they celebrate.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">For those unfamiliar with the text of the UN\u2019s Arms Trade Treaty, here\u2019s a brief sketch of the most noxious provisions:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li>Article 2 of the treaty defines the scope of the treaty\u2019s prohibitions. The right to own, buy, sell, trade, or transfer all means of armed resistance, including handguns, is denied to civilians by this section of the Arms Trade Treaty.<\/li>\n<li>Article 3 places the \u201cammunition\/munitions fired, launched or delivered by the conventional arms covered under Article 2\u201d within the scope of the treaty\u2019s prohibitions, as well.<\/li>\n<li>Article 4 rounds out the regulations, also placing all \u201cparts and components\u201d of weapons within the scheme.<\/li>\n<li>Perhaps the most immediate threat to the rights of gun owners in the Arms Trade Treaty is found in Article 5. Under the title of \u201cGeneral Implementation,\u201d Article 5 mandates that all countries participating in the treaty \u201cshall establish and maintain a national control system, including a national control list.\u201d This list should \u201capply the provisions of this Treaty to the broadest range of conventional arms.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Article 12 adds to the record-keeping requirement, mandating that the list include \u201cthe quantity, value, model\/type, authorized international transfers of conventional arms,\u201d as well as the identity of the \u201cend users\u201d of these items.<\/li>\n<li>Finally, the agreement demands that national governments take \u201cappropriate measures\u201d to enforce the terms of the treaty, including civilian disarmament. If these countries can\u2019t get this done on their own, however, Article 16 provides for UN assistance, specifically including help with the enforcement of \u201cstockpile management, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes.\u201d\u00a0In fact, a \u201cvoluntary trust fund\u201d will be established to assist those countries that need help from UN peacekeepers or other regional forces to disarm their citizens.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Arguably, the Arms Trade Treaty would become the law of the United States if the Senate were to ratify the treaty.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">While that is the process that the Constitution establishes for the implementation of treaties, fundamental principles of construction and constitutional law dictate that <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thenewamerican.com\/usnews\/constitution\/item\/16621-attn-john-kerry-treaties-violating-the-constitution-are-not-law-of-the-land\" >no treaty that violates the Constitution can become the supreme law of the land<\/a>.\u00a0In the case of the UN\u2019s Arms Trade Treaty, there is no doubt that regardless of presidential signatures or congressional consent, this treaty cannot pass constitutional muster and therefore will never be the valid law of the land.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Unless, of course, Americans once again acquiesce to President Obama\u2019s assumption of illegal authority and relinquish their rights and weapons regardless of the reasons they should not do so.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">There is a higher authority, however, who never asked his followers to surrender their weapons and leave themselves defenseless in the war against tyranny.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">While the president declares that greater federal restriction on the right to own, transfer, buy, and sell guns and ammunition is necessary in order to \u201cheal our troubled minds,\u201d Christians believe that there is only one place to turn for such relief: the Great Physician.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Christians, moreover, believe they not only have the right to keep and bear arms, but have the obligation to do so in the fight to protect freedom. The idea that God has commanded his children to own weapons and to be ready to wield them in defense of liberty might sound odd to many, but the scriptures provide ample evidence of this divine injunction.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">In Luke 22:35-36, to cite one example, Jesus commanded his followers to purchase a sword in defiance of Roman law. Within the boundaries of the world under the control of the Roman emperor, to carry such a weapon was a crime punishable by death.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Why, then, would Jesus, the Prince of Peace, command his followers to break the law of the world\u2019s most powerful empire\u00a0\u2014 with legions of armed enforcers around every corner \u2014 if the benefit of keeping that commandment did not outweigh the potential harm?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Furthermore, if Jesus was the pacifist so many modern gun-rights deniers portray him as, why is there not a single syllable in the scriptures forbidding disciples from keeping and bearing arms?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">If God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, why would he instruct early Christians to arms themselves, but insist that modern disciples be left defenseless? And, what of Paul\u2019s pronouncement that \u201cif anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever\u201d (1 Tim. 5:8)?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">If God preferred that his children refrain from buying, selling, owning, or transferring weapons, why is there not one verse in the entire canon of Christian scripture setting out such counsel?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Where has the Christian adherence to and understanding of this principle gone?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Perhaps it has slipped into oblivion, much like the related precept of being steadfastly dedicated to obeying the world of God in defiance of immoral government edicts.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Perhaps there are \u201cevil men and seducers\u201d who are \u201cwithout natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good.\u201d (2 Timothy 3: 3, 13) who intend to enslave mankind and who understand that a disarmed populace is a slave populace.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Turning to the wisdom and warnings of the Holy Bible, Christians can find the \u201cinstruction in righteousness\u201d that they believe lead them to \u201call good works.\u201d (2 Timothy 3: 16-17)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">All Americans, regardless of religion, must recognize that God gave us the freedoms we enjoy and with that gift comes the obligation of protecting ourselves and our loved ones. We must be armed, not for the purpose of private vengeance, but to remain ready to defend the liberty that is our inheritance.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The next meeting of the states that are parties to the Arms Trade Treaty \u2014 including the United States \u2014 is scheduled for November 27-28 in Berlin, Germany. There is time, then, to convince our elected leaders to refuse to sacrifice our freedom to keep and bear arms on the altar of one-world government.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">_________________________<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Joe A. Wolverton, II, J.D. is a correspondent for<\/em> The New American.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thenewamerican.com\/world-news\/item\/19486-merry-christmas-united-nations-declares-arms-trade-treaty-to-go-into-effect-dec-24\" >Go to Original \u2013 thenewamerican.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On its official website, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (yes, that\u2019s really a thing and yes, it is housed right here in the United States) announced that the UN\u2019s Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) \u201cwill enter into force on 24 December 2014.\u201d Merry Christmas!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51684\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}