Sweet
A remarkable thing happened at the United Nations yesterday. We, the United States, told the world “no”. The messenger was Robert Joseph, the Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. Speaking before the dozens of nations that have gathered for the review conference on Small Arms and Light Weapons, Joseph told the world in no uncertain terms where the United States stood.
“The U.S. Constitution guarantees the rights of our citizens to keep and bear arms, and there will be no infringement of those rights,” he proclaimed to the dignitaries and functionaries. “The United States will not agree to any provisions restricting civilian possession, use or legal trade of firearms inconsistent with our laws and practices.”
Now, if this sounds familiar, it should be. It was five years ago that UN Ambassador John Bolton said something similar during the first conference on small arms. Then, as now, many countries wanted the conference to discuss and implement controls on the civilian possession of firearms.
One quibble regarding the quote The U.S. Constitution guarantees the rights of our citizens to keep and bear arms, and there will be no infringement of those rights. Well, no infringement unless it comes from our own government, of course.
June 28th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
Better a fighting chance with our “elected” officials I say, rather than the dictation by people who aren’t elected in any manner.
At least we have a fighting chance within our government, and I think you’ll agree that so far the fight has been going our way more often than not.
June 28th, 2006 at 3:37 pm
I’m relieved that we’ve stood up, and pleasantly suprised at the candor of the speech.
Go US!