H.R. 3436/S. 1488 The “Second Amendment Protection Act of 2005”

Protecting the Right to Keep and Bear Arms From infringement by the United Nations.

In recent years, the United Nations has increasingly sought to advance policies that would erode or eliminate the individual right to bear arms. The international body held a conference in 2001 and another in July 2006, when the International Conference on Small Arms was held in New York City. In the months leading up to the 2006 conference, more than 100,000 American gun owners sent letters to the U.N. in opposition to the world body’s anti-gun activities. The response was so strong it led to denials by U.N. officials—including Secretary General Kofi Annan—that the conference wanted to restrict private gun ownership. These claims, however do not match up with a long history of anti-gun positions by the U.N.

The U.N. has long opposed the concept of private firearms ownership, advancing the idea that small arms should never be transferred to “non-state actors,” which really means anyone who is not an official government recognized by the U.N. In 2005, UNICEF and UNESCO funded the gun-ban supporters in Brazil. Despite those efforts, the referendum to ban gun ownership was soundly defeated.

At the heart of the U.N effort to ban guns is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) named IANSA (International Action Network on Small Arms.) This group of more than 500 member associations is headed by international anti-gun zealot Rebecca Peters. Peters has stated: "We want to see a drastic reduction in gun ownership across the world." IANSA, which makes no distinction between legal and illicit gun ownership, has largely set the agenda for the two small arms conferences. However, the United States, and U.S. Ambassador John Bolton in particular, have stood fast in their opposition to any action that would threaten American rights under the Second Amendment.

In response to these activities by the U. N., Senator David Vitter (R-LA) and Congressman Charles Boustany (R-LA) have introduced S. 1488 and H.R. 3436 respectively, to send a strong message to U.N. officials that America’s Second Amendment rights are not up for negotiation.

H.R. 3436/S. 1488 would require that the President of the United States each year certify to Congress that the U.N. has taken no action to “restrict, attempt to restrict, or otherwise adversely infringe upon the rights of individual in the United States to possess a firearm or ammunition, including the imposition of a tax that will interfere with the right to own a firearm or ammunition.” The legislation also provides for consequences if that certification is not or cannot be made: the loss of all U.S. funding to the U.N for the fiscal year.