Opinion By Alan J Chwick & Joanne D Eisen
USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) proponents are trapped between the realities of human nature and the fantasies of social perfection that can only be achieved by implementing disarmament protocols. They are sustained by the belief that control of weapons, from manufacture to destruction, will lead the way to a transformed world in a mere 13 years.
This August 26 – 30, 2019 the ‘Fifth Conference of States Parties‘ will take place in Geneva, Switzerland. With the Trump pull out, of the United States, from the treaty, those who believe that control of weapons sales can actually prevent genocide, crimes against women and children, war crimes, and most kinds of nasty behavior, are reacting negatively, as one might expect.
We can expect President Trump, and American gun owners, to take the blame, for the negativity, this year, in Geneva, for the entire mess of an ATT that ‘uncontrollable signatories’ have handed the glazed fantasy proponents. The delusional darlings needed any excuse for the coming failure that does not include them. With the U.S., or not, the ATT is not functioning as promised.
Ted Bromund, of the Heritage Foundation, explains, ” The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which President Donald Trump announced on April 26 that the U.S. would quit, is a failure. When then-Secretary of State John Kerry signed the ATT on behalf of the U.S. on September 25, 2013, hopes were high among the treaty’s friends that it would change the world. The President’s decision didn’t crush those hopes. Reality did.”
This year, even though Lebanon has chosen to join the ATT community, only half of the approximately 200 nations of the globe will participate.
And of those nations who are participating, most are not, or can not, comply with the rules and requirements of the treaty. We note that there is a great burden of actions required of nations, whose best interests are not served by complying with the demands of the treaty’s authors, or by voluntarily limiting their possession or manufacture of arms.
Ted Bromund continues, “If nations around the world want not to sell arms to dictators, all they need to do is not sell. No treaty is necessary. If nations want to control their borders to prevent illicit arms imports, the same is true. We don’t need a treaty. We need more democratic, competent governments. Without them, no treaty can work. With them, no treaty will be necessary.”
The treaty was bound to fail. And so it is failing, just like previous disarmament schemes have failed. Disarmament does not benefit individuals or sovereign governments, and because that fact is so very obvious, voluntary disarmament is rare to find. Tyrants know better.
However, there was the case of the ‘American Committee for Defense of British Homes.’ The Brits tried to achieve a form of unilateral pacifism and partial disarmament that almost resulted in disaster during WWll. With all weapons and guns destroyed it took a bailout from the U.S. Government to the British military, plus another bailout from U.S. Citizens who sent their own guns to the British Home Guard, to save them. We American gun owners stepped up to the plate and helped save their people and their King in 1941.
Winston Churchill described the situation, “When the ships from America approached our shores with their priceless arms, special trains were waiting in all ports to receive their cargoes. The Home Guard in every county, in every village, sat up through the night to receive them…By the end of July, we were an armed nation.”
It should come as no surprise to proponents of unilateral disarmament – even after several decades of failure – that disarmament is still a tough sell. Proponents should understand that the lies they tout are not easily accepted and the schemes they devise do not work to benefit nations.
So when the U.N. and donor funding stops flowing, and when the virtue signaling of participating states is met with recriminations, participating states become unwilling, or unable, to comply.
The frustration built up, of the ATT proponents, in the disarmament community, is because of the failure of previous disarmament schemes, which resulted in the creation of even stronger, legally binding, schemes. And still, like the predecessors, are again now failing, as we watch.
Ted Bromund concludes, “The ATT is thus another symbolic progressive victory that is failing in practice…Even its advocates now admit it.”
Allison Pytlak describes in April 2019, that the “flagrant displays of non-compliance that are eroding the Treaty’s impact and external credibility.” Pytlak recognized that “all the welcome packages, thematic panels, and guidance documents in the world won’t obscure forever the fact that the ATT is not stopping the arms flows that it is supposed to.”
Proponents now find themselves in charge of the multinational, legally binding scheme they demanded. And they have nowhere to turn.
So where do proponents find excuses for failure? In addition to hatred of President Trump specifically, and the American gun culture in general, arms control proponents have been taking aim at the under-representation of women in ‘disarmament diplomacy,’ their phrase, not ours.
They believe that this gender imbalance is slowing the necessary understanding of the link between gender-based violence (GBV), and arms control.
Pytlak further complains that GBV is often over-looked and under-reported, and that “officials must conduct a risk assessment on GBV for every single arms export license application. This complaint angrily oozes out of the ATT discussions and into the multiple ways, “that widespread possession and use of weapons tends to prevent women from fully participating in public and political life, and to hinder their economic empowerment – which also qualifies as GBV.”
We should, therefore, expect that this year in Geneva, that the demands of the proponents will become ever more shrill, and that further resistance of States Parties will grow.
We are just reporting these delusional attitudes, folks, read the ATT Monitor, and understand that these people believe that we [American Gun Owners]are deliberately preventing a paradise, from occurring, here on Earth.
It should be a very interesting week in Geneva.
We Wait With Baited Breath.
About the Authors:
Alan J Chwick has been involved with firearms much of his life and is the Retired Managing Coach of the Freeport NY Junior (Marksmanship) Club. He has escaped from New York State to South Carolina and is an SC FFL (Everything22andMore.com). AJChwick@iNCNF.org | TWITTER: @iNCNF
Joanne D Eisen, DDS (Ret.) practiced dentistry on Long Island, NY. She has collaborated and written on firearm politics for the past 30+ years. She has also escaped from New York State but to Virginia. JoanneDEisen@cs.com