Politics

Trump Pulls US Out Of UN Arms Treaty

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Amber Athey Podcast Columnist
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President Donald Trump announced that he is pulling the United States out of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) Friday at the annual National Rifle Association (NRA) meeting.

The ATT, an arms agreement signed in 2013 by former President Barack Obama, seeks to regulate the international trade of weapons and was negotiated at the U.N. but was never ratified by Congress.

Trump signed an order on stage during his NRA speech effectively revoking the United States’s signature on the treaty. The document, Trump said, is a “message asking the Senate to discontinue the treaty ratification process and return the now-rejected treaty right back to me in the Oval Office” where he will “dispose of it.”

“The United Nations will soon receive a formal notice that America is rejecting this treaty,” Trump told the crowd. “We will never allow foreign bureaucrats to trample on your Second Amendment.”

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The NRA opposed the treaty, alleging that it contains unclear language that could threaten the rights of gun owners in America. (RELATED: Sen. Cruz Submits Amendment To Aprops Bill To Defund UN Arms Trade Treaty)

“The Obama administration is once again demonstrating its contempt for our fundamental, individual Right to Keep and Bear Arms,” Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action said in 2013. “This treaty threatens individual firearm ownership with an invasive registration scheme.”

Trump promised the NRA members, “We will never surrender American sovereignty.”

After signing the new order, Trump tossed his pen into the crowd.

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