[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 36 (Wednesday, March 13, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1793-S1794]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 7--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS 
REGARDING CONDITIONS FOR THE UNITED STATES BECOMING A SIGNATORY TO THE 
 UNITED NATIONS ARMS TRADE TREATY, OR TO ANY SIMILAR AGREEMENT ON THE 
                               ARMS TRADE

  Mr. MORAN (for himself, Mr. Alexander, Ms. Ayotte, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. 
Boozman, Mr. Burr, Mr. Chambliss, Mr. Coburn, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Crapo, 
Mr. Cruz, Mr. Enzi, Mr. Flake, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Heller, Mr. 
Hoeven, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Isakson, Mr. Johanns, Mr. Paul, Mr. Portman, 
Mr. Risch, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Thune, Mr. Toomey, Mr. Vitter, 
and Mr. Wicker) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which 
was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                             S. Con. Res. 7

       Whereas in October 2009, the United States voted in the 
     United Nations General Assembly to participate in the 
     negotiation of the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty;
       Whereas in July 2012, the United Nations Conference on the 
     Arms Trade Treaty convened to negotiate the text of the Arms 
     Trade Treaty;
       Whereas in December 2012, the United Nations General 
     Assembly voted to hold a final negotiating conference on the 
     Arms Trade Treaty in March 2013, on the basis of the text of 
     July 2012;
       Whereas the Arms Trade Treaty poses significant risks to 
     the national security, foreign policy, and economic interests 
     of the United States as well as to the constitutional rights 
     of United States citizens and United States sovereignty;
       Whereas the Arms Trade Treaty fails to expressly recognize 
     the fundamental, individual right to keep and to bear arms 
     and the individual right of personal self-defense, as well as 
     the legitimacy of hunting, sports shooting, and other lawful 
     activities pertaining to the private ownership of firearms 
     and related materials, and thus risks infringing on freedoms 
     protected by the Second Amendment;
       Whereas the Arms Trade Treaty places free democracies and 
     totalitarian regimes on a basis of equality, recognizing 
     their equal right to transfer arms, and is thereby dangerous 
     to the security of the United States;
       Whereas the Arms Trade Treaty's criteria for assessing the 
     potential consequences of arms transfers are vague, easily 
     politicized, and readily manipulated;
       Whereas the Arms Trade Treaty's model for using these 
     criteria is incompatible with the decision-making model for 
     arms transfers employed by the United States under 
     Presidential Decision Directive 34, which dates from 1995;
       Whereas the Arms Trade Treaty will create opportunities to 
     engage in ``lawfare'' against the United States via the 
     misuse of the treaty's criteria in foreign tribunals and 
     international fora;
       Whereas the Arms Trade Treaty could hinder the United 
     States from fulfilling its strategic, legal, and moral 
     commitments to provide arms to allies such as the Republic of 
     China (Taiwan) and the State of Israel;
       Whereas the creation of an international secretariat to 
     administer and assist in the implementation of the Arms Trade 
     Treaty risks the delegation of authority to a bureaucracy 
     that is not accountable to the people of the United States;

[[Page S1794]]

       Whereas the Arms Trade Treaty urges the provision of 
     capacity building assistance from signatory nations to 
     implement the Arms Trade Treaty, which could create a source 
     of permanent funding to a new international organization that 
     would be susceptible to waste, fraud, and abuse;
       Whereas the Arms Trade Treaty risks imposing costly 
     regulatory burdens on United States businesses, for example, 
     by creating onerous reporting requirements that could damage 
     the domestic defense manufacturing base and related firms;
       Whereas an Arms Trade Treaty that has not been signed by 
     the President and received the advice and consent of the 
     Senate should not bind the United States in any respect as 
     customary international law, jus cogens, or any other 
     principle of international law that bypasses the treaty power 
     in article II, section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution;
       Whereas an Arms Trade Treaty that has merely been signed by 
     the President but has not received the advice and consent of 
     the Senate should not bind the United States in any respect, 
     including any obligation to refrain from defeating the object 
     and purpose of the Arms Trade Treaty, under any provision of 
     the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, to which the 
     United States is not a party;
       Whereas an Arms Trade Treaty that has merely been signed by 
     the President but has not received the advice and consent of 
     the Senate should not bind the United States in any respect, 
     as an international agreement other than a treaty, as a sole 
     executive agreement, or in any other way; and
       Whereas an Arms Trade Treaty that has been signed by the 
     President and has received the advice and consent of the 
     Senate, is a non-self-executing treaty that has no domestic 
     legal effect within the United States, unless and until it 
     has been adopted by the enactment of implementing legislation 
     by the Congress: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) the President should not sign the Arms Trade Treaty, 
     and that, if he transmits the treaty with his signature to 
     the Senate, the Senate should not ratify the Arms Trade 
     Treaty; and
       (2) until the Arms Trade Treaty has been signed by the 
     President, received the advice and consent of the Senate, and 
     has been the subject of implementing legislation by Congress, 
     no Federal funds should be appropriated or authorized to 
     implement the Arms Trade Treaty, or any similar agreement, or 
     to conduct activities relevant to the Arms Trade Treaty, or 
     any similar agreement.

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