By Tribune-Review

Published: Tuesday, February 26, 2013, 9:00 p.m.
Updated: Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Given the Obama administration's fixation on gun control, the long-disputed United Nations Arms Trade Treaty — down but not out — offers an opportunity to secure by an international accord that which Congress, fearing for its hide, has resisted.

A new round of U.N. negotiations on the international sale and regulation of conventional weapons begins March 18. And what a coincidence, too: The very day after President Obama won re-election, the U.S. joined other nations to green-light new talks after the treaty last July was DOA — at least from the U.S. perspective.

So, what's changed? Nothing.

Regardless of the administration's vow to “red-line” any Second Amendment infringement, what's proposed is a patchwork of entangling propositions that would augment government control of U.S. gun sales and conceivably tie the United States to the gun-grabbing proclivities of other regimes that aren't as open-minded about citizens' gun ownership.

The proposal raises the ire of Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, so much that on Monday he began a privately funded petition drive against the measure ( attpetition.com): “There is considerable cause for alarm (that this treaty) could trample the constitutional rights of Americans and could seriously compromise our national security and the security of our allies,” Mr. Kelly said.

Proponents argue that the treaty will clamp down on terrorists. But as Heritage Foundation scholar Ted Bromund reminds, “Law, including treaty law, matters to the law-abiding — not to the lawless.”

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