By: José Niño
On June 9, 2023, the United Nation’s Open-Ended Working Group on Conventional Ammunition (OEWG) hammered out its development of a new global framework to close the current gaps in ammunition regulation. The irony is that Russia and its ally in Belarus have largely dissociated with this framework. Russia is one of the largest suppliers of conventional arms and ammunition on the planet.
The OEWG was established via a General Assembly resolution that had the ostensive aim of addressing issues emanating from the accumulation of surplus ammunition stockpiles. Since it started its initiative in February 2022, the OEWG has been working tirelessly to expand its reach. The OEWG has used the pretext of “through-life ammunition management” to make universal ammunition serialization and user registration as its principal goals.
The OEWG’s alleged focus on “conventional ammunition stockpiles” is quite ambiguous, thereby leaving the door open for the mass regulation of conventional ammo that everyday lawful citizens use.
The harsh reality is that the United States is alone on the global stage when it comes to countries with a strong, pro-liberty gun culture. So, there won’t be many advocates against UN-sponsored gun control campaigns.
A delegation from the US was at least able to tone down the majority of the most alarming provisions featured in each of the five draft reports the OEWG put forward. These efforts included the scrapping of attempts to mandate “individual” end-user certificates, guaranteeing that any calls to regulate the ambiguous term “stockpile” were only confined to those held at the national level, and for language mandating the serialization of every round of ammunition to be changed into simply an item that should be deemed as ammunition under national ownership.
Dudley Brown, the President of the National Association for Gun Rights, commented on these developments:
“Foreign elites dictating what weapons and ammunition Americans can possess? I think the Red Coats tried that back in 1775 at Lexington and Concord, and it didn’t work out so well for them. As free Americans born with unalienable rights, we are not subject to the mandates of any foreign government. More than any other group, the National Association for Gun Rights has fought tooth and nail against the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty and all attempts by foreign powers to limit the Second Amendment Rights of law-abiding Americans.”
The UN is one institution that does not care for American freedoms. It has a thoroughly globalist ethos that’s centered on eroding national sovereignty and implementing a technocratic political order where basic freedoms are undermined. In this fight to preserve and restore Second Amendment freedoms, gun owners will undoubtedly face enemies from within or without. Eternal vigilance is required to ensure that our cherished freedoms don’t get eviscerated by these nefarious actors.
José Niño is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. Contact him via Facebook, Twitter, or email him at [email protected]. Get his e-book, The 10 Myths of Gun Control, here.