Here is the subject of the next Scare Email that is going to show up in your inbox soon: another proposed UN small arms treaty. According to Larry Bell writing in an Op/Ed for Forbes Magazine, this treaty would

1. Enact tougher licensing requirements, creating additional bureaucratic red tape for legal firearms ownership.

2. Confiscate and destroy all “unauthorized” civilian firearms (exempting those owned by our government of course).

3. Ban the trade, sale and private ownership of all semi-automatic weapons (any that have magazines even though they still operate in the same one trigger pull – one single “bang” manner as revolvers, a simple fact the ant-gun media never seem to grasp).

4. Create an international gun registry, clearly setting the stage for full-scale gun confiscation.

5. In short, overriding our national sovereignty, and in the process, providing license for the federal government to assert preemptive powers over state regulatory powers guaranteed by the Tenth Amendment in addition to our Second Amendment rights.

Obviously these terms an unacceptable. Does such a treaty present a threat to our Second Amendment freedoms here in the United States? In my opinion, yes, and no.

Any research will show that the issue of whether treaties trump the US Constitution is divided. Personally, I believe they do not. However, I choose not to have to rely on some future Supreme Court to decide the issue, when to me, the best course of action is to prevent ratification of the treaty by the Senate, and, if possible, its presentation to the Senate in the first place.

Treaties are presented by the President to the Congress, and ratified by two thirds of the Senate. The current Senate is unlikely to vote for such a treaty. Despite the vocal exceptions like Schumer and Feinstein, the majority of the Senate remains pro-Second Amendment. This is logical, because the majority of the American people are pro-Second Amendment, outside of the areas represented by the obvious anti-freedom members.

It is up to us to contact our Senators and make sure they understand what is happening, and we let them know where we stand. I know that both of my Senators in Georgia, Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, are staunchly pro-Second Amendment, but I am writing them about this any way.

Despite the fact that the House of Representatives does not vote on treaty ratification, they almost certainly will have their say. I also plan to write my Congressman, Dr. Phil Gingrey. I will report the responses of my representatives here as they arrive.

Of course, the President presents any treaty to the Senate for ratification, so the opportunity is there to affect this, provided the treaty can be delayed until after the next inauguration in January 2013. The need to elect a President that reflects the love of freedom shared by the rest of the country could not be greater.

I believe if we act now and maintain contact with our Senators on this issue, we can hold off this threat. But it won’t be the last. That’s okay. This is part of the “eternal vigilence” that is required of us.

On Memorial Day I shot the Pistol Steel Challenge match at the Creekside Firing Range in Taylorsville, Georgia. This was part of a series of matches that weekend to raise money for the local family of a fallen warrior. In addition to the pistol match, there was a shotgun match, a service rifle match, and a tactical rifle match.

In the pistol match there were 35 shooters, and they had expected about 15, like the match earlier in the month. So, this made the 5 stage match last till about 2 PM, when they expected to be done by noon. I had plenty of other things planned for the day, so I didn’t stay around through the auction to find out the results.

Well, I just downloaded the results and found that I finished 12th out of the 35 shooters. Not bad considering I left steel standing after the par time expired on 2 stages. But so did most of the shooters – it was not an easy match.

Looking at the results of all the matches, I took away some interesting facts:

* In the shotgun match, overall was won by a pump gun.

* In the the tactical rifle match, overall was won by a shooter using iron sights, versus optics. In fact, all the iron sights shooters finished in the top half overall.

The lesson, of course, is that an auto shotgun or optics on your rifle do not necessarily make you a better shooter. Training and practice make you a better shooter. If you add optics to your rifle, trying to compensate for poor technique, all you have done is ensure you will shoot poorly with more expensive equipment.

By the way, that’s why I shoot Production in USPSA. If I’m going to shoot poorly I want to do it cheaply, too.