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United States President Barack Obama - Source: Reuters -
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US President Barack Obama said he will push the US Senate to
ratify a long-stalled arms trafficking treaty meant to curb the
flow of guns and ammunition to drug cartels in Latin America.
Activists want Washington to push for ratification of the
Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and
Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related
Materials.
The convention, known by Spanish acronym CIFTA, has been
languishing in the US Senate since it was adopted in 1997.
Obama, who visited Mexico to show his support for President Felipe
Calderon's efforts to reduce violence and rein in drug cartels,
said he would put his weight behind the treaty's
ratification.
"I am urging the Senate in the United States to ratify an
inter-American treaty known as CIFTA to curb small arms trafficking
that is a source of so many weapons used in this drug war," he told
a joint news conference with Calderon.
Denis McDonough, Director of Strategic Communications at the White
House's National Security Council, told reporters the treaty was on
a list that had been submitted to the Senate of treaties the
president viewed as priorities.
"This is one of the priority treaties that we'd like to see the
Senate's advice and consent on," he said.
That may be difficult.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the United States had to
help reduce violence without violating Americans' right to bear
arms, which is enshrined in the Second Amendment of the US
Constitution.
"We must work with Mexico to curtail the violence and drug
trafficking on America's southern border, and must protect
Americans' Second Amendment rights," he said in a statement.
"I look forward to working with the President to ensure we do
both in a responsible way."
The treaty has to garner 67 votes in the 100-member Senate, where
lawmakers have been loathe to take on the National Rifle
Association (NRA), a powerful gun lobby, despite a spate of
domestic shootings that have resulted in multiple deaths.
The NRA opposes the treaty.
Wayne LaPierre, NRA executive vice president, said his organization
takes a back seat to no one in opposing illegal arms
trafficking.
"The answer is to enforce the current law. Everything these drug
cartels are doing involving firearms is illegal on both sides of
the border already," he said in a telephone interview.
Jonathan Winer, a former deputy assistant secretary of state who
was the main negotiator of the treaty during the Clinton
administration, said the treaty would not impose any new
restrictions on legal gun sales or ownership in the United
States.
"It is designed to help US law enforcement track abuses of firearms
of criminals back to the last lawful sale so they can determine
what went wrong.
It is completely consistent with all US laws and does not ever impose a foreign law on a US person who has abided by US law," Winer said.
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