One of the biggest news items to come out of President Trump's speech at the annual NRA convention on Friday was that he is ending the UN Arms Trade Treaty, signed by President Obama in 2013.
Trump told an #NRAAM crowd today that he intends to walk away from the 2014 Arms Trade Treaty https://t.co/om3iG2mNnb pic.twitter.com/1Wn2HT6W6y
— POLITICO (@politico) April 26, 2019
The treaty was purportedly written to prevent arms sales to human rights abusers around the world. But, as Trump described, it did more to "threaten" gun owners' constitutional rights.
"Under my administration, we will never surrender American sovereignty to anyone," he vowed. "We will never allow foreign bureaucrats to trample on your Second Amendment freedom."
The president will "never ratify" the UN treaty, he pledged, before addressing the attendees, "I hope you're happy."
As you can hear from the crowd's reaction, they were indeed.
NEWS: President Trump sends a request to the Senate to stop the treaty ratification process for the UN Arms Trade Treaty during his speech at @NRA annual meetings pic.twitter.com/c3CaolFI1i
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) April 26, 2019
“We’re taking our signature back," Trump concluded.
In front of "a lot of witnesses," he signed a message asking the Senate to discontinue the ratification process and send the treaty back to the Oval Office, where he will "dispose of it."
He added that the UN would be getting a formal rejection very soon.
The NRA couldn't be more pleased.
"Today in front of 15,000 NRA members, President Trump once again demonstrated his commitment to our Second Amendment freedoms and American Sovereignty," Chris W. Cox, executive director of the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action, said in a statement. "His commitment to un-sign the anti-gun United Nations Arms Trade Treaty that was forced on us by John Kerry and Barack Obama, gives NRA members one more reason to enthusiastically support his presidency. Donald Trump isn’t afraid to stand on the side of freedom and defend our God-given right to self-defense and we couldn’t be prouder to stand with him."
Editor's Note: This post has been updated to include the NRA's response.