By Eddie Devir
Arming warlords? Aiding transnational organized crime? Support for murderous war criminals? As the literally dozens of viewers who tune into Martin Bashir’s anti-gun afternoon antics can attest, no outrage is beneath the NRA. The gun rights org’s latest transgression against polite society: opposition to the UN’s arms trade treaty. As Marty points out, 150 countries are on board, so what’s not to like? Assembling a panel representing the full spectrum of political views from left all the way to far-left, Bashy, Grumpy and Epstein wring their hands over the gun industry-supporting NRA that’s now nothing more than a “direct mail Internet scam operation” . . .
As Jonathan Alter ultimately proclaims,
Why should (the NRA) have a stranglehold over issues of war and peace in the world? It is time to confront them and defeat them and remove them from their dominance in our politics.
To which the feelings of the chorus are expressed, as enunciated by Bashir:
I think all of us would say ‘hear, hear’ to that.
Somehow, though, the nuances of the NRA’s position on the UN treaty weren’t really explored by Marty and the crew. From washingtonpost.com:
“What we really object to is the inclusion of civilian firearms within the scope of the ATT,” said Tom Mason, the group’s executive secretary and a lawyer who has represented the NRA at U.N. meetings for nearly two decades. “This is a treaty that really needs to address the transfer of large numbers of military weapons that leads to human rights abuses. We have submitted language that you can define what a civilian firearm is.”
The fact that the NRA’s opposition to the treaty as currently written is based on its weasel-wording and the possibility (likelihood?) that it would be used to further disarm civilians both abroad and, potentially, in the US never made it into the conversation. If these three stooges were really concerned about the “2000 civilians a day” who are murdered by war criminals, you’d think the option of giving them the ability to defend themselves would be raised. But that’s just kooky talk.