U.S. opposes world curb on gun trade

U.N. wants limits on sales of small arms

Colum Lynch / Washington Post 10jul01

United Nations -- The Bush administration announced yesterday that it opposes a U.N. draft accord on the international sale of small arms, warning that it might constrain the legitimate weapons trade and infringe on the right of American citizens to bear arms.

John Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security affairs, said at the outset of a two-week U.N. conference on small arms trafficking that the United States would not support many of the ideas under consideration -- such as a ban on private ownership of military weapons, including assault rifles and grenade launchers.

"We do not support measures that prohibit civilian possession of small arms, " Bolton said. "The United States will not join consensus on a final document that contains measures contrary to our constitutional right to keep and bear arms."

His declaration pits the United States against some of its major allies, including the 15-member European Union, on one of the most important arms control initiatives at the United Nations since the campaign to ban land mines,

which Washington also opposed.

Bolton's remarks set the stage for what are likely to be contentious negotiations by more than 150 countries to hammer out a voluntary pact that would begin to curb the international trade in small arms. The United States is the leading exporter of such weapons.

The nonbinding draft accord, called a program of action, calls for efforts to stop small arms trafficking from fueling civil conflicts around the world. It envisions a system for marking and tracing all small arms, including those sold by governments and legitimate arms merchants.

"The illicit trade cannot be tackled without involving the legal arms trade, " said Jozias van Aartsen, foreign minister of the Netherlands.

But negotiations already are mired in a dispute over the definition of "small arms and light weapons" that would be subject to international scrutiny.

The United Nations defines small arms as revolvers and automatic pistols, rifles, submachine guns, assault rifles and light machine guns. It considers light weapons to include heavy machine guns, mortars, hand grenades, grenade launchers and shoulder-fired missile launchers.

The Bush administration favors a narrower definition.

"Small arms and light weapons, in our understanding, are strictly military arms," Bolton said. "We separate these military arms from firearms such as hunting rifles and pistols, which are commonly owned and used by citizens in many countries."

Still, Bolton made it clear the United States does not want to prohibit all private individuals from purchasing military arms. He said Washington opposes language in the draft that would ban military sales to rebel movements or private organizations, because such a prohibition "would preclude assistance to an oppressed non-state group defending itself from a genocidal government."