goal for the legal trade in arms: ban it
Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 12:20 pmHarold Koh, the nominee for Legal Adviser to the State Department, supports “the global regulation of small arms” and a “global gun control regime.” And he believes it is “needlessly provocative” for any U.S. representative to refer to the right to bear arms when speaking to a foreign audience: the very mention of the Second Amendment, apparently, is offensive. That has very serious implications for domestic policy, but what does Koh want to do with the legal, international arms trade? The answer is simple: he wants to ban it.
In 2002, Koh spoke on the subject at Fordham Law School. In his remarks, he emphasized the importance of what he called “bright-line norms,” i.e. absolute rules. A bright-line norm that we can all endorse, for example, is that human slavery is wrong. But Koh wants a great many more such norms. One of them is against the production and use of antipersonnel landmines. That, though, is only the start. Koh then noted regretfully that “we are a long way from persuading governments to accept a flat ban on the trade of legal arms.” The emphasis was his.
Yes, a complete ban on the international trade of all arms. Not even a ban on the trade of arms in peacetime, though that would be no better: a flat ban on the arms trade, period. If Koh’s doctrine won out, even the Lend Lease Agreement in World War II, under which the U.S. supplied weapons to nations resisting Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, would have been illegal. So would the U.S. supply of weapons to its allies who resisted Communism during the Cold War. So, of course, would U.S. arms sales to Israel and many other close allies, including Britain, today.
More at link: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/05/11/koh ... ms-ban-it/
In 2002, Koh spoke on the subject at Fordham Law School. In his remarks, he emphasized the importance of what he called “bright-line norms,” i.e. absolute rules. A bright-line norm that we can all endorse, for example, is that human slavery is wrong. But Koh wants a great many more such norms. One of them is against the production and use of antipersonnel landmines. That, though, is only the start. Koh then noted regretfully that “we are a long way from persuading governments to accept a flat ban on the trade of legal arms.” The emphasis was his.
Yes, a complete ban on the international trade of all arms. Not even a ban on the trade of arms in peacetime, though that would be no better: a flat ban on the arms trade, period. If Koh’s doctrine won out, even the Lend Lease Agreement in World War II, under which the U.S. supplied weapons to nations resisting Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, would have been illegal. So would the U.S. supply of weapons to its allies who resisted Communism during the Cold War. So, of course, would U.S. arms sales to Israel and many other close allies, including Britain, today.
More at link: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/05/11/koh ... ms-ban-it/