Illicit Representation

If you reload your own ammo you may find yourself engaged in "Illicit Manufacturing" of ammunition under an arms control treaty that President Obama started pushing last week in Mexico. The treaty itself is not new. It was written back in the 90's and signed by President Clinton, but never ratified by the U.S. senate. According to an AP article from Mexico City last week "Administration officials say President Barack Obama will push for Senate ratification of a Latin American arms trafficking treaty."

Virtually everyone that supports the 2nd ammendment or has an interest in firearms has heard the numerous recent reports of ammunition shortages. The shortages have extended to reloading supplies that many folks rely on to keep their shooting costs down or to assemble exotic or hard to find ammunition. Many shooters have considered reloading their own ammo as insurance against limited supplies should legislation be enacted that would make ammo more scarce or dramatically more expensive. Those thoughts may be in vain if the current administration is successful in getting the "INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION AGAINST THE ILLICIT MANUFACTURING OF AND TRAFFICKING IN FIREARMS, AMMUNITION, EXPLOSIVES, AND OTHER RELATED MATERIALS" treaty passed.

In previous reports on this treaty I have found no mention of the impact that the treaty would have on ammo reloaders. The first definition under Article 1 of the treaty states(emphasis added);

1. "Illicit manufacturing": the manufacture or assembly of firearms, ammunition, explosives,
and other related materials:

a. from components or parts illicitly
trafficked; or

b. without a license from a competent
governmental authority of the State Party where the manufacture or assembly
takes place; or

c. without marking the firearms that require
marking at the time of manufacturing.

The section above clearly identifies ammo reloaders that are not licensed by the government as "Illicit Manufacturers" of ammunition. Now that we have reloaders properly labeled, lets move down to Article IV to see what we should do with them(emphasis added);

Article IV
Legislative Measures

1. States
Parties that have not yet done so shall adopt the
necessary legislative or other measures to establish as criminal
offenses under their domestic law the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, ammunition,
explosives, and other related materials.

Again, this is pretty straightforward. If you reload ammunition without a license after the treaty is signed you will be a criminal.

The administration has not done much to outline the impact of the treaty on U.S. citizens. I wouldn't be too terribly shocked to find that Obama does not have a plan for providing reloading licenses to all of the folks that are currently reloading. There is no way to objectively look at this treaty without seeing the underlying impact that it will have on the availability of arms and ammunition to law abiding U.S. citizens.

If you are concerned about the continued erosion of our 2nd Amendment rights please pass this information along. The treaty is already signed, we need to get to work to stop ratification of this attack on the liberty of U.S. citizens.