"We Have Lawyers": The UN's Latest Push Against Your Gun Rights

Online   Jul 07, 2026

"We Have Lawyers": The UN's Latest Push Against Your Gun Rights

The United Nations just forced through another controversial small arms document over the objections of member states. And when challenged on it, UN officials had a three-word answer. Here's what every American gun owner needs to know.

---

Last week, the United Nations concluded its Ninth Biennial Meeting of States on the Implementation of the Program of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons in New York. If that sounds like a mouthful of bureaucratic nothing, don't be fooled. These meetings matter — and what happened at this one should concern every gun owner in America.

UN officials forced through a controversial outcome document over the objections of several member states. When those member states challenged the process — questioning whether the document had been adopted by proper procedure — UN officials had a three-word response:

"We have lawyers."

That's the face of international gun control. Not debate. Not transparency. Lawyers.

---

What the UN's Small Arms Program Actually Is

The UN's Program of Action on Small Arms has been around since 2001. On its face, it's about reducing the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons — stopping guns from flowing to warlords, terrorists, and criminal organizations in conflict zones.

That's the stated purpose. The actual purpose, as gun rights advocates have documented for two decades, is to establish international norms around civilian firearm ownership that can then be used to pressure member states into tighter domestic gun control.

The more dangerous cousin of the Program of Action is the UN Arms Trade Treaty — the ATT — which goes further. Among its provisions: encouraging national recordkeeping requirements for "end users" of covered arms, requiring countries to make arms import and export decisions based on a trading partner's treaty compliance, and creating a framework that can be amended by a three-quarters vote of attending State Parties — without unanimous consent.

That last point deserves emphasis. The ATT can be changed — restrictions tightened, reporting requirements expanded, civilian ownership standards narrowed — by a supermajority vote of countries that include China, which is now the treaty's largest financial supporter, surpassing the United States and Japan.

---

Why China's Role Matters

China — a government that confiscates firearms from its own citizens, operates one of the most restrictive civilian disarmament regimes on earth, and uses gun control as a tool of political suppression — is now the dominant financial force behind the UN's arms treaty framework.

Think about that. The nation that gave the world Tiananmen Square is funding the international body that wants to set global norms for civilian firearm ownership.

The NRA has been a recognized Non-Governmental Organization at the United Nations since 1996 specifically to monitor this. Their assessment hasn't changed: the global gun control movement is well-financed, highly coordinated, and deeply embedded in UN institutions. Its leaders know that advancing gun control through domestic legislatures is slow and uncertain. International frameworks offer a backdoor — creating obligations that activist judges could someday cite to justify restrictions that Congress and the American people would never approve through democratic process.

---

Where America Stands — And Why It Could Change

In 2019, President Trump formally withdrew the United States from the ATT — what the media called "unsigning" the treaty. Standing before gun owners, he declared it "a threat to American freedom" and vowed that "we will never allow foreign bureaucrats to trample on your Second Amendment."

That withdrawal had real legal weight. Under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, a country that signs but hasn't ratified a treaty is still obligated not to act against the treaty's "object and purpose." By formally notifying the UN Secretary-General that the US was out, the Trump administration removed that obligation entirely.

The problem? A simple Presidential Directive from a future administration could re-bind the United States to the treaty. No Senate vote required. No Congressional action needed. One executive order and America is back inside the framework — subject to its requirements, its amendments, and its China-funded agenda.

This is not a hypothetical. The Biden administration's State Department actively pushed the US back toward ATT implementation before Trump returned to office. The threat doesn't go away — it just waits for the next election cycle.

---

The Bigger Picture

The Rhode Island H8073 retroactive ban. The Virginia assault weapons legislation. The California Glock ban. Canada's door-to-door confiscation. And now the UN forcing through international small arms documents over member state objections while threatening dissenters with lawyers.

These aren't isolated events. They are coordinated pressure — applied at every level simultaneously. State legislatures. Federal agencies. International bodies. The goal is the same everywhere: normalize the idea that civilian ownership of effective firearms is a privilege to be managed, not a right to be protected.

The Second Amendment is the only thing standing between American gun owners and the fate of their Canadian, British, and Australian counterparts. SCOTUS is currently the strongest it has ever been on 2A protections — Heller, McDonald, Bruen, Hemani, Wolford, and now Viramontes and Grant v. Higgins heading for argument this fall.

But courts don't protect rights on their own. An informed, engaged gun-owning public does. That's why we're here.

---

Stay current on 2A legal developments at mmguns.com/blog/downrange. Stop in and see us at 5578 Salt River Road, Saint Peters, MO 63376 | 636-387-1199

© M&M Guns and Supplies | Saint Peters, MO | @mmgunsandsupplies

All purchases subject to applicable federal, state, and local laws. Missouri is a constitutional carry state; however, individual municipalities and political subdivisions retain the right to require a valid CCW permit to carry within their jurisdiction. Know your local laws before you carry.