by Dave Workman
Senior Editor

Fourteen United States Senators, all Democrats, unsuccessfully asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for an affirmative vote on a United Nations (UN) resolution that may ultimately bring an international treaty to control small arms.

But their request went unheeded, and the United States was the only country voting against the non-binding resolution, which was approved 153-1 with 24 abstentions, according to Associated Press.

However, disclosure of the appeal gave gun rights activists a small hint of what may be on the horizon, now that Democrats have taken control of Congress for the first time in a dozen years. The new Congress begins in a few days, with left wing Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) taking over as Speaker of the House.

According to Amnesty International, the 14 senators who signed the letter, sent to Secretary Rice from the office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) were: fellow Californian Barbara Boxer; Patrick Leahy and Jim Jeffords of Vermont; John Kerry from Massachusetts; Carl Levin of Michigan; Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey; Daniel Akaka from Hawaii; Dick Durbin of Illinois; Byron Dorgan from North Dakota; Barbara Mikulski of Maryland; Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico; Tom Harkin from Iowa, and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin.

All are consistent anti-gunners, even though Feingold said two years ago he had changed his opinion about the effectiveness of a ban on so-called assault weapons when that legislation came up for renewal.

Under the resolution, the UN secretary general will solicit the opinions of the General Assembly on the feasibility of an international treaty. Such an agreement would set standards for import and export of small arms, but Richard Grenell, a spokesman for the US delegation, said that such a standard “would be so far below what we are already required to do under US law that we had to vote against it in order to maintain our higher standards.”

The resolution also asks the secretary-general to submit a report to the 2007 General Assembly, which convenes in September, AP reported. Reportedly, small arms commerce is a $4 billion annual industry, and about 25% of that involves illegal gun trafficking. These small arms reportedly are involved in 60 to 90% of fatalities in conflicts around the world every year, the AP story Press said.

Last year, American gun rights activists flooded the UN headquarters in New York with telephone calls and e-mails, angry about any attempt to pass a resolution that might ultimately affect the Second Amendment of the US Constitution. Activists have long feared that international treaties would be written in such a way as to nullify the individual right to keep and bear arms protected by the Second Amendment.

Gun rights organizations, including the National Rifle Association and Second Amendment Foundation, as well as firearms trade groups such as the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute have taken a keen interest in international gun control initiatives over the past few years.