posted 06-26-2001 11:19 PM            

United Nations is launching its assault on gun rights on July 9, but a movement is growing to counter this move by celebrating the date as "Buy a Gun Day."

U.N.'s Web site, funded in part by U.S. taxpayers, includes this tidbit, with emphasis added: "Delegations in Vienna agreed on 2 March 2001 [the goofy European way of saying March 2, 2001] on a legally binding Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition, which is designed to supplement the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime signed in Palermo, Italy in December 2000. Once entered into force, the Protocol will provide an international law enforcement mechanism for crime prevention and the prosecution of traffickers. Among other things, it includes articles establishing internationally recognized standards and provisions regarding marking, record-keeping and import/export control of firearms.

Some outfit called International Action Network on Small Arms wants to designate July 9 as Small Arms Destruction Day. It says: "The Preparatory Committee of the UN Conference on Small Weapons has called on all States, to organize, on a voluntary basis, public events of destruction of small arms and light weapons, preferably on the 9th of July, the opening day of the Conference."

Writes one NewsMax.com reader who supports Buy a Gun Day: "According to the United Nations, small arms means arms that are designed for personal use. (Not large tanks or small missile launchers but the firearms that we use at the local rifle range or go hunting with or carry as a means of personal defense.) And that is what this conference is all about - taking firearms away from honest citizens such as you and me."