NationStates Jolt Archive

:sniper:
It reads this:

REALIZING the obvious risks of allowing non-government individuals to operate firearms or other such weapons,

REGRETTING the loss of human life in cleaning and maintaining a firearm, and of operating a firearm either purposefully or accidentally.

RECOGNIZING the rights of citizens to live without fear, and the danger posed to those citizens when anyone may be concealing a weapon on their person

ALSO RECOGNIZING the rights of those at risk to protect themselves,

THE UNITED NATIONS HEREBY DECLARES:
No person shall carry a weapon, with the exception of those issued by the Gun Control Board - the Gun Control Board may issue a firearm to a civilian if they judge necessary, in the case of police, soldiers, bodyguards or those in a witness protection program.

The Gun Control Board is to be made up of at least twenty people, all of whom must cover a wide range of social and economic groups.

--------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY

The Intent of the 'Banning of Civilian Firearms' is to prevent weapons falling into the hands of criminals, those who may be unaware or unable to operate them, and those who have proven too untrustworthy or incompetent to be trusted. It intent is not, however, to outlaw them all together, as there are people who need them - people who may be at honest risk. Therefore, this proposal merely suggests regulating guns, and only handing them to people with:
a)The ability to operate them, and
b)The need to operate them.

Written entirely by the Disputed Territories of Slashrim.


Given the currently low levels of support, would anyone be interested in approving this?

OOC: Putting your own nation's name on the end of the text like that is an example of what the rules (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=420465) call 'Branding', and makes the whole proposal (which I wouldn't support anyway, because I think that decisions about matters such as this should be made at the national level rather than by the UN) illegal.
You are "legally" allowed to name one other nation as author, co-author, editor or whatever, and the end of the text has become the customary place for that, but your own nation's name is automatically inserted before the text when you submit a proposal anyway...

Gun control in The USoP is something that is highly regulated and owning a gun is deemed a privilege and not a right. It's something you earn and work to keep.

That is the system that works for our nation, and we respect other nations opinions on the subject. Therefore we do not believe it is an international concern.

Nigel S Youlin
USoP UN Ambassador.

The Karshkovian government will not support such a measure. Our nation allows and encourages private firearms for our citizens. It was armed citizens whom started a revolution against the Soviet Union and started us on a path to independence.

It is our armed citizens that give larger nations pause from invading us, knowing that ever inch of ground would cost them in blood. Our armed forces are not large but we have +40 million armed citizens to act in defense of our country.

Karshkovia learned it's lessons well and have taken a page from Switzerland's defense code in this matter.

We doubt that the 'Control Board' would allow every non-felon citizen in our country to own firearms so we reject this proposal.

You seem to want at least 20 people to die, because thats what a gun control board implies- a bunch of people about to die :D

And you'd have to enslave them (no one would do it willingly) so this resolution is contradicted by Abolition of Slavery.

The government of Alaristan strongly opposes this proposal. Having our own problems with crime, we realize that is is the right of every citizen to keep themselves safe. Despite increases in law enforcement spending, it is impossible for our police to be watching everything that happens, so defense must be left in part to our law abiding citizens.

We also realize that gun control only keeps guns out of the hands of law abiding Alaristanis. Those willing to break the law will simply bypass any gun control legislation and obtain a gun on the black market. In effect, the only ones harmed by this will be law abiding Alaristani people who won't have the means to protect their homes and families.

With this in mind, we oppose this proposal, and strongly encourage all other nations to do so as well.

As far as I'm concerned the only gun control needed is being able to hit where you aim. As for the proposal, gun laws are a national issue, not an international one.

Bob Flibble
UN Representative

We in the Republic of Delehan have a very low crime rate. That being said, we do not support this proposal.

One of the big reasons that our citizens live in a low crime nation is because we have made our citizens aware of the risks of owning a firearm and the precautions behind it.

While we have significantly tightened our gun laws, they are not as radical as this proposal suggests. We pride ourselves on extensive freedoms, whether it be gun ownership or something else. This proposal goes against that freedom.

Solensina Tadefta, head of the Safalran UN Delegation, writes:

The Gun Control Board is to be made up of at least twenty people, all of whom must cover a wide range of social and economic groups.
This clause manages to be both overly specific and overly vague. Why, specifically, twenty people as a lower limit? Define 'a wide range of groups'. Would 18 civil servants, a fascist, and a communist be sufficient? In addition, 'all of whom' does not make sense - it means that each individual member must cover the range of groups - 'who collectively' would be more appropriate.

Like some of our other esteemed and honourable member states we would have to oppose this resolution if it ever came to vote. This is a strictly national matter in our eyes.

The citizens of our space Federation can carry arms these being restricted to type one phasers for home defence use as well as various daggers and swords. Why you would need a type three rapid fire phaser rifle to deal with an intruder is beyond me.

We also have a low crime rate due to a number of factors and our weapon controls are good enough so that possessing a weapon is not a problem.

Miss Sakura Yamamoto, Neo Kirisuban ambassador to the NSUN

Therefore, this proposal merely suggests regulating guns, and only handing them to people with:
a)The ability to operate them, and
b)The need to operate them.

By merely suggesting the regulation of firearms, you defeat the purpose of this resolution.

And if you turn them into mandates, Clause A and Clause B will be ignored by all nations, as if anyone has the "the ability" and "the need" to operate firearms, then they could get the firearm anyway.

We think firearms are nothing more than, shall we say, an domestic issue. HOWEVER, the international arms trade is something that the UN may need to regulate. We don't want arms from a civilized nation get into the wrong hands of rebels and terrorists, after all...

---Dr. Bob.

The Republic of The State of New York is against this resolution as it would violate our country's constitution which guarantees the right to keep and bear arms.

The Holy Empire of Imota forcefully asserts the right to manage our own weapons policy, and unequivocally refuses to support this resolution.

Burgen Alsonis, Ambassador to the UN

As far as I'm concerned the only gun control needed is being able to hit where you aim. As for the proposal, gun laws are a national issue, not an international one.

Bob Flibble
UN Representative
I would like to echo the statements of my colleague Bob Flibble. I would support blocking legislation which protected the right of member nations to make decisions on gun control.

Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky
Delegate, Antarctic Oasis
Chairman, Yeldan Committee For State Security

The Principality of Beaucalsradt, though new in this assembly, wishes to assert its right to handle this issue as a domestic one, thereby concurring with the majority of those who have already expressed their stance.
It is our firm belief, that, as has been stated, this way only the law abiding citizens would be left unprotected, and bereft of a part of their pastimes, where weapons are used in sports and hunting.

Respectfully,

Count de Saint-Germain à Clerques,
national emissary to the NSUN
for the Principality of Beaucalsradt