Hours After Election, Obama Backs UN Arms Treaty

From Reuters (h/t Gateway Pundit):

Hours after U.S. President Barack Obama was re-elected, the United States backed a U.N. committee's call on Wednesday to renew debate over a draft international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global conventional arms trade.

U.N. delegates and gun control activists have complained that talks collapsed in July largely because Obama feared attacks from Republican rival Mitt Romney if his administration was seen as supporting the pact, a charge Washington denies.

The month-long talks at U.N. headquarters broke off after the United States - along with Russia and other major arms producers - said it had problems with the draft treaty and asked for more time.

But the U.N. General Assembly's disarmament committee moved quickly after Obama's win to approve a resolution calling for a new round of talks March 18-28. It passed with 157 votes in favor, none against and 18 abstentions.

U.N. diplomats said the vote had been expected before Tuesday's U.S. presidential election but was delayed due to Superstorm Sandy, which caused a three-day closure of the United Nations last week.

An official at the U.S. mission said Washington's objectives have not changed.

"We seek a treaty that contributes to international security by fighting illicit arms trafficking and proliferation, protects the sovereign right of states to conduct legitimate arms trade, and meets the concerns that we have been articulating throughout," the official said.

"We will not accept any treaty that infringes on the constitutional rights of our citizens to bear arms," he said.
 

Hmm. Words of reassurance that Obama will honor the U.S. Constitution. Well, Obama has such a great record of doing that...

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that this is particularly bad news for Israel. Israel is considered by many nations to be a human rights violator --since they don't just allow terrorists to launch missiles into their cities or to blow up their children with suicide bombers. Will the U.S. be allowed to send arms to Israel under rules yet to be hammered out in the UN? Do you think the Obama Administration will fight for the right to support our ally? Have they in the past?