President Obama is hesitant to sign
an international arms trade treaty opposed by the National Rifle Association,
according to advocates for the pact.
Meetings with administration
officials have them worried the White House doesn’t want to expend any more
political capital on a treaty the NRA insists is a gun grab by the United
Nations.
“I’m pretty confident they’re not
going to sign” when the treaty first opens up for signatures on Monday, said
Rachel Stohl, a senior associate with the Stimson Center think-tank, which
supports the treaty.
She said she thinks Obama will still
eventually sign the treaty, which his administration supports, but that she “wouldn’t
be surprised” if he waited to sign “under the cover of darkness in August.”
“I think there’s a lot of political
hand-wringing going on” at the White House, she said. “They know people are
going to be paying attention to this particular issue on this particular day.”
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