WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) today applauded the Administration’s signing of the International Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) this morning, and called on the U.S. Senate to quickly ratify the treaty:

The Administration took a big step this morning toward stemming the tide of illegal guns that arms warlords and fuels conflicts all over the world. 

It’s time now for the Senate to act to stop the illicit arms trade that has brought devastation and horror to places like Mali, the Balkans, Israel, and Mexico. In Africa, about 95 percent of the weapons most commonly used in conflict—derivatives of the Kalashnikov rifle – come from outside the continent, often illegally. Conflicts fueled by the unrestricted sale of the deadliest arms have destroyed families, inflamed ethnic hatred, and caused the tragic death and maiming of millions of men, women, and children.

And yet the National Rifle Association is still working hard to stop this treaty, proliferating distorted or misleading information in an effort to remove even more barriers to the international trade in weapons such as tanks, machine guns and shoulder-fired missiles. The NRA is in extremely bad company here: when the treaty came for a vote before the United Nations, the only countries to oppose it were Iran, Syria, and North Korea. 

The goal of the Arms Trade Treaty is to prevent weapons from reaching the hands of warlords and human rights abusers, and does not interfere with arms sales in the United States or legitimate international trade. It will do nothing to infringe on Americans’ Second Amendment rights. This treaty will help save countless lives—the Senate should ratify it without delay.