Walter Patterson Herald ColumnistIf you own a gun, you should be concerned.  If you enjoy hunting, you should be concerned.  If you enjoy recreational shooting, you should be concerned.  If you own a gun for home protection, you should be concerned.   
“Why?” you ask.  There is a simple reason.  The United Nations is at this very moment debating the Arms Trade Treaty.  
This conference began on July 2, and will end on July 27.  President Obama has already pledged support for this treaty as has Hillary Clinton.  Hillary has pledged that she will personally put relentless pressure on the Senate to ratify this treaty.
Mr. Obama and Hillary Clinton are strong proponents of gun control.  They would like to wipe out the Second Amendment to the U. S. Constitution and confiscate all of your rifles, pistols, and shotguns.  Heretofore, this has been an impossible task since a little thing like the Constitution prevents them for enacting such a draconian law.
But now they think they have found a way around the Constitution.  It is labeled the Arms Trade Treaty.  If this treaty is passed, then the United States will be obliged to confiscate all small arms because of our desire to protect “human rights.”  Yes, my friends, the confiscation of your shotgun or rifle will ensure that human rights are guaranteed here in the “good ole USA.”
Will this treaty be ratified?  Who knows?  With this bunch of Democrat misfits in the Senate, who knows what will pass.  With Hillary Clinton twisting their arms and threatening to expose some of the things in their backgrounds, how many senators can withstand the pressure?  Then there is Barack Obama.  His style is the “Chicago Way.”  What threats can he use to get his Democrat cohorts’ minds right?  We have a serious problem, and as of yet, none of this has made the mainstream news channels.
Slowly but surely, American’s freedoms are being taken away.  Slowly but surely, the rights guaranteed by the Constitution are being taken away.  For years, the leftist, socialists, and communists have wanted to confiscate Americans’ guns.  Now, an opportunity has presented itself, and the Democrats are jumping on the bandwagon with both feet.
Mr. Obama is presiding over a nation in decline.  Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, proclaimed this to the world in a recent interview.  Far from being the only superpower on earth, America is fast becoming a nation that resembles France or Spain where a huge number of people are being supported by the government, and where unemployment is high.
Sometimes I wonder how the American Revolution happened.  When Americans felt oppressed, they revolted against King George and the English.  They paid a heavy price in blood and treasure, yet they prevailed.
The president and congress are governing against the will of the people, yet I see very little evidence that the people are fed up.  Obamacare passes and is then held constitutional, and about all that we can do is say “it’s too bad.”  Has apathy become our new best friend?
There are some helpful signs, however, that a mini-revolution is occurring.  Several Republican governors have vowed to curtail Medicaid expansion as required by the law.  The Supreme Court did rule that states could not be penalized for refusing to implement this section of the law.  States that implement this expansion of Medicaid will soon find themselves unable to pay for any other service but Medicaid.  
Forced gun control, forced socialized medicine, forced carbon taxes, all disapproved of by a wide majority of the American public, will soon be the order of the day.  Productive members of society will be assigned the task of supporting those who refuse to work.  The government will soon learn that this forced arrangement is like a bad marriage.  It just won’t work.
We are in serious trouble.  If the UN has its way, the “man” will be around soon to collect your guns.  When that happens, America will be something that none of us recognize.  We, as a people, will be relegated to “serf status”, no longer citizens with guaranteed rights, but a people who depend entirely on an all-powerful government.  My guess is that about 50 percent of the people will like this arrangement – for a while.  But then, my friends, it will be too late.  We won’t be able to put the toothpaste back in the tube.  Russia and China will love it.