CIFTA reply from Russ Feingold

This was in response to an email I sent him:

http://beloitballistics.blogspot.com/2009/08/anoterh-set-of-emails.html

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Dear Mr. Kuecker,

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Inter-American Convention against Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms (CIFTA). I appreciate hearing from you.

As you may know, CIFTA was signed in 1997 by then-President Clinton, but was never voted on or ratified by the Senate. The United States is one of only four of the 34 Organization of American States members not to have ratified CIFTA, along with Canada, the Dominican Republic, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

I have heard from several constituents expressing their concerns that this treaty could infringe upon their Second Amendment rights. I believe the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms, and I oppose measures such as gun licensing requirements and handgun bans that seek to unreasonably limit that right. At the same time, as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I have supported U.S. efforts to halt the illicit arms trade around the world.

Should the Senate consider legislation relating to this treaty I will carefully review it to make sure, among other things, that it is consistent with the Second Amendment.

Thank you again for contacting me. For more information about my work on behalf of Wisconsin, you can subscribe to my monthly e-newsletter by visiting http://feingold.senate.gov/newsletter.cfm. I look forward to hearing from you in the future.

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I'm convinced these things are canned, written by aides.