Biden administration not planning an international committee to oversee US gun rights

A TikTok post announced "urgent news" about the Second Amendment, using colorful GIFs and graphics to make the case that President Joe Biden is planning to give foreign officials a say in the Second Amendment rights of Americans.

"In short, the Biden administration wants to create an international oversight committee to watch America and decide whether or not our Second Amendment rights need to be altered or even cancelled," the TikTok user narrates. "Since when did foreign officials have a say over the American people?" 

TikTok identified this video as part of its efforts to counter inauthentic, misleading or false content. (Read more about PolitiFact's partnership with TikTok.)

The video shows a letter addressed to Biden by a group of Republican senators. One thing to note: The letter did not make the same claim as the video.

The group wrote in asking for clarification about a statement from William Malzahn, the deputy director for the Office of Conventional Arms Threat Reduction, which is part of the State Department. Malzahn spoke at the Seventh Conference of State Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty in early September. The senators said that during his statement, Malzahn indicated the Biden administration’s intention to rejoin the United Nations’ Arms Trade Treaty. 

The treaty regulates international trade of small arms like rifles and pistols, battle tanks, combat aircraft and warships. The Arms Control Association wrote that it "requires all states-parties to adopt basic regulations and approval processes for the flow of weapons across international borders," among other requirements.

In 2013 under the Obama administration, the United States signed the Arms Trade Treaty, but the Senate never ratified it. In 2019, former President Donald Trump "unsigned" the treaty in front of a crowd at an annual National Rifle Association convention, an organization that has been against the treaty for years based on their stance that it could affect American gun owners.

The Republican senators pointed out a particular sentence in Malzahn’s statement. Malzahn said, "The United States has long supported strong and effective national controls on the international transfer of conventional arms, and the Arms Trade Treaty is an important tool for promoting those controls internationally." 

"We find this statement to be most concerning and contrary to the current and historical position of the United States," the senators wrote.

While the TikTok claim that the Biden administration wants to create an international oversight committee is based on this letter, that doesn’t mean it’s accurate. PolitiFact reached out to the office of Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who along with other senators signed the letter. A spokesperson for Marshall’s office said the letter does not accuse the Biden administration of trying to create an international committee to oversee Second Amendment rights, but simply asked for clarification if Biden intends to join the treaty.

The White House also told PolitiFact that the TikTok claim is wrong. 

A State Department spokesperson said the Arms Trade Treaty regulates the international trade of conventional arms — not domestic trade or possession. In his remarks, Malzahn said that the Biden administration is going to finalize the U.S. Conventional Arms Transfer Policy, which was revised during both the Obama and Trump administrations. 

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"President Biden has made clear that diplomacy and human rights are at the center of U.S. foreign policy," Malzahn said in his remarks. "We believe it’s important to publicly reflect these changes in a new CAT Policy, so we have been working to revise the policy to reflect the new administration’s priorities." 

Malzahn then said when the policy is finalized and released, the U.S. will then address other arms transfer issues, like determining its relationship with the Arms Trade Treaty. But those remarks don’t mean that a decision has already been made to join the treaty — simply that a review of that relationship is going to happen, said the State Department spokesperson.

A TikTok post claimed that the Biden administration wants to create an international oversight committee to oversee U.S. Second Amendment rights and decide if they need to be altered or cancelled.

The claim stems from a letter that Republican senators addressed to Biden asking for clarification of comments during a United Nations conference from a State Department official. The senators said these comments indicated that the Biden administration would rejoin the Arms Trade Treaty, which they were concerned could impede American gun owners’ rights.

But the letter was not accusing the Biden administration of creating an international oversight committee to regulate U.S. gun rights. The White House affirmed that the creation of such a committee is not in the works.

We rate this claim False.