UN Human Rights Chief’s Response to Jihadist Massacre: More "Robust Gun Regulation"

In response to the ISIS-inspired massacre at an Orlando nightclub on June 12th, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein focused on gun control. He said that such violent attacks are “the direct result of insufficient gun control.” He called on the U.S. to adopt "robust gun regulation" in order to counter the impact of gun violence on human rights. “Irresponsible pro-gun propaganda suggests that firearms make society safer, when all evidence points to the contrary,” High Commissioner Zeid added. “The ready availability of guns leaves little space between murderous impulses and actions that result in death. The journey between hate-filled beliefs and violent hate crimes is accelerated. Society -- in particular its most vulnerable communities and minorities who are already facing widespread prejudice -- pay a high price for the failure to stand up to the lobbyists and take the necessary measures to protect people from gun violence.” Zeid’s comments are offensive on at least two levels.

First of all, the issue of how the U.S. handles the domestic issue of gun regulation within its borders, in a manner consistent with its Constitution’s Second Amendment, is none of Zeid’s business. Article 1 of the UN Charter states: “Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state.” Zeid violated this provision when he put his two cents into a matter that is “essentially within the domestic jurisdiction” of the federal and state governments of the United States. The justification for Zeid’s intrusion is the proposition that protection against gun violence is a basic human right, which makes it a subject within the scope of his authority. But labeling something a human right, even if true, does not automatically make it a matter for interference by the UN. In the case of the United States, where its Constitution is the supreme law of the land, the Second Amendment protects the right of law-abiding individuals to possess and bear arms in order to protect themselves against gun violence. Whether other countries, as Zeid asserted, have an alternative “legal framework to control the acquisition and use of firearms” is irrelevant. Coming from a monarchy which supports universal criminalization of free speech regarded as critical of Islam, which Zeid advocated for while serving as Jordan’s ambassador to the United Nations, Zeid is in no position to lecture the United States about human rights.

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Secondly, like President Obama and others on the Left, Zeid downplayed, if not ignored, the role that radical Islamic ideology played in the Orlando massacre and other such horrific attacks around the world. Instead, he expressed concern that “this terrible event is already being utilized to promote homophobic and Islamophobic sentiments.” Contrary to Zeid’s veiled criticism of some Americans’ reactions to what happened in Orlando, stating the truth is not promoting any sort of bigotry. The Orlando killer was responding to the same radical Islamic ideology that led two illegal immigrants from Tunisia, who were ISIS followers, to stab a 26-year-old transgender man in Brussels the day before the Orlando attack. And it was the same radical Islamic ideology that led a man claiming allegiance to ISIS to stab a police official and his companion to death in France a day after the Orlando attack, while repeating ISIS’s call to turn the Euro 2016 football tournament being held in France into "a graveyard." The common denominator of these attacks, along with the suicide bombings and shootings in Paris and Brussels, the bombings at the Boston Marathon, the massacres in Fort Hood, Chattanooga, San Bernardino, and so many more around the globe, is not homophobia. It is not random gun violence. It is the jihadist ideology of radical Islam, which itself is homophobic, that inspires violence against all whom its adherents consider “infidels.” The people killed and severely wounded in Orlando were the casualties of global jihad. They were targets of an Islamic supremacist ideology of hate against all of us who believe in freedom, respect and human dignity for every individual. The UN’s human rights chief is shamelessly exploiting the Orlando tragedy to push the false narrative that Americans themselves are somehow at least partly at fault for what happened. President Obama and others on the Left share that false narrative. It must be repudiated again and again in no uncertain terms.