July 25, 2012 01:25 AM UTC

Ken Buck Goes Full-On U.N. Conspiracy Theory

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• by: Colorado Pols

In 2010, GOP gubernatorial nominee Dan Maes drew avalanches of scorn for theorizing that the city of Denver’s bicycle sharing program, B-Cycle, was part of a conspiracy to turn Colorado into a “U.N. community.” “This is all very well-disguised, but it will be exposed,” Maes said.

Today, the GOP’s 2010 U.S. Senate nominee in Colorado joins Maes in U.N. conspiracyland:

In the video above, 2010 GOP Senate nominee and Weld County DA Ken Buck declares his opposition to the U.N. Small Arms Treaty, a subject we’ve covered in this space a number of times. Each time we’ve brought it up, it’s been to point out the absurdity of this idea that Hillary Clinton and blue-helmeted stormtroopers are headed to–let’s use Greeley for today’s example–to confiscate the firearms of ordinary law-abiding American citizens. As if the United States, which already blows off the U.N. whenever we feel like it, is suddenly going to start confiscating firearms in defiance of the sacrosanct Second Amendment.

Folks, because Ken Buck is the highest-profile Coloradan yet to jump on the U.N. gun ban conspiracy bandwagon, we’re going to say it one more time: the U.N. Small Arms treaty is intended to regulate international trafficking in firearms. The U.S. representative to the treaty negotiations himself has said so repeatedly and unequivocally:

[W]e must acknowledge and respect that this negotiation is not an attempt to intrude, either in principle or process, into states’ internal activities, laws, or practices concerning the domestic possession, use, or movement of arms. Rather, this treaty will regulate only the international trade in arms. Any attempt to include provisions in the treaty that would interfere with each state’s sovereign control over the domestic possession, use, or movement of arms is clearly outside the scope of our mandate. [Pols emphasis]

Ambassador Donald A. Mahley, the U.S. representative assigned to arms control negotiations who wrote the above summary, is a 27-year U.S. Army veteran, who served in the Bush administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Threat Reduction and Export Control.

So…this guy is part of the conspiracy too? We’d love to see somebody ask Buck that.

We were a bit surprised to see such a strongly-worded opinion on this issue from Buck, who could be considered to have more credibility than, say, state Rep. J. Paul Brown–for whom the “U.N. gun ban” is a lead-off topic of conversation on the stump. Whether meant to provide political cover for people like Brown, or a sincere statement of belief in what seems to be a far fetched, self-debunking conspiracy theory, this is a sad day for Buck’s reputation…or whatever is left of “the reputation formerly enjoyed by Ken Buck.”