NRA warns of increased gun control with Obama 'end-around Congress'

The National Rifle Association is warning American gun owners that President Obama or a future anti-gun president could use a U.N. Arms Trade treaty, set to take effect on Christmas Eve, "to rationalize enacting gun control politics through executive actions, especially in the import and export realms."

The Washington Times reports that the treaty requires participating nations to establish import and export controls for combat vehicles, aircraft, and small arms, and for participating member states to "establish and maintain a national control system, including a national control list, in order to implement the provisions."

According to the Times, the NRA is worried that Obama could take matters into his own hands and subvert the GOP-controlled Senate by issuing an executive order to ratify the treaty, a move NRA spokeswoman Catherine Mortensen called "an end-run around Congress."

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Administration officials have expressed public support for the treaty, despite an existing appropriations rider that prohibits the treaty's implementation without Congressional approval.