Gingrich Campaign Press Release - Newt to NRA: Right to Bear Arms is a Human Right

Appearing before the National Rifle Association annual meeting this afternoon, Newt Gingrich called for a new United Nations treaty that would give the right to bear arms to every person on the planet. This proposed treaty would counter the United Nations Small Arms Treaty currently supported by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

After Gingrich's speech concluded, NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris Cox came out on stage and said "The Gingrich Treaty…I like that."

The Daily Beast noted that Newts reception from the crowd of 5,000 people was more enthusiastic than Governor Romneys.

If the Republican presidential nomination were decided by the volume and energy of applause from thousands of National Rifle Association members gathered today in St. Louis, Newt Gingrich might yet have a shot at greatness.

Friday's Celebration of American Values Leadership forum featured speeches by Mitt Romney, recent contender Rick Santorum, plus conservative stars like former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. But members of the influential gun lobby today reserved their greatest enthusiasms not for their presumptive nominee Romney, but for Newt Gingrich, a candidate who perseveres to the wonderment of many and the joy of some.

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The crowd was appreciative of the man who will likely court their votes this fall, but the NRA faithful became far more animated for Gingrich. With his characteristic flourish for sweeping and historical ideas, the former House speaker laid out a guideline for an international gun-rights movement that the NRA's Cox called "the Gingrich Doctrine."

"The right to bear arms comes from our creator, not our government," Gingrich said. The NRA "has been too timid" in promoting its agenda beyond American borders. The Bill of Rights was not written only for Americans, he said. "It is a universal document."

"A Gingrich presidency will submit to the UN a treaty that extends the right to bear arms as a human right to every person on the planet." Every world citizen, he said, "deserves the right to defend themselves from those who exploit, imprison, or kill them." For his latest big idea, Gingrich earned a standing ovation from the crowd of roughly 5,000.

"We don't need to go across the planet trying to impose American values, but we do need to go across the planet spreading human values," Gingrich said. "The Second Amendment is a right for all mankind."

Read more about Newts speech here.