UN countries push for new arms treaty

Britain, Japan, Australia and other countries are pushing for an unprecedented treaty regulating the arms trade worldwide.

In what UN officials say is an "overwhelming" response, almost 100 governments have submitted ideas for such a treaty, to be reviewed over the next year.

There is an "extremely urgent" need for controls on the international gun trade, says Kenya, echoing the sentiment in much of guns-besieged Africa.

But in the US, the National Rifle Association (NRA), the influential US gun owners' lobbying group, says it sees a creeping attempt to limit civilian gun ownership within nations - even though the focus now is on setting standards for arms exports and imports.

The international issues "necessarily will come to involve at some point domestic laws and policies regarding firearms", said former congressman Bob Barr, a leading NRA voice on the subject.

"That's not what we're looking at here," countered Greg Puley, of the Control Arms coalition of pro-treaty advocacy groups.

"The point is to control trade in weapons that contribute to conflict and atrocities."