In Oxfam International's new short film, Bang for Your Buck, directed by Seth Chase and Brice Blondel and found at ShootingPoverty.org, the filmmakers follow a scourge of grenade murders against civilians in the African nation of Burundi where the price of a grenade has fallen as low as $1. (See the embedded video for detail.)

We are reminded that global arms control is not only about nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons, or even about safely stored hunting rifles. It is also about the trade in grenades, mines, and improvised explosive devices which are bought for dollars to murder in Africa and around the world.

The top global security priority of the United States must not be free trade for weapons, but the protection of every global citizen's right to be safe from weapons that fall too easily into the hands of those committing crimes.

For this petition, let's follow the lead of Oxfam International's ShootingPoverty.org and the ControlArms.org project in calling on members of parliament and congress to rally support behind an Arms Trade Treaty.

Early momentum is absolutely vital in the many steps in the lead up to the conference to firm up such a treaty in 2012. Here we select Chris Smith because he has been the highest ranking Republican focused on African Affairs in the House of Representatives, is already partly sympathetic, and has influence on others who might oppose the treaty.