Topicality – Reduce [Aff Answers] Page 1 of 5

Topicality – Reduce
Affirmative Answers
Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially
reduce Direct Commercial Sales and/or Foreign Military Sales of
arms from the United States.

Table of Contents
Topicality – Reduce Affirmative Answers .................................................................................................... 1
2AC: T – Reduce (1/2) .............................................................................................................................. 2
2AC: T – Reduce (2/2) .............................................................................................................................. 3
1AR: Reduce C/I Extension ...................................................................................................................... 4
1AR: Reduce C/I Extension ...................................................................................................................... 5
Topicality – Reduce [Aff Answers] Page 2 of 5

2AC: T – Reduce (1/2)

1. We Meet:
a. Our plan text says reduce, if they’re right we do it via a quantitative ceiling.
b. Quantitative arms control is the numerical ceilings their evidence is referencing
Robert H. Mnookin et al. 95 {Robert Harris Mnookin is an American lawyer, author, and the Samuel Williston Professor
of Law at Harvard Law School. 1995. “Barriers to Conflict Resolution.” https://books.google.com/books?id=V0_Av-
1djjgC&pg=PP325&lpg=PP325&dq=%22the+fundamental+objective+of+arms+control+is+to+draw+a+boundary+betwe
en+allowed+and+forbidden+military+activities.%22&source=bl&ots=GCxPMlxDL0&sig=ACfU3U2X1-
d1LuvRkBjs1WCYNF3dES5klw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiKztDr2sTjAhUPRK0KHa6fARMQ6AEwAHoECAAQ
AQ#v=onepage&q=%22the%20fundamental%20objective%20of%20arms%20control%20is%20to%20draw%20a%20b
oundary%20between%20allowed%20and%20forbidden%20military%20activities.%22&f=false}//JM

The fundamental objective of arms control is to draw a boundary between allowed and forbidden military
activities. Arms control can be divided into three categories: quantative, qualitative, and
operational . The first category encompasses those agreements which set numerical ceilings on
permitted classes of weaponry, numbers of military personnel, and the like. Qualitative limits can
relate to performance of classes of weaponry, restrictions on inno-vation or modernization, and
similar measures. Operational arms control might restrict permissible areas of operation of military
forces or the type of maneuvers which may be carried out, and provide for advance notification
concerning military exercises, and similar measures.

2. Counter-Interpretation: Reduce means to diminish in size

Ingram, 88 – law student (Cindi M. Ingram, Plaintiff's Right to Recover from Non-Settling Tortfeasor When Settlement
with Joint Tortfeasor Exceeds the Jury Award, 53 Mo. L. Rev. (1988) Available at:
http://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/mlr/vol53/iss2/8

In answering this question, the Hampton court turned to various principles for guidance. The court looked first to the "plain meaning" of the
Consideration of the
statute.6 " Interpretation of a statute involves ascertaining the legislative intent behind the enactment of the statute.
"plain meaning" of the words used in the statute is a basic principle of statutory construction in determining
legislative intent.6 7 The Hampton court discussed the "plain meaning" of the words "reduce" and "claim" in
reaching its construction of the statute. The court referred to the dictionary definition of "reduce" as meaning "to diminish in size,
amount, extent or number; to make small or to lower, bring down or to change the denomination of a quantity." 68 The
court then judicially defined "claim" as "the amount of damages as determined by an impartial fact finder - the jury."'

3. Reasons to prefer:
a. Their evidence is unpredictable- It’s one author writing a normative paper
about arms control defining how he used words in his paper. Court says absent
clear legislation you should default to plain meaning
Topicality – Reduce [Aff Answers] Page 3 of 5

2AC: T – Reduce (2/2)

b. Restrictions include reductions- quantitative limits includes total or partial
restrictions of weapons exported to a single or group of countries.
Maria Garcia-Alonso and Ron Smith 5 {Maria Garcia-Alonso is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at University of Kent.
Ron Smith is in the Department of Economics at Birkbeck College London. “The Economics of Arms Export Controls.”
https://www.kent.ac.uk/economics/documents/GES%20Background%20Documents/Defence/Smith&Garcia-
Alonso%20Law.pdf}//JM

The arms trade is subject to more extensive controls than trade in most other goods. Almost all
countries regulate arms exports to some extent, if only to ensure that the arms they produce are not
used against them. These unilateral national control systems are the foundation for multilateral
controls, which vary from relatively informal clubs of suppliers, to very formal systems embodied in
treaties and involving extensive monitoring systems like that associated with the nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty (NPT). We can divide export controls into quantitative and qualitative controls
(see Panofsky (1990) for a similar classification). Quantitative export controls include total or partial
restriction of weapons exported to a single country or a group of countries. Qualitative export
controls include controls on the transfer of state of the art technologies that allow exporter countries to
maintain a technological edge over potential adversaries, and controls on the transfer of very sensitive
technologies, e.g. weapons of mass destruction. For instance, when exporting advanced systems, the US
often ‘black-boxes’ the software, not providing the source code, so the buyer cannot find out how the
system works or change it. The UK Ministry of Defence could not use the Chinook HC3 helicopters
because it was unable to verify the software, NAO (2004).

c. Aff Ground- their interp doesn’t allow specific plans-this destroys aff
innovation and creates a stale and neg biased topic with no research incentives

d. PICs- the affirmative will lose every round when the negative can force the
affirmative to defend every and any individual country or weapon.
Topicality – Reduce [Aff Answers] Page 4 of 5

1AR: Reduce C/I Extension

“Curtail”- it can be applied to groups of countries
U.S.C 94 {US Code of Regulations. 1994. “Title 22 - FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE CHAPTER 39 -
ARMS EXPORT CONTROL SUBCHAPTER III - MILITARY EXPORT CONTROLS Sec. 2778 - Control of arms
exports and imports.” https://law.justia.com/codes/us/1994/title22/chap39/subchapiii/sec2778}//JM

“(a) Quarterly Reports.—Beginning on January 15, 1992, and quarterly thereafter through October 15, 1993, the President shall submit to the
relevant congressional committees a report— “(1) describing the progress in implementing the purposes of the multilateral arms transfer and
control regime as described in section 402(b); and “(2) describing efforts by theUnited States and progress made to induce
other countries to curtail significantly the volume of their arms sales to the Middle East and Persian Gulf
region, and if such efforts were not made, the justification for not making such efforts.

Curtail means to diminish- same as restriction

Oxford Dictionaries, 15 (“curtail”, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/curtail)

Definition of curtail in English: verb [WITH OBJECT] 1Reduce in extent or quantity; impose a restriction on: civil
liberties were further curtailed
Topicality – Reduce [Aff Answers] Page 5 of 5

1AR: Reduce C/I Extension

“Reduce” and “Qualitative or Quantitative”- has been applied in official US
document to apply to only Taiwan
James Gregor 86 {Professor of Political Science Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. 1986. “The China
Connection: U.S. Policy and the People's Republic of China.”
https://books.google.com/books?id=ewofUe2iBS8C&pg=PA134&lpg=PA134&dq=%22qualitative+limit%22+arms+sales
&source=bl&ots=7sRPA1UxnW&sig=ACfU3U1EvfUbzFboFKwJ7wNtNtwT9CYAMw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjY
5s_ItMTjAhWbGs0KHXKgDUcQ6AEwAHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false}//JM

As the United States and the People's Republic of China moved closer to mutual diplomatic recognition, Beijing turned up the decibel level of its
objections to U.S. arms sales to the ROC. The Carter administration, under considerable prodding from Congress, had contemplated the sale of a
more advanced aircraft to Taiwan; however, the Reagan administra-tion, under still stronger pressure from Beijing, rejected the request. In an
effort to foreclose a predictable deterioration of U.S.-PRC relations, the Reagan administration issued a joint communiqué with Beijing on Au-
gust 17, 1982. That communiqué reiterated Beijing's position that "the question of Taiwan is China's internal affair." The United States affirmed
that it attached "great importance to its relations with China" and in-sisted that it had "no intention of infringing on Chinese sovereignty and

The United States further maintained that "it

territorial integrity, or interfering in China's internal affairs."

does not seek to carry out a long-term policy of arms sales to Taiwan, that its arms sales to
Taiwan will not exceed, either in qualitative or in quantitative terms , the level of
those supplied in recent years . . . and that it intends to reduce gradually its sales of arms
to Taiwan, leading over a period of time to a final resolution."