On Friday, July 7, three days after America celebrated its independence, the United Nations voted for independence from nuclear weapons. By a vote of 122 for, 1 against, and 1 abstention, the UN General Assembly approved the world’s first global, binding “Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.” Not only does the new treaty ban nuclear weapons testing, use, and proliferation, it bans manufacturing, acquiring, and even possessing nuclear weapons.