Iowa Democratic Party Approves 2018 Platform

Fred Hubbell just officially took the reins of the Iowa Democratic Party, and we just got a first look at their official gun-control agenda for the 2018 Election. The Iowa Democratic Party leaders met in Des Moines this past weekend for their conventions to officially nominate their candidates and to finalize their party platform. We’ve been asking specific ‘Gun Sense’ candidates to clarify their gun positions in recent weeks to let voters know precisely what it is that they intend to do if they take control in Des Moines. The response? Crickets.

Fred Hubbell’s official platform did, however, offer us some insight as to their aggressive gun control agenda with the 2018 Iowa Democratic Committee State Platform.
The platform opens with a promising and surprising line that suggests a good defense of individual liberty is going to follow.

“We strive to secure, defend, and preserve basic constitutional and civil rights.”

Unfortunately for Iowans, this was just an attempt at comedic irony as they followed it up with the following list of “Gun Safety Principles.”

We didn’t expect anything this extreme. Updating the Second Amendment to say what exactly? They officially want to go backward on carry permits, suppressors, and the failed Assault Weapons Ban of 1994. What does this look like for you?

After you give up your rifles, your magazines, your suppressors, your carry permit, and your dignity… then you may purchase a gun that is approved by Fred Hubbell AFTER you complete the requisite amount of proficiency and safety training, provide proof of firearm insurance, pay for a super thorough new background check system, and wait for the required amount of time that Fred Hubbell deems necessary. If you wish to carry that gun, you can plead your case with your county Sheriff to demonstrate just cause so that you may actually exercise your Second Amendment rights and then should you be selected to do so (So Sorry Johnson, Polk, Scott, Linn, Black-Hawk, and a few other counties!) it is at that time you may carry your Fred Hubbell approved gun in Fred Hubbell approved places. But be careful! Take that gun into an unauthorized area or fail to report that missing gun as stolen and you will now be a criminal without the right to access a firearm and will have no rights under the redefined and newly improved Second Amendment.

Does this sound like the Iowa you want to live in? Sounds like California to us…

Do we think all Democrats believe this? Absolutely not. To be clear, Four Iowa Senate Democrats have been reliable pro-gun votes:

  • Sen. Chaz Allen
  • Sen. Rich Taylor
  • Sen. Tod Bowman
  • Sen. Wally Horn

These men prove that supporting our fundamental rights doesn’t have to be a partisan issue. We know that a majority of the people in the state don’t believe this nonsense. We would even wager that the majority of the people who identify as Democrats in Iowa wouldn’t support most of this mess. So why are the leaders in the Iowa Democratic Party putting this stuff in their platform? We suggest asking the leadership why it is that they have taken such an extreme position and made it the official position of their political party.


Parkland Students Bring ‘March For Our Lives’ to Iowa

Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., will be in Cedar Rapids and Linn-Mar High School in Marion on Thursday for two March for Our Lives events. They also just announced an event in Sioux City to rally against Rep. Steve King.  These new gun control celebrities have been financed by Hollywood stars like George Clooney, Oprah Winfrey, Stephen Spielberg, and significant businesses like Lyft and Salesforce.com to take their gun control message across the country to swing districts to push an extreme agenda against people like us.

Here is what the ‘March For Our Lives’ organization is advocating:

  • Semi-Automatic Rifle Ban
  • Private Transfer Ban
  • Federally funded gun violence research
  • High Capacity Magazine Ban
  • Safe storage requirements
  • Criminalize untimely reporting of firearm theft
  • Increased funding and size of the ATF

Why Marion? 
Gun-control lobbyists put extra focus on this area in the last election when they sent out flyers bashing former Rep. Ken Rizer to try and turn the election for Molly Donahue. Northern Linn County has three swing House districts that were targeted in 2016 and are again a target for every interested organization in 2018. Rep. Zumbach, Rep. Hinson, and Randy Ray are all Pro-Second Amendment candidates in that area who will need our help winning in 2018. This particular area is getting a lot of focus, and this ‘Town-Hall’ is an effort to sign people up to vote against them. Also, Linn-Mar has a student who wants to follow in the footprints of David Hogg and will be using the school to host his second gun-control event of the year. This is the same student who was called out by Iowa Congressman Rod Blum in a tweet a month ago.

Why Sioux City?
Rep. Steve King and the Parkland teens have sparred on social media after Rep. King criticized the Cuban jacket worn by Emma Gonzalez. The gun-control teenagers have promised to vote King out of office and are making this appearance to rally votes against him. King is being challenged by a ‘Gun-Sense’ candidate named J.D. Scholten in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District.

Many people in our organization have messaged IFC to inform us that they will attend the ‘Town-Hall.’ You can RSVP on the March For Our Lives website. We suggest selecting the box on the RSVP form that will not get you email updates from them in the future. There is no harm in filling out an RSVP to this event, even if you are uncertain if you will be able to attend. The Town-Hall is going to be held on Thursday, June 21st at 7 PM in the Linn-Mar High School Gym. As a reminder, it is a public school and security will be present with metal detectors.


 

DNR Update

Thank you to all of you who participated in our advocacy campaign to the Iowa DNR and those who showed up at the meetings to push for changes that benefit all Iowans in the state hunting regulations. This process is not yet over, in fact, we are still working on this daily by interacting with legislators and officials at the DNR and NRC to tweak the rules to the best possible result for hunters in Iowa. We are still hammering out the final details on some aspects of the rules and expect the changes to be finalized by mid-July. We will keep you posted when the final product has been reached.