This is an op-ed submission by Craig Swartz, in support for the Freedom Amendment to the Des Moines Register.  Here you go:

The Register’s own polling suggests that 58% of Iowans support Public Measure 1, which affirms and guarantees that Iowans may own firearms for their own use and purposes. Despite this, The Register and other non-public influence peddlers have decided to line up against it. An October 30 Register front page editorial contained primarily hyperbole and “what if” scenarios attempting to sway public opinion against the amendment.

Conveniently left out was the single most important fact, and possibly the one very reason all Iowans should support this amendment: Public Measure 1 does not change the fact that those people who are now prohibited from owning firearms will somehow be able to legally acquire them after ratification.

Prospective buyers will still be required to undergo a NICS background check, and any convicted felon or domestic abuser, among others, will still be denied legal purchase. The primary issue of this amendment should not be “strict scrutiny” by which it should be measured, but the legal obtaining of a firearm.

Firearms, drugs, vehicles, and just about any other type of property or services are readily available through illegal, and seemingly non difficult means. Most violent crime nationwide is the result of known career criminals obtaining weapons illegally, and then breaking additional laws using them to intimidate, rob, maim or kill others.

Iowans do not ordinarily commit crimes and laws regulating citizens from obtaining anything will only affect those who do not break them. Legalese on paper has little effect on an intentional lawbreaker; only swift and sure action by those in authority can keep repeat offenders from continuing to prey on the residents once they have been caught, tried and convicted. The trend today in states within easy driving distance from central Iowa, however, has been to release violent criminals back into the general public, often without even having to post bond. It has also become fashionable in large metropolitan areas to simply release violent prison inmates without serving sentences, or to allow rioters, not protesters, to take over entire sections of cities, completely abandoning the citizens who elected officials have been sworn to protect.

Public Measure 1 merely affirms the US Second Amendment process into the Iowa Constitution and insists that what it says on paper is how it shall be enforced. This is how all law should be judged and as such, should be overwhelmingly supported and passed on November 8.

Craig L. Swartz
National Rifle Association Board of Directors
Iowa Sportsmen’s Federation Executive Director
Iowa State Rifle and Pistol Association Board of Directors
Adel Iowa 50003