Rep. Matt Windschitl today introduced HF-259, The Family Defense Act (FDA), to address critical flaws in Iowa law that discourage or prevent responsible Iowans from having at hand the best tool for defending their families from violent crime – their lawfully carried defensive handgun.
Currently, Iowans who routinely and lawfully carry a handgun on their person or in their vehicle throughout the day, commit a felony if they enter onto school grounds while so armed, even if only for a moment to drop off or pick up their child or spouse.
Many Iowans are also burdened by senseless restrictions not only at their child’s school but in their employer’s parking lot or at the county courthouse. This bill eases those burdens and erases imaginary lines that restrict your Second Amendment rights and inhibit your ability to responsibly defend your family.
This bill addresses the carrying, possession or transportation of weapons at school, work, or publicly owned entertainment venues. Current law makes picking up a child from school while armed with a handgun a class “D” felony, a law passed only in 1995 that provides zero real benefits to Iowans, but which places a significant burden on those who choose to carry for their defense. This bill will allow adults to lawfully carry a concealed pistol or revolver on the driveways, parking lots and sidewalks of a school. It also provides that a school is immune from any claim seeking damages as a result of someone lawfully carrying on the school grounds.
The Family Defense Act also prohibits an employer from restricting an employee from possessing a firearm on the property of the employer if that firearm is out of sight and inside a locked vehicle and otherwise lawful. What does that mean? Your boss can’t impose a company policy that prohibits you from having your firearm safely stored in your vehicle while at work. This legislation includes contract employees and volunteers. Under the bill, employers are protected from liability for damages as a result of an employee bringing a firearm or ammunition onto their property in compliance with this statute.
Remember when Chief Justice Cady took it upon himself to limit your right to carry a firearm anywhere in an Iowa courthouse? This bill makes any court order like that unenforceable in a county courthouse or joint-use space, other than in courtrooms and court offices. These county offices are the people’s buildings, and all rights should be recognized inside of them.
The Family Defense Act would also extend Iowa law’s current protections against local regulation of firearms (known as “preemption to the state”) to all weapons, as well as to firearm modifications and attachments. This expansion will prevent a patchwork of local regulations on knives, suppressors, folding stocks, ammunition magazines, etc. The bill preserves the right of individual Iowans to file a lawsuit and seek damages if they are adversely impacted by such an (invalid) local regulation.
The FDA adds an exemption to the ban on local weapons regulation for publicly owned entertainment venues in specific cases where weapons bans are contractually requiredand the venue provides both actual screening for weapons and the presence of armed security personnel. Merely posting a “No Guns” sign will not be permissible.
Iowa Firearms Coalition has made eliminating the imaginary lines that arbitrarily restrict the liberty of gun owners a priority in 2019. The Family Defense Act is how we’re going to accomplish that.
We’ve cleared all the legislative hurdles. Passed all the subcommittees, committees and floor votes. Now the biggest pro-Second Amendment bill in the history of our state is one signature away from being law.
Following an epic set of closing comments from Rep. Matt Windchitl the Iowa House of Representatives passed House File 517 for the final time, concurring with the Senate and sending HF517 to Governor Terry Branstad. Governor Branstad’s office has indicated he plans to sign the bill into law this week.
Once the bill is signed by the governor two provisions, Permit Privacy and Supervised Youth Handgun Training, will be effective immediately. The rest, Stand Your Ground, SBRs/SBSs, Emergency Powers, and so on, will go into effect on July 1st. Windschitl: “Iowa gun owners are being lied to”
Representative Windschitl’s closing remarks on House File 517 have caused quite a stir throughout the state. Windschitl called out the Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) group for lying to thousands of Iowans. Windschitl noted that despite their claims of being the driving force behind HF517, Iowa Gun Owners and their leaders never once spoke up about HF517, Stand Your Ground or any other provision of HF517 during the multiple subcommittees and public comment periods. IGO never registered as an organization in favor of the gun bill (here’s the list of everyone who actually declared for or against HF517) and most shockingly IGO isn’t even registered as a lobbying organization in the State of Iowa. We’ve uploaded Rep. Windschitl’s comments to our YouTube page.Windschitl’s epic closing comments caused enough stir that KCRG‘s Forrest Saunders did some digging and found even more concerning information on the Iowa Gun Owners organization.Tax documents from 2014 show Iowa Gun Owners made more than $293,000– mostly from grants and contributions. All but about $13,000 was spent. The majority of the money went to list email fees, direct mail fees and postage.
There was no compensation listed for any employees, including Director Dorr, despite claiming he works 70 hours per week.
KCRG-TV9 asked Dorr about the amount of time he works for the group without payment. He called the question “hostile” and declined to answer, except through email.Word is getting out about who’s actually fighting for your rights in Des Moines and who’s continually blowing hot air. Please keep spreading the word about the Iowa Firearms Coalition!Suppressor Giveaway
To show how thankful we are for your continued support we’ve partnered with SilencerCo and Controlled Chaos Arms to give away a FREE SilencerCo Omega suppressor.
If you’re an active IFC member you’re automatically entered to win. It doesn’t matter if you’re a life member, annual member, long-time member or brand new member. You don’t need to do anything, as long as you’re an active IFC member you’re automatically entered to win.
If you’re not an IFC member, now would be a very good time to join. We’ll announce the winner Saturday, April 29th, so if you’re not a member yet you’ve still got a chance to join up and win.
Annual IFC Memberships are $35 a year. We also have IFC Life Memberships available and for a short time we’re running special on life memberships. Our normal $600 life membership rate has been temporarily reduced to $400 if you sign up online and use the Coupon Code:LIFE.
More updates to come
Thank you for supporting the Iowa Firearms Coalition!
Despite their best efforts our allies in the Iowa Senate were unable to bring HF517, the Omnibus Gun Bill, to the Senate floor for debate and a vote this week. The reason? Today (Friday) is the second funnel of the 2017 legislative session. Our bill cleared this procedural hurdle two weeks ago, but several other non-Second Amendment issues needed to get passed out of committee by today in order to remain viable. Also, according to Senator Brad Zaun, some key Senators who want to enthusiastically vote YES on HF517 had planned absences this week and wouldn’t be present if the bill was brought to the floor this week. So considering the full funnel week schedule and the schedules of their caucus, the decision was made to push the vote on HF517 back to Tuesday, April 4th. Senator Zaun assured us publicly at and a NRA/IFC Grassroots Action meeting that the bill will be run this coming Tuesday. You can watch video of Senator Zaun giving a crowd of more than 200 gun owners his word right HERE, his comments start at approximately 14 minutes.
While the delay is frustrating, everything is still on track and we are still extremely optimistic we’ll be passing the biggest pro-Second Amendment bill in Iowa history. In fact we got some good news from Representative Matt Windschitl during Wednesday night’s NRA/IFC Grassroots Action meeting. Rep. Windschitl has been talking with the governor about our bill and the governor intends to sign HF517 into law when the bill is brought to him. You can see Rep. Windschitl’s comments on the video linked to above at the 35 minute mark.
With these assurances we need you to help us make sure this all comes to fruition and the best way to do that is to get out and speak up about HF517 at this weekend’s legislative forums and coffee breaks. Here’s the list of each event taking place across the state this weekend. Please urge your Senator to pass HF517 and get this bill to Governor Branstad.
We’re close folks, please help us push this through to the finish line!
More updates to come
Thank you for supporting the Iowa Firearms Coalition!
The March 7th House vote on HF517, the Omnibus Gun-Owner Bill, saw the bill passed 58-39. Two Republicans, Reps. Heaton & Bergan, voted against the bill, and two Democrats, Reps. Ourth and Bearinger, voted for HF517.
The left leaning Iowa politics blog Bleeding Heartland recently posted the following statements from Representative Scott Ourth about why he broke from the rest of the Democrats and voted in favor of HF517 (we’ve placed the critical statement in bold). These statements are extremely telling and we commend these Representatives on listening to their constituents
The bill, in its original form, was absolutely horrible, and I was a definite “no” vote. What worried me was that the bill was going to pass in a form that would have been very dangerous, especially to children, college campuses, etc. Knowing that Rep. Windschitl was eager to show at least some bipartisanship on the bill, I sat down with him in an attempt to pull back on some of the extreme measures and add safety measures back in. In the end, I was able to get parental supervision redefined to mean close physical proximity conducive to hands-on instruction. Also, we got background checks at private gun sales put back in, along with a ban on firearms on college campuses and permits to obtain and to carry. In the end, I supported the bill for two reasons: I was invested in making the bill infinitely better (something way worse would have passed were it not for my collaborative efforts). Also, once the bill was modified I voted yes because it was representative of the wishes of the vast majority of the folks in my district. I got hundreds emails and phone calls urging me to vote “yes” and hardly any asking me to resist. So, in the end, I voted my district after crafting a bill that was far and away safer and more reasonable than what would have passed with out my offer of bipartisanship.
NOTE: Rep. Ourth’s comment referring to background checks at private gun sales is in reference to Iowa’s Permit to Acquire system. An initial version of HF517 did away with the Permit to Acquire system all together. The House ultimately decided to keep the Permit to Acquire but lengthen it from one to five years. This Permit to Acquire extension is the only change to private gun sales in HF517.
Bleeding Heartland also posted a statement from Representative (D) Bruce Bearinger about why he chose to vote yes on the bill:
I worked with representative Ourth on the amendment to insure that parents had to be in proximity to the child to provide safety training to their child. In addition, they removed parts of the bill relating to college campuses, open carry, and permitting. I had some concerns with the final bill, but overall, it was consistent with the correspondence I had with many of my constituents. I rely on our democratic caucus analysis of legislation and have always found it to be valuable, but ultimately I rely on my own values and the extensive work I do to stay in tune with the desires and beliefs of my constituents in my rural district.
Time for Thanks
Below is the list of who voted in favor of HF517 when it passed out of the Iowa House of Representatives on March 7th. These 58 Representatives deserve your thanks for voting to protect and enhance the Second Amendment rights of all Iowans.
It’s important that you take a moment to thank these legislators. Our side does an outstanding job of letting them know what we want (“pass this bill” -OR- “vote YES on HF517”), but it’s just as important that they are applauded for listening to us. We’ve posted the email addresses of everyone who voted YES on the bill at the bottom of this page. Please take a minute or two and send them a quick note of thanks.
HF517 is now in the Senate Judiciary Committee. It’s been assigned to a subcommittee consisting of Senators Dan Dawson, Janet Peterson and Brad Zaun. As always the Iowa Firearms Coalition will be keeping you up-to-date whenever there’s activity related to pro-gun owner legislation.
Defenders of HF517
During the course of the House debate over HF517 several Representatives gave speeches in support of the bill. It’s important to note that this is not required, all a Representative has to do is vote yes or no, but the following Representatives went out of their way to try to convince their colleagues to vote Yes on HF517. They deserve to be recognized for their willingness to take a stand for pro-gun owner legislation.
Rep. Shannon Lundgren of Dubuque County – shannon.lundgren@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Jake Highfill of Polk County – jake.highfill@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Skyler Wheeler of Sioux County – skyler.wheeler@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Steven Holt of Crawford County – steven.holt@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Terry Baxter of Hancock County – terry.baxter@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Matt Windschitl of Harrison County – matt.windschitl@legis.iowa.gov
Rep. Windschitl deserves extra thanks for not only floor managing HF517, he stood for the entire 4+ hour House debate, addressing bogus claims and correcting misleading statements being made by anti-gun owner Representatives.
Also of note, Senators Brad Zaun and Dan Dawson were in and out all afternoon observing the House debate on HF517. Senator Dawson is floor managing the bill over in the Senate. He stayed and watched the entire four-hour debate in the House in preparation for discussion and debate in the Senate. This is very encouraging!
Who Voted Yes on HF517
Send a thank you note to these Iowa Representatives!
HSB133 Passes Committee Vote 13-7 Next Stop: Full House of Representatives
After a four-hour delay HSB133 survives the first funnel of 2017. The bill passed out of committee with an amendment. After concerns about civil immunity related to Stand Your Ground were raised Representative Matt Windchitl clarified that under this bill anyone who’s been deemed to have acted in a reasonable manner in a self-defense situation would be immune from a civil lawsuit under section 707.6 of the Iowa legal code.
We’ll be sharing the exact text of the amendment passed this by the House Judiciary Committee as soon as it’s made available. You can see video of the House Judiciary Committee’s debate and vote on our IFC Facebook page.
HSB133 is now eligible for debate and a vote before the full House of Representatives.
Voting AGAINST HSB133 (7):
Mary Wolfe
Liz Bennett
Vicki Lensing
Brian Meyer
Jo Oldson
Ras Smith
Beth Wessel Kroeschell
Voting FOR HSB133 (13): Chip Baltimore
Jim Carlin
Stan Gustafson
Greg Heartsill
Lee Hein
Ashley Hinson
Megan Jones
Kevin Koester
Andy McKean
Zach Nunn
Ross Paustian
Ken Rizer
Matt Windschitl
DON’T FORGET!
HSB133 is now eligible for debate and a vote before the full House of Representatives. There’s a distinct chance this bill could be brought to the floor of the House and voted on next Tuesday (3/7).
Join us for a brief program starting at 10AM in the state capitol, room 102. We’ll introduce you to some key legislators who are leading the fight to protect and enhance the Second Amendment here in Iowa. We’ll also be talking about HSB133 and other important pro-Second Amendment legislation and how you can help advance our cause. Plus, there’s a chance we might get to see HSB133 get voted on in the House of Representatives.
Make plans to spend the day in the capitol next Tuesday fighting to protect your right to keep and bear arms!
More updates to come
Thank you for supporting the Iowa Firearms Coalition
HSB133 ADVANCES 2-1 Next step: House Judiciary Committee
House Study Bill 133 just advanced through its subcommittee hearing without amendment on a 2-1 vote with Representatives Matt Windschitl and Greg Heartsill voting Yea and Representative Mary Wolfe voting Nay.
House Judiciary Subcommittee members for HSB133 Representatives Matt Windschitl, Greg Heartsill and Mary Wolfe
HSB133 now heads to the House Judiciary Committee. The bill will have to pass out of the House Judiciary by March 3rd in order to avoid being killed by the first legislative funnel of the year. We’ve listed the email addresses of members of the House Judiciary Committee below. Please contact them and respectfully encourage them to advance HSB133 to a vote in the full House of Representatives.
For those of you wondering how this process works we’ve created step-by-step guide explaining How a Bill Becomes a Law in Iowa. HSB113 has just completed step eight.
Finally, don’t forget, we’ve got Second Amendment Day in the capitol coming up on March 7th. If all goes well HSB133 will be eligible for a vote in the House at that point and you can tell your elected officials face-to-face you want to see this bill signed into law.
The Iowa House of Representatives has just introduced a major pro-gun owner bill. House Study Bill 133 (HSB133) is a comprehensive gun bill that effectively re-writes a large portion of Iowa’s firearms and use of force laws. HSB133 is a major bill (more than 41 pages long) that benefits Iowa gun owners in numerous ways. We’ve listed a general overview below.
Full text of House Study Bill 133. HSB133 covers numerous Second Amendment issues and greatly benefits gun owners in Iowa.
This bill revises nearly every portion of Iowa’s weapons law, as well as other sections of the Code dealing with criminal penalties, the justifiable use of force and even regulation of vehicles. Such an extensive effort involves legitimately complex legal considerations. This Study Bill allows time for some final fine-tuning while still meeting legislative deadlines.
HSB133 has been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee and a subcommittee consisting of Representatives Matt Windschitl, Greg Heartsill and Mary Wolfe. We expect them to hold a subcommittee meeting this week, most likely Wednesday or Thursday. As always we’ll be updating you on any upcoming action.
What’s in HSB133?
Legalizes SBRs and SBSs
These items would be treated like suppressors currently are (must meet federal NFA requirements)
Fixes current “Armed with Intent” language
Just because you’re armed doesn’t mean you have any intentions of harming anyone
Under current law if you charged with a crime while carrying prosecutors can add an additional “Going Armed with Intent” charge even if your alleged crime has nothing to do with the you being armed
Lifetime Permits
Uniform permits statewide (eliminating county by county permit variations)
Removes the current Permit to Acquire requirement
Brings Iowa in line with federal gun purchasing laws
No permit required, you just need to pass a NICS check
Repeals the current ban on supervised youth handgun shooting
Kids can shoot and learn proper gun safety under the supervision of a parent, or instructor
Permit Privacy
Prohibits the public release of any personal information of anyone who holds a Permit to Carry
Preemption Cleanup (724.28 re-write)
Prohibits any political subdivision (city, county, municipality, regents institution, etc) from creating gun free zones that violate state preemption law
Establishes “loser pays” so that if someone sues over the creation of a gun free zone the loser of that lawsuit must pay the winner’s court costs
Permit-less Carry
Removes the burden of obtaining a Permit to Carry in order for a citizen to exercise their right to keep and bear arms in Iowa.
Establishes Emergency Powers restrictions
Prohibits the confiscation firearms during a declared state of emergency (i.e. Hurricane Katrina gun confiscations)
Legalizes Stand Your Ground
Removes the “duty to retreat” from law-abiding citizens who find themselves in a self-defense situation
Establishes that as long as you have a reasonable basis for the belief that you are in danger you may defend yourself or those around
Increases penalties for Straw Purchasers
Anyone caught straw purchasing would be charged with a Class D felony
ATV Carry cleanup
Removes the requirement of a so-called “retention holster” while operating an ATV or snowmobile
Standing up and talking about pro-Second Amendment legislation is the very best way to help advance our cause. Here’s the times and locations of this weekend’s legislative forums. Get out and make sure your elected officials hear from someone pro-gun!
Not sure who your legislator is? Use our Legislative Action Center to find out who’s representing your interests in Des Moines.
Date
Title
Last Name
First Name
Party
Time
City
Location
Address
1-28-2017
Senator
Chapman
Jake
R
10:30 AM
Urbandale
Urbandale Chamber Office
2830 100th St
1-28-2017
Representative
Highfill
Jake
R
10:30 AM
Urbandale
Urbandale Chamber Office
2830 100th St
1-28-2017
Representative
Watts
Ralph
R
10:30 AM
Urbandale
Urbandale Chamber Office
2830 100th St
1-28
Senator
Zaun
Brad
R
10:30 AM
Urbandale
Urbandale Chamber Office
2830 100th St
1-28-2017
Senator
Rozenboom
Ken
R
8:30 AM
Oskaloosa
Smokey Row
109 S. Market Street
1-28-2017
Representative
Vander Linden
Guy
R
8:30 AM
Oskaloosa
Smokey Row
109 S. Market Street
1-28-2017
Representative
Kacena
Tim
D
10:00 AM
Sioux City
Sioux City Public Library
529 Pierce St
1-28-2017
Senator
Bolkcom
Joe
D
9:30 AM
Iowa City
Iowa City, City Council Chambers
Harvat Hall, 410 E.
1-28-2017
Senator
Dvorsky
Bob
D
9:30 AM
Iowa City
Iowa City, City Council Chambers
Harvat Hall, 410 E.
1-28-2017
Senator
Kinney
Kevin
D
9:30 AM
Iowa City
Iowa City, City Council Chambers
Harvat Hall, 410 E.
1-28-2017
Representative
Hall
Chris
D
10:00 AM
Sioux City
Sioux City Public Library
529 Pierce St
1-28-2017
Representative
Jacoby
Dave
D
9:00 AM
Iowa City
Iowa City Hall
410 E Washington St
1-28-2017
Representative
Lensing
Viki
D
9:00 AM
Iowa City
Iowa City Hall
410 E Washington St
1-28-2017
Representative
Mascher
Mary
D
9:00 AM
Iowa City
Iowa City Hall
410 E Washington St
1-28-2017
Representative
Nielsen
Amy
D
9:00 AM
Iowa City
Iowa City Hall
410 E Washington St
1-28-2017
Senator
Garrett
Julian
R
9:00 AM
Winterset
Farmers & Merchants State Bank
101 West Jefferson Street
1-28-2017
Senator
Bowman
Tod
D
11:00 AM
Dubuque
Dubuque Farm Bureau
2333 John F Kennedy Rd
1-28-2017
Representative
McConkey
Charlie
D
9:00 AM
Council Bluffs
Wilson Middle School Auditorium
715 North 21st Street
1-28-2017
Representative
Jacoby
Dave
D
8:00 AM
Iowa City
Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce
325 E Washington St # 100
1-28-2017
Representative
Lensing
Viki
D
8:00 AM
Iowa City
Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce
325 E Washington St # 100
1-28-2017
Representative
Mascher
Mary
D
8:00 AM
Iowa City
Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce
325 E Washington St # 100
1-28-2017
Representative
Nielsen
Amy
D
8:00 AM
Iowa City
Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce
325 E Washington St # 100
1-28-2017
Senator
Anderson
Bill
R
10:00 AM
Sioux City
Sioux City Public Museum
607 4th Street
1-28-2017
Representtive
Bearinger
Bruce
D
9:00 AM
Jessup
Jessup Public Library
721 6th St
1-28-2017
Representative
Bearinger
Bruce
D
11:00 AM
Independence
Independence Public Library
805 1st St E
1-28-2017
Senator
Bertrand
Rick
R
10:00 AM
Sioux City
Sioux City Public Museum
607 4th Street
1-28-2017
Representative
Breckenridge
Wes
D
10:00 AM
Colfax
Colfax Public Library
25 W Division St
1-28-2017
Representative
Carlin
Jim
R
10:00 AM
Sioux City
Sioux City Public Museum
607 4th Street
1-28-2017
Senator
Chelgren
Mark
R
9:00 AM
Keosauqua
First Street Grille
719 1st Street
1-28-2017
Senator
Chelgren
Mark
R
12:00 PM
Bloomfield
Ranco Centinela
102 S. Madison St
1-28-2017
Senator
Dawson
Dan
R
9:00 AM
Council Bluffs
Woodrow Wilson Junior High
715 North 21st Street
1-28-2017
Senator
Garrett
Julian
R
9:00 AM
Winterset
Farmers & Merchants State Bank
101 W Jefferson St
1-28-2017
Representative
Gustafson
Stan
R
9:00 AM
Winterset
Farmers & Merchants State Bank
101 W. Jefferson St
1-28-2017
Representative
Hall
Chris
D
8:30 AM
Sioux City
Sioux City Community School District Educational Service Center
627 4th St.
1-28-2017
Representative
Hanson
Curt
D
9:00 AM
Keosauqua
First Street Grille
719 1st St
1-28-2017
Representative
Hanson
Curt
D
12:00 PM
Bloomfield
Rancho Centinela
102 S Madison St
1-28-2017
Representative
Hanson
Curt
D
9:00 AM
Keosauqua
First Street Grille
719 1st Street
1-28-2017
Representative
Heaton
David
R
8:30 AM
Mount Pleasant
Iowa Wesleyan University
107 W. Broad Street
1-28-2017
Representative
Holt
Steven
R
10:00 AM
Logan
Logan Community Center
108 W 4th St
1-28-2017
Representative
Holz
Chuck
R
10:00 AM
Sioux City
Sioux City Public Museum
607 4th Street
1-28-2017
Senator
Jerry
Behn
R
8:30 AM
Fort Dodge
Iowa Central Community College – Triton Cafe
1 Triton Circle
1-28-2017
Senator
Johnson
Craig
R
9:00 AM
Sumner
First Street Grille
719 1st St
1-28-2017
Senator
Johnson
Craig
R
11:00 AM
Readlyn
City Library
309 Main St
1-28-2017
Representative
Kacena
Tim
D
8:30 AM
Sioux City
Sioux City Community School District Educational Service Center
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