Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Assigned Omnibus Gun Bill Advances to the Senate
Second Amendment Day 2017 a resounding SUCCESS!
HF517 Status Report:
By now you’ve probably heard, House File 517 breezed through the House last Tuesday on a 58-39 vote. This means HF517, the biggest pro-Second Amendment bill in state history, is now in the Iowa Senate. Our bill has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee and a three person subcommittee consisting of Senators Dan Dawson, Janet Peterson and Brad Zaun. This is very good news.
As we’ve told you before, Senator Zaun is staunch supporter of the Second Amendment and long time ally of the Iowa Firearms Coalition. Senator Dawson is new to the Iowa Senate (he’s the man who replaced Mike Gronstal) and is a major supporter of gun owner’s rights and has been a big advocate for our bill in the Senate. Both Zaun and Dawson made time to come over to the House and watch the debate on HF517 last Tuesday. Senator Dawson stayed and observed the entire 4+ hour debate. That’s extremely encouraging.
When will they vote? At this point it’s impossible to tell, nothing is on the schedule yet. Though both Zaun and Dawson have assured us this will not get brushed aside. We could see movement on HF517 in the Senate as early as this week, so be ready to take action on short notice.
Who Voted YES
Please take a moment and send a quick thank you to the 58 Republicans and Democrats who voted YES on HF517. Here’s the list of House members Who Voted YES on HF517.
Thank you to all of you who took time to reach out to your representatives. Representative Scott Ourth, a Democrat, recently explained why he broke ranks with many of his fellow Democrats and voted YES on HF517:
“I got hundreds emails and phone calls urging me to vote “yes” and hardly any asking me to resist.”
Because of you and the thousands like you who took the time to send emails and make phone calls Rep. Ourth voted yes on our bill. This proves it yet again, your time and effort are not in vain. Keep up the good work, we’re not done yet!
2A Day a SUCCESS!
Big shout out to all of you who took time to join us in the capitol for Second Amendment Day 2017! We had a great turnout of at least 120 people (note: these are all voting age Iowans -not minors- who are unpaid and took time off work to join us). We booked a large private room in the capitol so that we could have a number of speakers join us, unfortunately the room was too small to hold everyone, we had more than 30 people lined up outside the door trying to get in.
We’re extremely pleased (and proud) to report that everything went smoothly. We had a great crowd. Everyone in attendance did an outstanding job of representing IFC and gun owners everywhere. And we got to see the House vote on a historic pro-gun owner bill.We’re already planning on doing this again next year so please make plans to join us for Second Amendment Day 2018!
Forums
Don’t forget, your legislators hold town hall meetings and forums regularly. Right now they’re getting bombarded by anti-gunners. It’s critical that these lawmakers hear from Iowans like you. We need to make sure we’re balancing out the gun control arguments and making it abundantly clear that a majority of Iowans like you want their right to keep and bear arms protected and enhanced. State legislator forum schedule
While you’ve got your calendar out, Senator Joni Ernst is holding a pair of town meetings in Cedar Rapids and in Des Moines this Friday. If you can, please get to her meeting and speak up about the Second Amendment! Senator Joni Ernst forums
More updates to come, Thanks for supporting the Iowa Firearms Coalition
Week one of the 2017 legislative session is off to a phenomenal start. On day one our friends in the Iowa Senate introduced Senate Joint Resolution 2 (SJR2), a bill to write your right to keep and bear arms into the Iowa Constitution. Our long-time friends in the Iowa House of Representatives are expected to do the same. The new majority leaders in the Iowa Senate have proclaimed they’re ready to ‘kick the door in’ and introducing our Constitutional Amendment bill on day one is a good sign. Even more exciting, SJR2 has 29 co-sponsors!
We expect a subcommittee hearing on SJR2 to take place next week. At this time we don’t expect any issue with this hearing.
SJR2 is without a doubt the most important piece of pro-gun owner legislation that will be introduced this session. Without this bill all other gun laws and gun bills (Stand Your Ground, Shall Issue, and everything we’ve worked for) in Iowa can easily be wiped out by activist judges on the Iowa Supreme Court or a runaway Iowa legislature. Here’s more detail on why SJR2 trumps all other pro-gun owner bills.
More good news, the first week of the session also brought the introduction of Stand Your Ground, and Permit Privacy bills. Don’t be surprised if you see multiple bills covering the same general topic (Stand Your Ground for instance). IFC will be closely monitoring every one of these bills and will be updating you on which versions are best, which are gaining traction and which bills have the best chance at passage.
Reminder: there are several more IFC backed bills that haven’t been introduced yet. We have our 2017 IFC Priorities list posted on the website. The list is long, it is thorough and we’re certain you’ll like what you see.
Join IFC and gun owners from around the state in the Iowa Capitol on Tuesday, March 7th. Meet with IFC leaders, tour the capitol, and most importantly take your support for Second Amendment issues directly to Iowa lawmakers. Nothing is more effective than talking to a legislator face-to-face and there’s no better place to do it than right where they work.
Mark your calendars, make your plans, tell your friends and tell your legislators to make sure they’re squared away on our bills because IFC will be in the capitol on March 7th.
St. Jude Children’s Hospital
When was the last you saw Mom’s Demand Action, or Everytown for Gun Safety do something like this?
IFC is stepping up again this year to raise funds for St. Jude Children’s Hospital. We’re asking for donations, either financial or in the form of firearms, ammunition or other related materials. All material items will lumped together in lots and raffled off. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to St. Jude’s where they treat children with cancer and help find cures for childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.
Last year we raised more than $5,000 for St. Jude’s. This year we’d like to give even more to this great cause. A box of ammo, a firearm, magazines, or just about anything at all will be gladly accepted and appreciated. All we ask is that it’s in good working order if it’s a weapon or firearm. To donate visit www.IowaFC.org/StJude
Finally, your laugh of the day…
…compliments of Everytown for Gun Safety who just proved how little they know about Iowa.
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