248 years ago our Declaration of Independence was signed. Will America make it to 250 years? I believe so, but like those men and women who threw off King George, every American needs to stand ready to defend our great nation.
Never forget it was armed civilians who defeated the most powerful army in the world at the time, demanding freedom. These were men who understood the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, had studied world history, and understood that all men were born to be free — not oppressed by a dictator in a far-away land. Today that dictator is our own over-reaching Federal Government and the executive branch of our government. They have spent the last 100 years consolidating power in Washington D.C.
Fortunately we have started to turn that ship around. But it won’t be easy! This July 4th, when you’re watching the fireworks, remember what they really stand for.
To help get you in the spirit of independence, watch this short four-minute history channel video. Refresh your memory about what is at stake.
Please stay Ready at All Times, and help us defend all of Iowa’s rights by joining or renewing your IFC membership here today.
Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.
Thank you Brownells, indeed! Second Amendment supporters should be thankful that Brownells is such a champion of 2A issues. We had the opportunity to again experience this first-hand last Saturday, when a team from IFC attended GunCon at Brownells. This is the third year Brownells has hosted media influencers from around the country to hold live-streamed panel discussions on various 2A topics, showcase a variety of quality guns and gear available on site from many different vendors, and provide a forum for both national gun rights organizations and Iowa’s own Iowa Firearms Coalition, to meet with people.
[Photos and comments about GunCon were contributed by all IFC team members.]
The Panelists & Sessions
Typical of Brownells and The Gun Collective, the event was a huge success and very well attended. Doors opened at 10 a.m. Our team arrived at 8 a.m. to set up, and there were already lines of people waiting outside the entry doors. Audience members were able to ask questions of the panelists, and those tuned into the live stream could also submit questions to be answered. Check out this link, and scroll down to see a list of featured panelists and the vendors at GunCon. Our own IFC volunteer Lobbyist, Richard Rogers (pictured in the red shirt, above) participated in panel discussions. Richard has a vast knowledge of the history of 2A legislative and case law developments, both nationally and in Iowa, and we were proud to have him represent IFC.
IFC TRUSTED PARTNERS
In addition to Brownells, two other IFC Trusted Partners were at the event also. Trusted Partners add value for our members by offering discounted prices on goods or services, when purchasing them with a discount code through IFC’s website. In fact, you can more than pay for your annual membership fee by purchasing discounted goods through our Trusted Partners — buying quality goods that you would have purchased anyway. Vice President and volunteer, Billy Wilson, made sure to thank our partners, on behalf of our members.
Old Friends
But it was not all serious discussion! Stephen Willeford, representing Gun Owners of America (GOA), had some fun with their photo board and props. GOA was in the booth next to ours. Other 2A rights organizations represented were FRAC and the Second Amendment Foundation. Stephen (pictured on the right in this photo) is best known as “The Barefoot Defender” in the Sutherland Springs church shooting in Texas a few years ago. IFC invited Mr. Willeford to speak to our members at the 2A Lobby Day a couple of years ago, and again at the IFC-PAC Supper that evening. The events of that day had a profound effect on Mr. Willeford and his impactful story is raw still.
Speaking of 2A Lobby Day–our Lobby Day event in 2025 will be held on February 18th, from 1:00-4:00 p.m. at the Iowa Capitol, as always. The keynote speaker is Iowa native, Jeff Struecker, known from Black Hawk Down. You won’t want to miss this event. We’ll let you know when tickets go on sale.
Takeaways
Talking with the IFC team after the event, the things that most impressed us were:
There were people from everywhere! We talked with folks from Denver, from Florida, from Nebraska, Missouri, and certainly from Illinois! (Kansas State Rifle Association had their big annual meeting on the same day as GunCon this year, so we didn’t run into many from Kansas this year.) Eric Hansen, our Events Coordinator, said that the folks from Illinois all told him the same thing: they are looking at options for moving across the river. Illinois gun laws are driving them to greener pastures – like Iowa!
People were willing to drive six to ten hours to attend the event. It is important to them and the event offers something for everyone. The benefit of learning from the various panelists firsthand was a big draw for attendees.
There were all kinds of people at the event. People of all ages and backgrounds; people with varying degrees of firearms experience and different interests. Although still a predominantly male crowd, there were many women in attendance and they were not just companions along for the ride! The involvement of women with guns was a frequent topic mentioned by the panelists.
The folks who stopped by our booth — and there were MANY! — were very appreciative of the work done by IFC since its inception. The degree of interaction with them, the length of discussions, and the concerns they have about protecting gun rights, were impressive.
What Next?
All in all, it was a great day! Getting to interact with hundreds of people from all walks of life, with common concerns and interests, was rejuvenating! As you can see, we are growing our presence and outreach, and we could really use your talent. We are an All-Volunteer organization. Volunteer and discover all the fun you are missing! The folks at IFC are great to work with and very helpful.
Also, if you are not yet a member of IFC, or if your shooting friends are not members, what are you waiting for? One of the appalling statistics I heard from the 2A Rights panel was that over 126,000 Iowa gun owners are NOT registered to vote! And, looking at gun owners nationally, over 9 million gun owners are not registered to vote. That does not bode well in terms of protecting our interests.
Our Second Amendment rights are under serious attack. For heaven’s sake: JOIN IFC & VOTE!
Yes, we’ll celebrate 2A Day this year with Iowa native, Jeff Struecker, known from Black Hawk Down. Jeff is our keynote speaker at the Capitol building and also our speaker at the IFC-PAC Supper that same night.
Jeff Struecker was a decorated soldier. At age 18, he enlisted in the United States Army as an Infantryman and retired as a chaplain with over 22 years of active federal service. In 2017, he was inducted into the US Army Ranger Hall of Fame.
He served for ten years in the 75th Ranger Regiment in positions from Private to Platoon Sergeant. While serving in this unit, Jeff competed in and won the David L. Grange Best Ranger Competition in 1996. He taught ROTC at the University of Louisville and was recognized in 1998 as the US Army ROTC, Noncommissioned Officer of the Year. Jeff spent his final ten years in the US Army serving as a chaplain in Airborne and Ranger units.
Throughout his career, Jeff has attended numerous professional military schools and has received many awards and commendations. Some of his awards include the Ranger Tab, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Pathfinder Badge, Master Parachutists Wings, Military Freefall Master Parachutist Wings, several foreign jump wings, and the Combat Action Badge. He has been awarded other commendations and decorations throughout his military career.
His combat experience includes participation in the invasion of Panama, Operation Desert Storm, Black Hawk Down in Somalia, and more than a dozen combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. Jeff has been awarded medals for valor in combat and has received many medals as recognition for his service in the US Army.
Jeff holds a Ph.D. from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. He also has several other earned and honorary degrees. He is the lead pastor of 2 Cities Church in Columbus, Georgia.
He is an award-winning author with five books in print. He and his wife, Dawn, have five children and four grandchildren.
Mike Mihalski of Sons of Liberty Gun Works? Who is he and why is he so likable? Refresh yourselves with the spirited conversation between Michael Ware of IFC and Mike Mihalski of Sons of Liberty Gun Works. GET OUT AND VOTE, by the way. TAKE OTHERS WITH YOU, by the way. Mike builds a really great AR15 and is wired right to boot! Tune in!
FBI: don’t believe your lying eyes! Well, it would figure that the once-revered Federal Bureau of Investigation as the ‘best of the best’ in America has now totally succumbed to the Obama-Biden politicization of Federal Law Enforcement and our DOJ. The FBI is cooking the books when it comes to crime data in the United States, and it was another federal agency that ratted them out!
The FBI issues its Uniform Crime reports, butit fails to highlight that major cities like New York,Los Angeles, and others, don’t even report their crime data to the FBI. Also, many other cities including Baltimore and Chicago underreport theirs. Meanwhile, in its annual National Crime Victimization Survey, the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows crime skyrocketing!
Noted economist and author Dr. John Lott just published an article about this very subject, it’s worth a full read. I’ll highlight just a few paragraphs here:
“I have pointed out before that since 2020, the FBI’s number of reported crimes and the NCVS’s number of total crimes have gone in opposite directions. For example, between 2021 and 2022, the FBI showed a 2.1% drop in violent crime, but the NCVS showed an increase of 29.3%.
But there is a more fundamental problem. The FBI and NCVS’s estimates of reported crimes have also gone in opposite directions since 2020. From 2008 to 2019, the FBI and NCVS measures of reported violent crimes generally tended to move up and down together. But from 2020 to 2022, these two numbers were almost perfectly negatively related to each other. Each time one measure of reported violent crimes rose, the other measure fell.
For example, while the FBI’s number of reported violent crimes fell by 2% in 2021 and 2.1% in 2022, the NCVS’s measure showed increases of 13.6% and 29.3%, respectively.”
Dr. Lott sums it up here:
“The news media relies on reported crime numbers without considering unreported crime. However, the gap between the two measures of reported crimes provides strong doubts about the accuracy of the FBI’s reported crime data. Americans believe that crime is increasing as law enforcement is collapsing. They also say that they are reporting more crimes to the police, but that isn’t showing up in the FBI reports.”
How can we have good public policy without good data, while many cities and the FBI are clearly cooking the books? The answer is we cannot. It’s another reason why the Framers never wanted the government to have a monopoly on power and why they enshrined our God-given right to keep and bear arms into our Constitution.
Please stay Ready at All Times, and help us defend all of Iowa’s rights by joining or renewing your IFC membership here today.
Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.
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showcase a variety of quality guns and gear available on site from many different vendors, and provide a forum for both national gun rights organizations and Iowa’s own Iowa Firearms Coalition, to meet with people.
Vice President and volunteer, Billy Wilson, made sure to thank our partners, on behalf of our members.
But it was not all serious discussion! Stephen Willeford, representing Gun Owners of America (GOA), had some fun with their photo board and props. GOA was in the booth next to ours. Other 2A rights organizations represented were FRAC and the Second Amendment Foundation. Stephen (pictured on the right in this photo) is best known as “The Barefoot Defender” in the Sutherland Springs church shooting in Texas a few years ago. IFC invited Mr. Willeford to speak to our members at the 2A Lobby Day a couple of years ago, and again at the IFC-PAC Supper that evening. The events of that day had a profound effect on Mr. Willeford and his impactful story is raw still.
All in all, it was a great day! Getting to interact with hundreds of people from all walks of life, with common concerns and interests, was rejuvenating! As you can see, we are growing our presence and outreach, and we could really use your talent. We are an All-Volunteer organization. Volunteer and discover all the fun you are missing! The folks at IFC are great to work with and very helpful.
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