Iowa’s 2023 Legislative Session is a bitter pill for IFC’s volunteers and members, and for all Second Amendment advocates. This legislative session was an enormous amount of effort and a tremendous disappointment, as highlighted in our President’s Message this week. After nearly 66% of Iowans voted to approve the Freedom Amendment in November 2022, and after voting in Republican majorities in both chambers, we had great expectations. We also had important issues needing to be dealt with, one of which was protecting firearms businesses from “Woke” practices at banks, investment firms, insurance companies, freight companies, etc.
The Iowa Legislature has concluded its session for this year and is not expected to return until January. So why bring this up now? Because this bill, SF507, like the others that IFC was championing, remains important.
Put simply, ESG practices (Environmental, Social, and Governance) can prevent firearms businesses from conducting their businesses. For instance, if you own a gun store, and your insurance company suddenly informs you that they will no longer offer insurance because you operate a firearms business, you are abruptly in a very bad position. If your freight company no longer delivers goods to your store because you are in the firearms business, you are out of business. If your bank says it will no longer keep your account open because your business does not meet its accepted Environmental, Social Governance goals, you are suddenly in a very bad position. As Michael Ware of IFC pointed out in an earlier blog:
In plain English, that means big banks or others get to discriminate against you based on ESG criteria that they set because they are trying to be “woke”. The firearm industry was one of the original targets of these “woke” policies and the issue has gotten worse every year.
Senate File 507 was a bill that would have prevented the state treasurer and state pension fund managers from doing business with companies (banks, insurance companies, etc.) that penalize, or outright will not do business with, firearms-related businesses (gun stores, ammunition sellers, gear manufacturers, etc.). Unfortunately, this bill did not pass this session; instead, it was relegated to “Unfinished Business”.
The good news is that this means it can be revived next legislative session without having to go through the “funnel process” (i.e., it won’t have to be brought to the floor via the committee process). But that is the only good news.
Get Involved
This is a huge “back door attack” on our Second Amendment rights. It is going to be critical that our members raise their collective voices. Reach out to your legislators in the coming months before the next session begins. Impress upon them the impact that ESG practices have on your Second Amendment rights. They won’t even need to take your guns. If your local gun shops go out of business and if the freight companies won’t deliver guns, ammunition and related gear, how long will you be able to exercise your Second Amendment rights? (Reloaders rejoice as your services will be at a premium.)
It is indeed a bitter pill to swallow. IFC’s volunteer Lobbyist, and others at IFC, worked countless hours, meeting with legislators, preparing Action Alerts for our members, creating blogs and creating videos about the dangers of ESG relative to the firearms industry, in addition to working on other bills we were trying to get put through.
Second Amendment Under Attack
You need to understand that the entire Second Amendment community is under attack from every angle. The President calls to Congress daily to send him an “assault weapons ban”; the Woke movement wants to make sure that firearms businesses are closed; the ATF wants a national registry of all firearms and to have unbridled authority on all 2A matters, red flag laws are proliferating in some states (and federally), the media sensationalizes every shooting that fits the narrative (i.e., right-wing “extremists”), but notice how they quickly go silent when the perpetrator is a transgender in the making, or an undocumented resident. The media is practicing “selective speaking” which means the country is listening with “selective hearing”. Don’t think it cannot happen. Look at Washington State, California, Colorado.
To protect your Second Amendment rights, YOU are going to have to get out of your comfort zone. You are going to have to speak up, to participate. It is going to take action and engagement from everyone who values the Second Amendment—not just the organizations at the front of the line.
Disappointment, Realities, and Resources is an odd combination of things that I should not have to write about immediately following the adjourning of the Iowa Legislature for the rest of this year. The same legislators who thanked IFC just a few months ago for helping turn the State of Iowa “Red” by our push to pass the Freedom Amendment last year.
Disappointment: Well I wish I were the wordsmith my friend and IFC past Chairman Michael Ware is but I’m not. You can read his in-depth analysis of the just ended legislative session HERE. I’d be lying if I told you I’m anything but disappointed by our Senators who failed to protect Iowan’s from “woke” corporations and their inability to see through the bull crap of the dangerous quack anti-gun leftist.
Realities: Well, not just have the opponents of freedom here in Iowa showed us their true colors, but once again their allies in Washington D.C. have done the same thing. Last week Senator Mendez and his fellow dangerous quacks introduced the H.E.A.R Act, that if passed would outlaw firearm sound suppressors and demand confiscation. You can read about it over at Accurate Shooter. The amazing thing to me is that in most of the world it’s considered bad manners and inconsiderate to shoot or hunt without a suppressor on your firearm. In Canada and Alaska the sound of a gunshot is known as the dinner bell to the local bear population.
Resources
Resources: Most, if not all, of you reading the IFC Blogs know about the resources on IFC’s website, along with the NRA’s various programs and firearms safety material. Ever wonder where some of us from IFC find all the current information and research on crime and firearms rights? One of my favorite sources is Professor John Lott, PhD. Dr. Lott is the President of the Crime Prevention Research Center and he has a weekly email newsletter that covers everything from his testimony before legislative bodies and research materials. I highly suggest you check out his website and, if interested, sign up for his weekly newsletter.
Speaking of signups? Have you joined or renewed your IFC membership? If not, please do so today, HERE.
Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.
The National Rifle Association Annual Meeting concluded just a little over a week ago and I had the honor of attending on your behalf as IFC President. Due to the incredible work of all our Board of Directors, Executive Committee, and other volunteer efforts last year, not only did we get the Freedom Amendment passed with an overwhelming majority, but in the process, IFC set the new standard for social media effectiveness across the Second Amendment and civil rights activist community, winning the coveted NRA Outstanding State Association Award for 2022.
While on the subject of NRAAM, here are a few photos of what it’s like sharing the convention center with over 70,000 people on a show floor of over fourteen acres of the newest in guns and gear!
President Roosevelt’s Hunting Rifles
Apparently the legislators in Indiana did not get Lincoln’s message (below). Unlike Iowans, who as people of a Free State are not restricted from being able to defend themselves in or around our State Capitol grounds and buildings.
And, of course, two of IFC’s Trusted Partners were in attendance–Both Mountain Man Medical and Firearms Legal Protection!
Legislative Update – Please Take Action Now!
I’ll take a few words to remind you to reach out through our Action Alert System to your State Senators to ask them again to support the Safer Families Act. It’s critically important that you do so today. The surprising thing to us here in IFC leadership is that what looks like common sense to each of us in allowing Iowan’s when and where to choose to protect themselves with lawful weapons, is that some of our long term supporters in the legislature are not listening to the facts. If you want to know the truth go to our past Chairman’s blog on the Safer Families Act here to get the facts. Not the dangerous quack leftist lies on what the bill does and does not do.
And don’t forget to renew or join IFC today in our fight against the anti-freedom left.
Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.
Legislative Updates on Legislators Who Missed the Message From the Voters of Iowa Last November
This week’s President’s Message is an update on our Iowa Legislators who missed the Iowa voters’ message last November when they passed by an overwhelming majority the Freedom Amendment.
It’s understandable that Des Moines Metro and Johnson County area State Senators and Representatives feel pressure from the ten percent of Iowans who are Leftist dangerous quacks when it comes to gun control issues. After all, a large percentage of that ten percent live in and around Des Moines and Iowa City, so that tends to amplify their voices demanding “common sense gun safety laws”.
As IFC Executive Committee Member Katie Howard so eloquently explained in her blog just a few days ago, so called “Gun Safety” laws are just newspeak for “Gun Control”. The resistance to HF654 (the comprehensive gun bill that cleans up many parts of Iowa Code to bring them into compliance with both the Freedom Amendment and the recent SCOTUS Decision (Bruen), is being brought up by the very vocal Leftist 10% who want a monopoly on power.
Surprising to no one, those anti-freedom Leftists are all for the arming of their favorite groups, be they LGBT, BLM, or Antifa, but not ordinary, everyday American citizens. Recently, National Public Radio reporter Todd Bookman did a story on exactly that. One of the quotes in the story was:
“I mean, if you go far enough left, you get your guns back.”
Need I say more? Time to reach out AGAIN to your State Senator or State House Representative with your support of HF654. Call, Fax, email, or use the IFC Action Alert system to reach out to them as soon as possible. And while you’re at it, remind them that Iowan’s voted them into office, not the woke big banks and freight companies. They need to support Governor Reynolds Anti-ESG bill, Senate File 507, and stop discriminating against firearm, agriculture, and energy businesses in Iowa.
The 65% have spoken and EVERYBODY heard it. Do you know how I know this? Each year the liberty-hating, freedom-stomping, victim-creating among the legislature files a litany of horrible bills stripping Iowans of their rights. We even have a short list of the worst IFC has stopped alongside our gains on IFC’s Legislative Victories page. I can only guess, but this annual action must give those poor souls high self-esteem. Either that, or it greases the wheels with the multiple billionaire Bloomberg shadow org money men, which is more likely the case. So far, as of February 1st, the usual suspects haven’t offered anything up we can find on the Legislative Site. You read that correctly. The usual suspects haven’t ponied up a tyrannical bill yet. YET…
Maybe the leopard changed its spots? Or, maybe the nanny Bloomberg money didn’t flow like the proverbial spring mountain thaw this year. I doubt both of those unlikely scenarios. Instead, what we’re seeing is exactly what IFC has been telling you all along. 2A rights are for everyone and are universal winners.
There is one thing you can count on. When 65% of Iowa voters agree on something, you better pay attention!
I’m not sure you all grasp this yet. But you should. Iowa doesn’t get 65% of ANYTHING, ever. The only way to get 65% is for red, blue, and purple voters to chip in. That’s right. Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and Independents all have to agree in great quantities on a singular component. And the Freedom Amendment was that point of inclusion for ALL IOWANS.
That’s a pretty big deal and you should be paying attention. You’ve got the folks that enjoy taking your rights away on the run. Stick with it, my friends!
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