The 2024 IFC-PAC State Legislative Endorsements are the focus for this week’s blog. With the election in just over 30 days, and early voting in Iowa starting October 16th, we will skip the news this week. I’m sorry that as a bi-partisan organization, unlike in years past, we do not have a single Democrat Party member or candidate that has earned our support.
Look into your county and city officials’ records and stances on 2A issues and vote accordingly. They are the party’s farm teams. We encourage you to bank your vote early this year so that the candidates can concentrate their efforts on those who have not yet voted.
Please stay Ready at All Times, and help us defend all of Iowa’s rights by donating to IFC-PAC today. Those small recurring monthly donations of $10, $25, or $100 make a huge difference in our ability to get the message of freedom out there.
Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.
Dave Funk Member, Board of Directors Iowa Firearms Coalition
No Madam Vice-President, you can’t just do that — together with other musings from this week. Here we go folks! Hold onto your hats. Remember Joe Biden’s dumb-ass statement years ago that ‘Jill should just point the shotgun out the back door and fire a shot off if she feels threatened’? Well, that statement has just been topped by Heel’s-up-Harris!
The Babylon Bee ran a parody piece this week entitled “Oprah Releases Moving 1-Hour Special On Dangers Of Alcohol Abuse”. The Bee parody highlighted Heel’s-Up’s actual (botched) one-hour interview with The Oprah. During that interview, the sitting Vice-President stated, “If somebody breaks into my house, they’re getting shot,”. Without getting into the finer details about self-defense use of force, Castle Doctrine, or Stand Your Ground laws here, most adults understand that there are limits to the use of deadly force in our society. You would think a former prosecutor would.
…BUT WE SHOULD NEVER LOOK A GIFT HORSE IN THE MOUTH
It’s pretty clear that the VP just made the argument that she, like most Americans, has guns for self-defense. The old German word Zeitgeist comes to mind. Its meaning is the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era. When both Harris and her totalitarian governor running mate are, or claim to be, gun owners, it becomes much harder to argue that the rest of us minions should not be. Kudos to Mark W. Smith at The Four Boxes Diner for this Zeitgeist reference.
AMERICAN HISTORY AND ILLINOIS 2023 GUN BANS
AmmoLand.com senior editor F. Reihl wrote a great piece this week about recent history. He wondered aloud how things may have come out differently if Blacks in both East St. Louis and Tulsa had been armed during the race riots of 1917 and 1921. To quote Reihl’s opening paragraph:
The federal trial challenging Illinois’ gun and magazine ban took a poignant turn as U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn reflected on the tragic history of racial violence, questioning how events like the 1917 East St. Louis race riots and the 1921 Tulsa massacre might have unfolded differently if Black victims had access to the types of firearms now banned under the state’s Protect Illinois Communities Act.
I’d encourage you to read the entire article referenced above. It is about the litigation surrounding the 2023 law in Illinois that:
bans over 170 specific firearms
bans magazines for rifles holding over ten rounds
bans handguns that hold more than fifteen rounds
Based on current case law (Heller & Bruen), the Illinois law is clearly unconstitutional. Never forget that gun control in America has its racist roots in the post-Civil War Jim Crow South and the Democratic Party (whose military arm was the KKK). But then, world history is rife with examples of racism being the motivation for a monopoly on power by every despotic government.
You have heard me say before that we cannot survive as a nation with these loony toons dangerous quacks in power. Now Governor “Tampon Tim” Waltz of Minnesota, agrees with me: He said at a rally the other day; “We can’t afford four more years of this!”
As Donald J Trump said as he stood up after he was shot: “Fight, Fight, Fight”.
Please stay Ready at All Times, and help us defend all of Iowa’s rights by donating to IFC-PAC today. Those small recurring monthly donations of $10, $25, or $100 make a huge difference in our ability to get the message of freedom out there.
Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.
Dave Funk Member, Board of Directors Iowa Firearms Coalition
After you’ve spent 2A Day advocating for the Second Amendment with IFC at the Iowa Capitol, you should buy a ticket to the IFC-PAC Supper with Jeff Struecker. This is a fundraiser for the IFC-PAC.
Join the Iowa Firearms Coalition for an engaging & personal evening, interacting with Major Jeff Struecker. Maj. Struecker is a retired US Army Ranger with 17 combat deployments & was portrayed in the movie Blackhawk Down, as well as a Chaplain and award-winning author. Don’t miss this unique chance to connect with a true Iowa hero while enjoying some delicious barbecue from SmokeyD’s and listening to live music from local artist Ben Puttmann.
It has been an honor to serve as your President of the Iowa Firearms Coalition these last nearly six years. One of the first challenges a new leader has, who takes on the position of president of an all-volunteer organization, is to identify your assets and set goals. Let me summarize some of them here:
FREEDOM AMENDMENT CAMPAIGN
The first and foremost task was to develop a successful campaign strategy to pass what you all know as the Freedom Amendment. We as an organization did that by creating an incredibly successful social media campaign. We won 97 of 99 counties — and 65.17% of the vote — in November 2022, adding the 49th Amendment to the Iowa State Constitution.
65% voted for Iowa’s Freedom Amendment
IFC joined up with Five Seasons Media of Cedar Rapids to not only handle the social media side of our effort, but also to help IFC become recognized as the Firearms Experts here in Iowa and surrounding states. We could not have done it without their help, and at a fraction of the price of traditional political campaigns.
2022 NRA STATE ASSOCIATION OF THE YEAR
It was a great honor to represent IFC at the 2023 National Rifle Association Annual Meeting in Indianapolis last year to accept the 2022 NRA State Association of The Year Award. I was invited back to speak on effective social media operations at the 2023 NRAAM this year in Dallas.
BUSINESS SIDE OF IFC
In my position as President of the Iowa Chapter of Safari Club International, I spent time my first year developing a budget and cleaning up the business side of the Chapter. The next three years were devoted to laying the foundation for future growth of the chapter’s fundraisers, political action effectiveness, and chapter project support processes.
At IFC, the Board of Directors, our executive team, and I have done the same thing. We did not just clean up our records. We ensured near perfection in our State and Federal tax and regulatory filings and compliance for the last five years. While the cutover to a far more cost-efficient and effective membership management system in 2023 brought a new set of problems, we have been effectively working through those issues.
MONROE COUNTY LITIGATION
While we were in the middle of the Freedom Amendment Campaign, Monroe County sued both IFC, and one of our members. This was after that member asked them to follow the Iowa Code on firearms preemption. It was a great distraction, but IFC ultimately smacked down the Monroe County Board of Supervisors and won. We won not just on the issues, but had our legal fees paid-in-full by the plaintiffs. In addition, $100,000 was paid to IFC to settle the First Amendment Claim that we brought.
STEPPING DOWN
I could probably write a book just on how these last six years have evolved and how my life has changed in many ways during this period. However, I’d like to introduce you to the new IFC President, Billy Wilson. Billy has a background in successful nonprofit management, and fundraising in the Des Moines area. He has acted as our Gun Show Director and is our current Executive Vice-President.
Here is Billy’s bio on the IFC web pages:
Supporter of the Second Amendment and a lifetime member of both IFC and NRA, Billy joined the IFC to help spread awareness and to help defend Iowa’s Second Amendment rights. He is also a member of the IFC-PAC Presidents 100, and Spartan. Billy grew up in a family with a long history of serving in the military and hunting. Billy enjoys hunting, camping, hiking, and sport shooting with his family. He also enjoys building and tinkering with firearms in his personal collection. He is a Superintendent for a commercial construction company. He currently resides in Ankeny, Iowa.
Please reach out toBilly with your questions, suggestions, and support as he takes IFC to the next level.
As for me, I’ll remain on the IFC Board of Directors in an ex-officio status, assisting Billy and the whole IFC team with the transition in this change of leadership, which is effective August 1, 2024. I cannot thank each of you enough for your support and confidence in me. But a special shout out to Michael Ware, Richard Rogers, Pete Brownell, and especially my wife Bridget for all their support and counsel during my tenure.
Please stay Ready at All Times, and help us defend all of Iowa’s rights by donating to IFC-PAC today. Those small recurring monthly donations of $10, $25, or $100 make a huge difference in our ability to get the message of freedom out there.
Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.
It’s officially election season, 2024. Well, maybe closer to Labor Day is the official date. However, as many of you reading this know, it never really ends here in Iowa – with our First in the Nation Caucuses. (I’m sure likeme you’re relieved to see laundry soap and agricultural chemical ads return every November, instead of the constant bombardment of political ads.)
Almost three years ago, IFC-PAC launched our digital campaign to ensure victory for the long, hard-fought struggle to ensure passage of the Freedom Amendment. With your help, we achieved a remarkable 65.17% victory and captured an estimated 20% of Democrats and 60% of Independents who voted “yes” on State Ballot Measure Number 1. This successful campaign earned more votes than any other statewide race.
Engaging Voters
Why am I bringing that up now you might ask? That digital campaign allowed IFC to engage with over one million Iowans of voting age. In the campaign, IFC-PAC was able to highlight and publicly thank the elected Representatives and Senators at both the State and Federal levels, Statewide office holders (and candidates), and County elected officials who supported the Freedom Amendment.
IFC-PAC worked hard to become the “go-to” expert on all things Second Amendment here in Iowa. We need to repeat that effort again this summer and into Election Day on November 5th.
Because of the foundation you helped IFC build in 2021-2022, this yearthat job is easier. However, we still need to do it. In order to highlight 2A supporters, IFC-PAC needs to fund our digital campaign again this Summer and Fall. Unlike 2021-2022, the need is not for hundreds of thousands of dollars,but instead just a fraction of that.
You all know how hostile Biden and his ‘string-pullers behind the scenes’ are toward your individual rights, and particularly the 2nd Amendment. Let’s stop them here in Iowa from making any gains against your freedom.
That’s why I’m asking you today to go to IFC-PAC and donate what you can. Even just a small recurring donation is a huge help. Your local elected Representatives will tell you that they appreciate IFC-PAC’s highlighting them as supporters, as opposed to the small amount of dollars we could donate to each of their campaigns directly.
Please stay Ready at All Times, and help us defend all Iowan’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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quacks in power. Now Governor “Tampon Tim” Waltz of Minnesota, agrees with me: He said at a rally the other day; 
One of the first challenges a new leader has, who takes on the position of president of an all-volunteer organization, is to identify your assets and set goals. Let me summarize some of them here:
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