IFC Warrior Wednesday EP93 – Peter Churchbourne with NRA Hunter Education – Did you know the cream of the crop in FREE interactive hunter education is provided by NRA? Did you know Iowa DNR doesn’t recognize it and instead forces you to buy this training for $49.95? Did you know Iowa DNR will accept NRA Hunter Education from citizens in other states? Did you know Iowa DNR could apply for funding to bolster hunters into the outdoors by simply applying for them if they used the NRA Hunter Ed? There’s more… Peter Churchbourne joins us from NRA to take a deep dive into what they’ve done across the nation. DOGE isn’t the only entity that can fish out waste and bureaucracy.
This is what IA DNR forces on you today:
And this is the possibility before you from NRA:
The FREE NRA Online Hunter Education Course (NRAHE.ORG) is 100% certified by the US National governing body of hunter education (IHEA) to certify students in all 50 states and all US Tribal lands.
It is up to the state fish and wildlife department (IA DNR) to allow its use per state. The decision is usually made by the state hunter education coordinator.
The NRA course is 100% free to everyone. The student and the state both get everything for free. NRA has invested over $4,000,000 from the NRA Foundation to produce this best-in-class, fully interactive course for Americans. The average state integration is $25,000, which the NRA pays for.
We have full-time support staff that help students with issues. Seven days a week.
The NRA course is the ONLY course that offers Pittman-Robertson match credit for EVERY STUDENT. This means the state fish and wildlife department (IA DNR) gets money for every student who takes the course. Oklahoma gets, on average, $800,000 a year for using our course, and it costs them nothing. If IA DNR wanted something additional, like a field day, NRA certifies the number of online completions, which the state can use for matching dollars from the Pittman-Robertson annual funding.
The NRA does NOT use the collected student names for marketing. There is ZERO gain for the NRA Foundation or the NRA for this offering. We allow the states to draw up a contract if they so choose.
Since 2017, we have certified over 250,000 students, and no state wildlife agency has ever removed our course from its offerings.
NRA DOES NOT ask for exclusivity. If the state agency wants to offer another course that people pay for, they are welcome. We believe Americans should have a choice: our course is better than the other paid offerings, and it is free.
There are no gimmicks, no games, just free incredible hunter education.
Take a deep and informative dive into this and decide for yourself what should be done after watching this video exclusive with IFC:
In Libertatem,
Michael Ware – IFC Board
The images above originated from the IA DNR’s current Hunter Ed provider.
IFC Legislative Agenda for the Great State of Iowa includes the following and more to come:
Safer Families Act (provisions of HF654 – passed by the House on April 12, 2023)
Intended to eliminate most of the few remaining “No Guns Zones” in Iowa law
Repeals ban on firearms and ammunition in
Vehicles on the grounds of correctional facilities
Vehicles in publicly accessible parking lots operated by state or local government
Vehicles transporting foster children
School vehicles transporting pupils (authorized armed staff only)
Allows for permit holders to have a concealed handgun in their vehicle when dropping off or picking up at a school
Prohibits state universities and community colleges from banning lawfully possessed weapons in vehicles on their grounds
Repeals the ban on firearms in state-licensed gambling facilities
Repeals the statutes on “manner of conveyance” of long guns in vehicles
Provides for firearm safety Instruction in schools
Provides necessary clean-up of some language in Iowa Code 724 in the wake of the 2021 adoption of permitless carry of weapons
Full 2A Rights for Young Adults
IFC will again seek to remove statutory restrictions on handguns affecting young adults aged 18-20.
2A/4A Protection in Private Parking Lots
IFC will again seek to pass legislation prohibiting employers from disciplining or firing employees who lawfully possess weapons or ammunition in their vehicles on employer-provided parking areas.
Gadsden Flag License Plate to Fund 2A Education and Training
IFC will seek to create an Iowa Gadsden Flag license plate, with funds devoted to 2A education and training, with first priority to IFC or similar groups
Require Iowa Government Agencies to Auction Seized Firearms
IFC will seek to require public disposition of seized firearms, rather than have them all go to the state’s crime lab or be destroyed.
Remove Conservation Officers’ Authority for Warrantless Searches
Investigations on private property must honor Fourth Amendment rights by requiring probable cause, permission or a warrant.
Additionally, there are items in the code that need to be removed and the code streamlined. Things like “724.29 Firearm devices. A person who sells or offers for sale a manual or power-driven trigger activating device constructed and designed so that when attached to a firearm increases the rate of fire of the firearm is guilty of an aggravated misdemeanor. 90 Acts, ch 1147, §1” aren’t relevant, weren’t well constructed at the time, and should cease being in code. To quote my dear friend, Richard Rogers:
“The state has no constitutional or moral authority to regulate the weapons that the people may possess or carry. The law’s proper purpose is to restrain or punish actual bad (criminal) behavior. The Supreme Court has now repeatedly affirmed that Second Amendment rights are fundamental, not second class, rights. A new resolve to strike down government overreach is spreading across the nation and the world. Iowa’s legislators need to take this opportunity and amend or repeal our state’s laws accordingly.”
-Richard Rogers – Iowa Firearms Coalition Board Member, Chief Lobbyist, and NRA Distinguished Advocate Award Winner
Tyranny is the problem with the progressive anti-liberty mindset. Whenever possible, they employ tyranny over us with glee and enthusiasm. Why? Because they tell themselves they’re saving us from ourselves. It isn’t that the 2A or 1A are fundamental problems. Rather, the average progressive, post-modern, neo-Marxist, or run-of-the-mill left winger can’t handle a world they don’t control. It won’t matter to them that you and I, among 99% of the rest of us do well, sometimes even great, with the exercise of our civil liberties, but more that they can’t imagine doing anything of the sort themselves. And because they can’t think through what it would be like to defend oneself with a firearm, they seek to remove any choice for you to do so.
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”
Lewis does a pretty good job of outlining this fundamental problem in the quote above. If you cut to the core of these silly progressive liberal arguments, you inevitably come to one irrefutable truth. They can’t possibly grapple with the precept surrounding responsibility and consequence. They wish to place upon us restrictions that make them feel better about themselves with simultaneous safety nets to make it work.
Why safety nets you ask? Well, when the consequences are no longer bound to the choices we make, we simply don’t learn the lesson. Without lessons learned, we are apt to make more bad choices. With more bad choices, we see poor outcomes associated with everything you can chart, categorize, or easily reference. To avoid the truth associated with such endeavors, safety nets are necessary to mask the logical conclusion that ethics matter and serve as the basis for our morals in action.
This isn’t to say progs don’t care about people. Of course, they do. But they don’t love them enough to allow them to grow in ways that can often result in a bruised knee or a scraped elbow. My dad pushed me down the driveway, which had a considerable grade, without training wheels, and yelled, “Peddle son!” Guess what? I learned to ride a bike in 7 seconds. How long might it have taken me if I’d had training wheels on? I’m unsure, as it was the road not traveled. But I’m guessing longer than 7 seconds. Dad wasn’t wrestling his own mind about what was going to happen or not happen when he gave me a push. He had sized me up, knew I was probably ready to rock, and gave me a shove. Progs have a hard time with that metaphorically speaking, so they tend to avoid the possibility it won’t go well, by placing everyone on perpetual training wheels for their own good.
Unfortunately, their version of training wheels is perpetual intolerance of us while demanding 100% tolerance of them. Thus, tyranny and Hell on Earth. Pay close attention to what they say when they’re talking. They rarely skip an opportunity to talk down to you. Go read the Lewis quote above again, and let it sink in.
This bill would have created a distinctive vehicle license plate featuring the famous “Don’t Tread on Me” flag. During the War for Independence, the Gadsen flag became the first ensign of the Continental Navy. It has always been an icon of Liberty. Such a license plate would be a great complement to Iowa’s own flag, with its motto, “Our Liberties We Prize and Our Rights We Will Maintain”.
As the Gadsden Flag is frequently associated with Second Amendment rights, the introduction of this license plate would have been an appropriate recognition that nearly two-thirds of Iowa voters recently approved the Freedom Amendment, adding strong protections of the right to keep and bear arms to Iowa’s Constitution.
The bill provided that the fees for this specialty plate would have funded grants for education and training on these fundamental rights. In the awarding of these grants, the bill specified that “first consideration” would go to the official state association of the National Rifle Association and similar organizations. Iowa Firearms Coalition is, of course, the official state association of the NRA.
This bill was important to the future of IFC. It passed the House with bipartisan support and we had expected the Senate to approve it and send it to the Governor. It is not entirely clear why it failed in the Senate, but this is a severe blow to IFC’s plans to use those potentially significant grant monies for important educational initiatives, scholarships, and the like. It is too early to determine if it will be feasible for IFC to try to revive this effort in the next legislature.
Finally, we need to discuss the death of HF654 – the Safer Families Act.
Provisions of this failed bill included:
A much-needed correction to an erroneous word introduced into Chapter 724.15 in 2021. The error has resulted in the Iowa Courts wrongly prohibiting persons sentenced for certain misdemeanors from possessing firearms for two or three years.
“Cleanup” language (Chapters 724, 483A, 321G) in the wake of changes made in 2021, including:
Repeal of the obsolete “Manner of Conveyance” hunting statute that prohibits having a long gun in a vehicle on a public highway unless it and its magazines are unloaded and the gun is broken down or cased
Repeal of obsolete and confusing statutory language regarding carrying firearms on ATVs/snowmobiles
Elimination of several of the few phony “No Guns” zones remaining in Iowa law:
Publicly accessible and non-secure state and local government parking lots
Correctional facility parking lots (in locked vehicles in non-secure lots)
Regents’ university and community colleges (weapons in locked private vehicles)
Vehicles transporting children in foster care
Repeals the prohibition on casino management approving lawful carry of guns
Firearm Safety and Hunter Safety Instruction Programs in Schools
Allowed certain qualified retired law enforcement officers to carry firearms on school grounds
Persons with a Permit to Carry Weapons may have a concealed pistol or revolver in their vehicle while picking up or dropping off at a school
After a strenuous multi-year effort by IFC to craft and champion this important bill, it passed the House during the first session of the 90th General Assembly last year. The bill in its final form had dropped several provisions IFC had sought, but it included the most critical ones and laid the groundwork for more advancements in the future. Unfortunately, due to several other controversial issues taking up much of the Representatives’ time and attention last year, the bill was passed and sent to the Senate very late in the session. It also contained a provision regarding insurance coverage for schools that choose to train and arm staff members that turned out to be too problematic and needed to be modified or removed. For this and other reasons, the Senate failed to take up the Safer Families Act, but IFC worked to ensure that it was put on the unfinished business calendar. IFC fully expected that the Senate would take it up this year, amend it as necessary and send it back to the House.
Unfortunately, various circumstances combined to prevent that from happening. IFC worked until the very last days of the session to overcome the obstacles but were ultimately unsuccessful. Therefore, we begin now to plan how to revive these important legislative initiatives in the 91st General Assembly, most likely in a different form.
The Safer Families Act was an omnibus bill, meaning that it had several divisions dealing with separate parts of the Iowa Code. Such bills have both advantages and disadvantages. An advantage is that if you can get such a multi-part bill through the committee process and to the floor, there need be only one debate and final vote, whereas separate bills with the same provisions each have to pass through the committee process and then require separate debate and votes on the floor of the legislative chamber. Of course, an obvious disadvantage of a multi-part bill is that various parts may find different legislators in opposition, often making it difficult to gather sufficient support for the whole. IFC has had some great successes with omnibus bills, including the massive and momentous one in 2017. The permitless carry bill in 2021 was a mini-omnibus. However, it is IFC’s sense that going forward, we will need to focus on multiple smaller bills, each with a narrower scope. It certainly seems that tactic will bring a greater chance of success in the Senate.
Iowa Firearms Coalition intends to continue to build on our record of success in ensuring that the Iowa government recognizes, protects, and respects our fundamental right to keep and bear arms. We will continue to work to maximize individual liberty by streamlining and clarifying Iowa’s laws on weapons and use of force, and by eliminating unnecessary, obsolete, or unconstitutional regulations whenever possible.
To do this, we need your help! We need our current members to renew or upgrade their memberships and to encourage their friends, family, and acquaintances to join as well. IFC’s mission is to protect the civil rights of all – and there is strength in numbers.
Additionally, especially throughout the primary and general election campaign seasons, contact your Representative and Senator. Let them get to know you and your concerns, especially regarding Second Amendment-related issues. If you want to eliminate phony “No Guns” zones, TELL them. If you think that schools should offer elementary students vital firearm safety instruction, TELL them. If you want to be able to voluntarily contribute to important education and training on the right to keep and bear arms by buying a “Don’t Tread on Me” Gadsden license plate, TELL them! Seek them out at events in your community or when you see them at the store or on the street. Let them get to know YOU and what you expect of them.
Together we can continue the restoration of essential liberty that is represented – and ultimately protected by – our natural and fundamental right to keep and bear arms.
-Richard Rogers – IFC Board Member and Chief Lobbyist
IFC Victories and Disappointments in the 90th Iowa General Assembly
Iowa’s 90th General Assembly adjourned its second and final regular session in the wee hours last Saturday morning. Legislators left the Capitol after three and a half months and headed to their homes throughout the state. Some legislators are retiring, while others will now begin to ramp up their campaigns for the election next November – or, in some cases, for the primary election in June. Now is an appropriate time for those of us in the Second Amendment community to begin to evaluate how we fared in the 90th GA and start to plan for the 91st. First, the good news…
In case you missed the disappointments, take a LOOK HERE to view them.
Part I – Victories
Of the bills of primary interest to IFC this year, the following are the ones that passed both the House and Senate. The Students First Safety Act and the Second Amendment Privacy Act were signed by Governor Reynolds almost immediately. We expect that she will sign the others as well.
This bill is focused on enhancing security in Iowa’s schools. It directs school districts with a minimum enrolment of eight thousand students to employ at least one private school security officer or school resource officer in each high school building. These officers are required to undergo annual and quarterly training approved by the Iowa Department of Public Safety (DPS). School districts with less than eight thousand students are also encouraged to utilize security officers.
Most importantly in IFC’s view, the bill authorizes the issuance of professional permits to carry firearms to qualified school employees who comply with the initial and recurring training requirements to be established by DPS. Under this new law, school employees who meet these requirements and are authorized by their school to be armed are granted qualified immunity should they need to use reasonable force in the performance of their employment. The schools are also granted qualified immunity. It is expected that this provision will facilitate the ability of Iowa schools that choose to arm staff members to obtain insurance coverage by encouraging competition in the marketplace. The company that currently enjoys a virtual monopoly on public school insurance in Iowa has so far refused coverage to any school that authorizes armed staff.
IFC is confident that eliminating schools as phony “gun-free zones” and establishing rapid response security teams composed of armed school staff members is the single most effective means of limiting casualties should evil threaten to harm Iowa’s school children.
HF2652 – school security infrastructure
This bill established requirements and standards to improve public school security and provided for the training of existing school staff to form armed quick-response security teams under the provisions of the Students First Safety Act.
This bill is intended to prevent discrimination on the basis of transactions involving firearms and ammunition. It prohibits the assignment by financial institutions, credit card processors, etc. of transaction codes to Iowa-based retailers that specifically identify them as firearms dealers. The new law also prohibits a person or any unit of Iowa government from keeping a record or registry of privately owned firearms or their owners, with exceptions for criminal investigations, prosecutions, and the like.
HF2556 – a bill to strengthen current protections against regulation of weapons by political subdivisions of the state by establishing a schedule of damages that may be awarded by the court in lawsuits brought against a local government for enacting or maintaining an unlawful restriction in violation of Iowa Code 724.28. The damages may be assessed up to $5,000 for unknowing violations and up to $25,000 for knowing violations. This law becomes effective on Jan. 1, 2025. IFC wishes to acknowledge and thank Rep. Bill Gustoff for authoring this bill and shepherding it to enactment with wide bipartisan support. Rep. Gustoff is not only a great legislative champion of your Second Amendment rights but has been IFC’s attorney since our creation.
HF2421 – a bill to limit the liability of a federal firearms licensee (FFL) that enters into voluntary “firearm hold agreements” “for any act or omission arising from or subsequent to a firearm hold agreement and resulting in personal injury or death…, including the return of a firearm to the individual firearm owner…at the termination of a firearm hold agreement.” This bill was sought by Iowa mental health advocates and championed by IFC.
While several other minor bills endorsed by IFC passed, these – and the two failed bills to be discussed in Part II, were the main focus of IFC’s testimony at the Capitol and of our efforts to educate both legislators and the public.
Tomorrow, we’ll discuss two major disappointments and the implications of those losses.
-Richard Rogers – IFC Board Member and Chief Lobbyist
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