IFC WELCOMES NEWS OF WASHINGTON COUNTY’S “SECOND AMENDMENT SANCTUARY” STATUS
Washington County has become the eighth Iowa county to pass a Second Amendment Sanctuary resolution following a Board of Supervisors vote on Tuesday. Please thank these Washington County Board Supervisors:
Jack Seward, District 1 Marcus Fedler, District 3 Stan Stoops, District 4 Richard Young, Chair, District 5
*Bob Yoder, Vice-Chair, District 2 – VOTED NO on the resolution and didn’t support the civil rights of Iowans.
The move follows Clarke County, which declared its Second Amendment Sanctuary status on Monday.
“We are overjoyed to learn yet another Iowa county is standing up for their citizens’ right to keep and bear arms,” said Michael Ware, IFC Chair. “The Second Amendment is an important civil right and we are grateful more elected officials are affirming their support of it.”
While Second Amendment Sanctuary legislation at the county level does not supersede federal law, it does prevent local resources from being used to enforce measures that are at odds with the U.S. Constitution.
The IFC has been working with state and local elected officials to protect the right of Iowans to keep and bear arms in the wake of threats by some in Washington, D.C. to support actions which would infringe upon the Second Amendment.
The Iowa Firearms Coalition, an affiliate of the NRA, is a 501(c4) nonprofit and Iowa’s only effective gun rights organization.
As always, we’re a group of volunteers that needs your engagement and support. WE NEED YOUR HELP volunteering and we need you to become a member of IFC.
“IFC, how can my county become a Second Amendment Sanctuary County?” We’re getting this question a lot and just as IFC has done for years, we’re providing you education and information to accomplish the goal. Here is your roadmap:
If you’re a county resident:
Find or identify your local county board of supervisors. Most counties have a website that offers the supervisors’ information so you may contact them. If not, you’ll be able to get this information at the local courthouse by calling or visiting with them.
Reach out to ALL of your local supervisors.
Illustrate and show them the examples of other counties and remind them just how important the Bill of Rights is to you. Make sure your supervisors know you need them to take a stand and declare the Second Amendment is important to them.
Rally others to the cause. Your voice is important, but when you engage your friends and neighbors several voices can make the difference.
Offer them the sample language below.
If you’re a County Supervisor:
Take the sample language below and read it thoroughly.
Understand that you’re taking a stand on the virtues contained in the Bill of Rights. Nobody can argue that the 2A isn’t tinkered with and chipped away day after day. As a County Supervisor, you’re signaling with a resolution that you support the Second Amendment for your constituents.
As an elected official of the County, you recognize you won’t encourage or participate in the Jim Crow racist origins of ‘gun control’ and press them upon your friends and neighbors. As a leader of your community, you know and cherish a government that doesn’t pick and choose which citizens on whom to bestow or remove basic human rights. County Sheriffs and County Attorneys have come on board as well to show their support for the civil rights of their county brethren.
Some counties have tweaked the sample language a bit, but most have adopted it ‘as is’ for their resolutions.
Remember, you’re going to hear some people who think your resolution rolls back federal and state laws. We know this isn’t true. Help them understand this is a declaration of support for a fundamental civil right. As individuals, they can embrace or deny those civil rights for themselves, but as an elected official it is your responsibility to protect those choices for each person to make, across the board.
RESOLUTION DECLARING YOUR COUNTY TO BE A SECOND AMENDMENT SANCTUARY COUNTY
WHEREAS, the right of the people to keep and bear arms is guaranteed as an individual right under the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” and
WHEREAS, the right of the people to keep and bear arms for the defense of life, liberty, and property is regarded as an inalienable right by the people of YOUR County, Iowa; and
WHEREAS, the people of YOUR County, Iowa derive economic benefit from all safe forms of firearms recreation, hunting, and shooting conducted within YOUR County using all types of firearms allowable under the United States Constitution and the laws of the State of Iowa; and
WHEREAS, the YOUR County Board of Supervisors was elected to represent the citizens of YOUR County, and have sworn by their Oath of Office to uphold the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Iowa; and
WHEREAS, Iowa State Senators and State Representatives have also sworn by their Oath of Office to uphold the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Iowa; and
WHEREAS, legislation is currently being considered and expected to be proposed by both the Iowa State Legislature and Federal Legislature that potentially seeks to infringe on the constitutionally protected right of citizens to keep and bear arms; and
WHEREAS, it is desirable to declare that YOUR County is a Second Amendment Sanctuary County, as YOUR County opposes the enactment of any legislation that would infringe upon the constitutional right of the people of YOUR County to keep and bear arms.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the YOUR County Board of Supervisors hereby declares YOUR County to be a Second Amendment Sanctuary County, and hereby states its opposition to the enactment of any legislation that would infringe upon the constitutional right of the people of YOUR County to keep and bear arms.
Download your copy of the 2A Sanctuary Language below:
As always, we’re a group of volunteers that needs your engagement and support. WE NEED YOUR HELP volunteering and we need you to become a member of IFC.
The dangerous overreaching being attempted by the current Administration in Washington D.C. has led several states to declare that they are exerting their Tenth Amendment sovereignty on the issue of Second Amendment infringement by the Federal Government.
Never forget:
1) The Sovereign States (and those States that joined the Union after the original thirteen colonies became sovereign States) created our Federal Government with limited powers. The Federal Government did not create the States.
2) The Tenth Amendment rights that several States are now invoking in defense of the US Constitution’s Second Amendment are intended to ensure that no State will or can be compelled to enforce illegal and unconstitutional infringements on any of our God-given rights as enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Not only our right to speak freely, to peaceably assemble, or the right to prevent any Government from holding a monopoly of force, but all of our fundamental rights.
3) The Representatives and Senators of the Iowa General Assembly and other state legislatures represent the essential political power in America, not those inside the Washington D.C. Beltway.
Please reach out now to our Governor, your State Representative, and your State Senator and ask them to affirm the sovereignty of Iowa’s citizens over the Federal Government.
NRA Day – CrossRoads Shooting Sports – Johnston, Iowa
Join the Iowa Firearms Coalition at the National Rifle Association’s NRA Day September 19th at CrossRoads Shooting Sports in Johnson, Iowa.
Iowa Firearms Coalition is an entirely volunteer, grassroots, Second Amendment advocacy group. Responsible for bringing uniformity to Iowa’s Concealed Weapons Permitting process, IFC’s members work to protect and enhance Second Amendment rights in Iowa. An affiliate of the National Rifle Association, the IFC actively seeks to foster and promote the shooting sports. Sign up for our email list for the latest on Second Amendment issues in Iowa. You can support our work by becoming a member, or making a donation.
URGENT — public comment needed. The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives wants to ban popular .223 ammunition.
Our latest advocacy campaign lets you send a pre-written email to the ATF. It’s fast, easy, and free. Please get involved and help stop this freedom infringing ban on M855 ammo.
In a move clearly intended by the Obama Administration to suppress the acquisition, ownership and use of AR-15s and other .223 caliber general purpose rifles, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives unexpectedly announced today that it intends to ban commonplace M855 ball ammunition as “armor piercing ammunition.” The decision continues Obama’s use of his executive authority to impose gun control restrictions and bypass Congress.
By way of background, federal law imposed in 1986 prohibits the manufacture, importation, and sale by licensed manufacturers or importers, but not possession, of “a projectile or projectile core which may be used in a handgun and which is constructed entirely . . . from one or a combination of tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper, or depleted uranium.” Because there are handguns capable of firing M855, it “may be used in a handgun.” It does not, however, have a core made of the metals listed in the law; rather, it has a traditional lead core with a steel tip, and therefore should never have been considered “armor piercing.” Nonetheless, BATFE previously declared M855 to be “armor piercing ammunition,” but granted it an exemption as a projectile “primarily intended to be used for sporting purposes.”
Now, however, BATFE says that it will henceforth grant the “sporting purposes” exception to only two categories of projectiles:
Category I: .22 Caliber Projectiles
A .22 caliber projectile that otherwise would be classified as armor piercing ammunition under 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(17)(B) will be considered to be “primarily intended to be used for sporting purposes” under section 921(a)(17)(C) if the projectile weighs 40 grains or less AND is loaded into a rimfire cartridge.
Category II: All Other Caliber Projectiles
Except as provided in Category I (.22 caliber rimfire), projectiles that otherwise would be classified as armor piercing ammunition will be presumed to be “primarily intended to be used for sporting purposes” under section 921(a)(17)(C) if the projectile is loaded into a cartridge for which the only handgun that is readily available in the ordinary channels of commercial trade is a single shot handgun. ATF nevertheless retains the discretion to deny any application for a “sporting purposes” exemption if substantial evidence exists that the ammunition is not primarily intended for such purposes.
BATFE is accepting comments until March 16, 2015 on this indefensible attempt to disrupt ammunition for the most popular rifle in America. Check back early next week for a more in-depth analysis of this “framework.”
How to comment – from the BATFE
ATF will carefully consider all comments, as appropriate, received on or before March 16, 2015, and will give comments received after that date the same consideration if it is practical to do so, but assurance of consideration cannot be given except as to comments received on or before March 16, 2015. ATF will not acknowledge receipt of comments. Submit comments in any of three ways (but do not submit the same comments multiple times or by more than one method):
ATF email: APAComments@atf.gov
Fax: (202) 648-9741.
Mail: Denise Brown, Mailstop 6N-602, Office of Regulatory Affairs, Enforcement Programs and Services, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, 99 New York Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20226: ATTN: AP Ammo Comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Denise Brown, Enforcement Programs and Services, Office of Regulatory Affairs, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, U.S. Department of Justice, 99 New York Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20226; telephone: (202) 648-7070.
Iowa Firearms Coalition is an entirely volunteer, grassroots, 2nd Amendment advocacy group. Responsible for bringing uniformity to Iowa’s Concealed Weapons Permitting process, IFC’s members work to protect and enhance 2nd Amendment rights in Iowa. An affiliate of the National Rifle Association, the IFC actively seeks to foster and promote the shooting sports. Sign up for our email list for the latest on 2nd Amendment issues in Iowa. You can support our work by becoming a member, or making a donation.
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