Week 6 Update | The Funnel Is Coming

Week 6 Update | The Funnel Is Coming

Week 6 Update
The Funnel Is Coming

There’s less than two weeks until the first legislative funnel of the year. What is the “funnel” and why does it matter? The funnel is essentially a deadline in the legislature. If a bill fails to make enough progress by the funnel date it’s considered dead for the year. It’s a way for lawmakers to keep focused on bills that have potential for passage and keep them from getting bogged down by an unending barrage of new bills.

The first funnel is March 3rd. We need our bills out of committee by this date. So far we’ve seen a lot of pro-gun owner bills introduced but what we haven’t seen is any of them advancing out of committee. We’re getting down to crunch time, less than two weeks until the first funnel. We fully expect to see a lot of activity on gun-related bills in the next couple of weeks. We’ll be emailing you with updates and directions on how to help as things develop.

PETITION – The Iowa Constitution Has No 2nd Amendment – FIX THIS!

In the mean time please sign our petition in support of adding the Right to Keep and Bear Arms to the Iowa Constitution.

If you haven’t heard by now Iowa is one of only six states whose constitution does not guarantee it’s citizens’ right to keep and bear arms. In short, there’s no version of the Second Amendment in the Iowa Constitution. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize this is a major problem.

Stand Your Ground, Constitutional Carry, Concealed Carry, Open Carry, suppressors, SBRs, the freedom to simply own a gun in Iowa — ALL OF IT, it all requires that your Right to Keep and Bear Arms is written in the state constitution. Currently we have no such protection in here in Iowa. Without this amendment a runaway legislature or activist judges on the Iowa Supreme Court could quickly wipe out all the liberties we currently enjoy.

Please encourage your freedom loving friends and family members to sign this petition and start voicing their support. Iowans need and deserve to have their freedoms protected by the Iowa Constitution!

UPDATE: Second Amendment Day – March 7th

We’ve been telling you for weeks, this year’s Second Amendment Day is being held on March 7th at the Iowa Capitol, apparently word is getting around and now anti-gunners are feeling intimidated.

Moms Demand Action just scheduled their “Lobby Day” for March 8th, the day after our Second Amendment Day. We’re sure these Bloomberg gun control advocates will say their scheduling is purely coincidental, but no matter what they claim it’s important that you join us on March 7th and send a strong message to Iowa’s lawmakers:

“Iowans want their freedoms left alone and we certainly don’t want some out-of-state billionaire telling us how to live our lives!”

March 7th – Second Amendment Day in the Capitol – Be there!

More updates to come, stand ready folks!

Thank you for continuing to support the Iowa Firearms Coalition!

Week 6 Update | The Funnel Is Coming

September Action Alert, Election Updates & More

 

Iowans-

Campaign efforts to flip the Iowa Senate are in full swing. For months IFC volunteers have been out door knocking in key races that will make or break the next two years in the Iowa legislature. Now we’re in the final push, and we need your help. Here’s a reminder of what is at stake:

  • Stand Your Ground
  • Constitutional Carry
  • Fixing Iowa’s Youth Shooting Laws
  • Adding the Right to Keep and Bear Arms to the Iowa Constitution
  • Gun owner privacy protection
  • NFA legalization
  • And more

If we fail to flip the Senate the chances of passing any of these laws in Iowa are virtually non-existent. If you want to see any of this happen here in Iowa we need you to get out and work for it.

There’s a reason why we’re Iowa’s most effective Second Amendment organization. We’ve got a plan and everything we need to make it happen. The only thing missing is you.

When you’re ready to say Yes, I want to pass pro-gun laws in Iowa join our volunteers and do your part to make a real difference.

Congrats to Neal of Monticello on winning our September giveaway! Big thanks to Vortex Optics for partnering with us to give away this SPARC AR red-dot sight.This month the crew at American Defense Manufacturing have stepped up and offered up a free 13.5 inch MLok AR15 rail to an IFC supporter at the end of this month. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP. American Defense Manufacturing also sweetened the pot by sending us some swag to giveaway each week. We’ve already picked two winners this month and each Friday we’ll be picking random swag bag winners. Don’t miss out!

 

ACTION ALERT – The Obama administration is trying to snuff out gunsmiths around the country by greatly increasing fees and regulations. In short, they want to treat gunsmiths the same way they treat firearms manufacturers. So if your gunsmith installs a new set of sights on your carry gun, they’re to be taxed and regulated the same way the gun’s manufacturer is. That’s like treating your mechanic the same way we treat car manufacturers.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley has been out in front opposing this change in DDTC regulations, but we need to make our voices heard in Washington D.C.. Hit this latest action alert and make sure Iowa’s federal officials know that this change in rules is not going unnoticed in their home state!

Finally, renowned Self Defense attorney Andrew Branca is coming to Iowa for a pair of seminars on the Law of Self Defense. Branca is an expert on self-defense law. His seminars are focused specifically on the intricacies of Iowa’s carry laws.

Mr. Branca is graciously offering a 10% discount to all Iowa Firearms Coalition supporters. Just use the discount code “IFC” to get the reduced price. As an added bonus, Branca will donate $10 to IFC for every supporter that uses the IFC discount code. This is a great opportunity get some extremely valuable (and often overlooked) training at a discounted price, and raise a few dollars for IFC.

The all-day seminars cost $149.99 if you sign up by September 23rd ($199.99 after 9/23) and will be held on October 22nd in Johnston, and October 23rd in Central City. More details and sign up information can be found on this page in the ‘seminars near you’ box.

More updates to come.
Thanks for supporting the Iowa Firearms Coalition!

 


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. 

Key Legislator Wants To Know Your Top Priorities

Key Legislator Wants To Know Your Top Priorities

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CLICK HERE to tell Senator Sodders’ that 2nd Amendment issues are a top priority!

Iowa Senator Steve Sodders is asking for input on what your priorities are for the upcoming legislative session. It’s common for legislators to produce a survey such as this, but this survey is particularly important for Iowa’s firearms community. That’s because Senator Sodders will soon be the chair of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, this position is a key bottleneck for almost every piece of firearms legislation. As chair of the Judiciary Committee Sodders can determine which bills do and do not get scheduled for votes. We’ve seen this used against us time and time again by the previous chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee Rob Hogg.

Please take a minute or two to fill out Senator Sodders’ survey and tell him to protect and enhance our 2nd Amendment rights here in Iowa.

Please be honest with your survey answers, but please also remember to act like adults and keep your responses respectful. We look forward to working with Senator Sodders in the upcoming session. If you’re not sure how to answer some of the questions you can skip all of them except the first.

To make this easier for the Iowa Firearms Coalition has drafted up answers to the first and last survey question. Please feel free to use them if you’d like.

CLICK HERE to tell Senator Sodders’ that 2nd Amendment issues are a top priority!

 

Question:

What issue is most important to you in 2015?

Answer: Other

 Protecting and enhancing the 2nd Amendment rights of Iowans.

Question:

What else do you think I should focus on in 2015?

Answer:

Protecting and enhancing our 2nd Amendment rights. For instance: amending the Iowa Constitution to include a Right to Keep and Bear Arms (RKBA) statement; protecting firearms owners personal information from maliciously being published in the media; legalizing suppressors and other NFA items; maintaining the current Shall Issue rules and requirements for concealed carry; passing a castle doctrine/stand your ground law.

I also expect you to acknowledge that my 2nd Amendment rights shall not be infringed upon — more specifically, any attempt at gun control, onerous requirements, restrictions, or alterations to Iowa’s legal code intended to make the usage of firearms any more difficult ought to be opposed. Each of these is an infringement on my rights and a violation of the constitution.


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.

How the suppressor bill died – 2014 legislative session recap

How the suppressor bill died – 2014 legislative session recap

Iowa_Senate

As you’ll recall, early in the Iowa legislative session Representative Matt Windschitl (R-HD17) introduced a bill to legalize suppressors. This common sense gun rights measure would have brought Iowa in line with 39 other states that have already legalized suppressors–none of which have seen any reportable increase in crime we might add.

Then on February 27th, the suppressor bill came to a vote in the Iowa House of Representatives, where according to the Cedar Rapids Gazette, “a bill to protect Iowans’ liberties and their hearing sailed through the Iowa House Thursday on an 83-16 vote”  There were a lot of excited firearms enthusiasts in Iowa. And rightfully so. The bill passed by a bipartisan landslide, with only 16 representatives–all urban Democrats–voting against the bill.

Freedom loving Iowans were optimistic. Not only had the suppressor bill sailed through the House, but gun owners had been busy writing their state senators as well, urging them to support the suppressor bill when it moved from the House to the Senate. Statewide, Iowans had received pledges to support the suppressor bill from every single Republican senator and 20 out of 26 Democrat senators.  By all measures, it looked as the suppressor bill would pass through the Iowa Senate as easily as it did the House.

But despite all that support, from Republicans AND Democrats, the suppressor bill was given the kiss of death. Senate President Pam Jochum (D-SD14) assigned the suppressor bill to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Before the bill even landed on his desk, chairman of the Judiciary Committee Rob Hogg (D-SD33) declared that, “…it is my plan not to take up any firearms legislation this year.”  Right after the House overwhelmingly approved the bill, Senator Hogg said, “I see nothing urgent about this.”

Nothing urgent about your rights, apparently!  Then, as promised, Rob Hogg did nothing. The suppressor bill, with its overwhelming bipartisan support, was never scheduled for a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee, it never left the Senate Judiciary Committee, and it never came to a vote in the full Senate.

In the final hours of the legislative session back in late April, there was one final attempt to breathe life back into the suppressor bill.  In the House of Representatives, legislators tied the suppressor bill to an appropriations bill as an amendment.  They passed the suppressor amendment back and forth with the appropriations bill, taking it out and putting it back in several times. But when the dust finally settled, it was the Senate Democrats who stripped the suppressor amendment from the appropriations bill and passed it on a straight party line vote. 26 Democrats passed the appropriations bill without the amendment that would have legalized suppressors.

Rob Hogg had done his part, procedurally blocking the suppressor bill from coming to a vote in the Senate–meaning all of those Senate Democrats who had pledged to support the suppressor bill would not have to go ‘on record’ voting in favor of restoring the rights of Iowans. Indeed, in the 11th hour of 2014 legislative session, when those same Democrats had a golden opportunity to stand up and make good on their word to support the legalization of suppressors, they all turned their backs on their pledges. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. They stripped the appropriations bill of all language that would legalize suppressors, passed the bill with every single one of their members falling in line, and in the process killed the last chance the suppressor bill had.

This isn’t the first time this kind of thing has played out in the Iowa Legislature. Time and time again Rob Hogg has used his chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee to play politics and block bills that would restore your rights. Stand Your Ground, a Right to Keep and Bear Arms amendment to the state constitution, gun owner privacy protection, legalization of suppressors…ALL of these bills have passed the House but died in the Senate. We’ve tried for years to work with the Senate Democrats and find another way to pass these bills, but they fail to come around. Their actions have truly spoken louder than their words.

Election day is near at hand. The Iowa Firearms Coalition has been and remains bipartisan, but history has made it painfully obvious that Senate Democrats are not interested in working with us, so it’s time to make a change.  If we expect any further progress on restoring gun rights in Iowa, we MUST make a change: We must flip the Senate to a Republican majority to get anything done, plain and simple.

We need your help to make this happen. Voting is the very least you can do. We need is for you to talk to your friends, your co-workers, your hunting buddies and tell them what you’ve learned here, how so many gun rights bills have been killed in the state senate. But we also need more than just talk, we need you to donate, and we need you to volunteer. Your time and money will help us make a much-needed change in Des Moines.

We don’t know what the future holds, but we know what we’ve seen in the past, and its high time for a change. If you’re frustrated with the lack of support you’re getting in our state capitol, please join us!

NRA rolls out Iowa ad campaign

The National Rifle Association will soon be front and center here in Iowa.

The gun rights organization has just rolled out a new ad campaign highlighting gun control zealot Michael Bloomberg’s hypocrisy. The NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action has just released a new :30 second TV commercial, which is just the first part of their new multimedia campaign. Iowans will being seeing and hearing much more from the NRA in the weeks to come as the NRA has purchased six figures worth of digital and social media advertisements in Iowa and other battleground states.

This is certainly welcome news for Iowa’s gun owning voters. The new NRA ad campaign will coincide with ongoing efforts by the Iowa Firearms Coalition to push Bloomberg’s anti-gun minions out of Iowa’s state legislature, and pass strong pro gun laws such as:

  • Right to Keep and Bear Arms amendment to the state constitution
  • Stand Your Ground laws
  • Suppressor/NFA legalization

Take an active role in the fight for your gun rights. Join our email list, become a member, and help spread the message!