National Association for Gun Rights

Colorado -–(Ammoland.com)- On Saturday, at the Iowa Straw Poll, National Association for Gun Rights members and supporters made themselves heard, advancing two pro-gun candidates and toppling a third anti-gunner.

The winners of the straw poll are solid, pro-gun candidates — but more on that in a moment.

Tim Pawlenty, an early national favorite to win the Iowa Straw Poll, finished a lack-luster — and very distant -- third place in the poll and was forced to drop out of the Presidential race on Sunday under pressure from gun owners.

You see, Pawlenty refused to tell gun owners where he stood on important firearms issues.

NAGR Director of Operations Luke O'Dell confronted Tim Pawlenty in Des Moines, IA. Governor Pawlenty REFUSED to say where he stood on important Second Amendment issues.

Refusing to return a survey is often an indication that a candidate is hiding something — often anti-gun beliefs.

The National Association for Gun Rights, and our local partner Iowa Gun Owners, mobilized tens of thousands of gun rights activists across Iowa with phone calls and e-mails urging Pawlenty to return the National Association for Gun Rights survey.

Insiders on the campaign tell us his Iowa campaign office was flooded with phone calls and emails from gun owners demanding Governor Pawlenty make a stand, and return the survey.

National Association for Gun Rights staff and activists even confronted Governor Pawlenty and his campaign staff at the Iowa State Fair, where he continued to rebuff gun owners.

Instead of listening to grassroots gun owners in Iowa, Governor Pawlenty chose to listen to his Washington, D.C. consultants and ignore grassroots gun owners in Iowa, a mistake which cost him at the Straw Poll, and eventually lead to his exit from the race.

Due to the activism of National Association for Gun Rights and Iowa Gun Owners members like you, we were able to educate straw poll voters about the records of ALL the Presidential candidates.

I’m happy to say that Michele Bachmann – who won the Straw Poll — and Ron Paul – who finished in a close second place — both returned their National Association for Gun Rights Presidential Candidate Survey 100% pro-gun.

In addition to answering the National Association for Gun Rights Presidential Candidate survey 100%, both Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul have pro-gun voting records in Congress (though Bachmann’s is marred by her vote for the mis-named Patriot Act a few months ago).

A solid majority of 56% of the voters voted for a pro-gun candidate. The Iowa Straw Poll was a decisive victory for gun owners and the open survey program of your National Association for Gun Rights.

A NAGR volunteer confronts Pawlenty's Political Director Nick Ayers with a flyer, demanding Pawlenty return the National Association for Gun Rights Presidential Candidate Survey.

While political insiders like Tim Pawlenty and Herman Cain refuse to return the Presidential Survey, Iowa voters made it clear they demand a pro-gun presidential candidate.

However, a new candidate, Governor Rick Perry of Texas, has entered the race, and we just don’t know where he stands on the Second Amendment.

I’ve sent Governor Perry a survey, and asked him to return it no later than September 15, 2011.

Send Rick Perry a message. Ask him to promptly return the National Association for Gun Rights Presidential Candidate Survey.

Governor Perry needs to hear from gun owners today!

Thank you for picking up the phone and letting the candidates know that gun owners demand to know where they stand on the issues facing our right to keep and bear arms.

For Freedom,

Dudley Brown
Executive Director

About:
The National Association for Gun Rights is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, single-purpose citizens’ organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the Constitutionally protected right-to-keep-and-bear-arms through an aggressive program designed to mobilize public opposition to anti-gun legislation. The National Association for Gun Rights’ mailing address is P.O 7002, Fredericksburg, VA 22404. They can be contacted toll-free at 1-877-405-4570. Its web address is www.NationalGunRights.org

Editorial Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed above do not necessarily reflect those of the staff, AmmoLand Shooting Sports News, or other sponsors and partners. See the Editorial-Review Process for more details.

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa - -(Ammoland.com)- The fight for gun rights is underway at the Capitol as the new legislative session has begun.

Read below for information about the bills that IGO is working on this year.

Yours for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms,

The 2011 session of the 84th General Assembly kicked off this week in Des Moines and Iowa Gun Owners was on hand to continue the fight for our 2nd Amendment freedoms.

(Iowa Gun Owners’ Executive Director Aaron Dorr with newly elected Representative Kim Pearson. Pearson replaced a candidate who supported banning semi-auto weapons. Pearson will be the lead sponsor for REAL Right-to-Carry/Constitutional Carry this year for Iowa Gun Owners.)

After a long two year fight, we were able to take the results of the votes we obtained in the House and Senate and kick out close to two dozen anti-gun legislators who voted against REAL Right-to-Carry/Constitutional Carry!

As well, Governor Culver, who refused to complete the Iowa Gun Owners 2010 Candidate Survey was defeated by Governor Branstad, who did answer his survey 100% pro-gun.

As a result, this year looks promising for Iowa gun owners. Thank you for helping us get to this point!

This year Iowa Gun Owners will be working on REAL Right-to-Carry/Constitutional Carry that we almost passed last legislative session.

REAL Right-to-Carry would allow law abiding Iowans to carry a weapon for self-defense WITHOUT needing to first obtain government permission.

Recognizing that criminals don’t follow the laws regarding guns, this bill would do away with the seemingly endless bureaucratic headaches currently associated with being able to exercise your 2nd Amendment rights.

This is the law currently in Vermont, Alaska, Arizona, most of Montana and may become law in Wyoming this year as well.

For more information about the recent shootings in Arizona read below.

In addition, we are working on a Stand Your Ground/Castle Dostrine bill that would give very important protections to all Iowans who find themselves in the position of needing to use force to defend themselves from violent criminal attack.

This bill simply states that you no longer have to retreat in the face of an attack and that you are allowed to meet force with force. Further, whereas some states only attach this protection to you in your home, this bill will provide legal protection to you anywhere that you are legally allowed to be in the state.

Also, this bill gives full immunity to you from criminal and civil prosecution so long as the shooting was justified. In this way, an Iowan who was already forced to go through a terrible ordeal (defending himself from a violent criminal) will not have to worry about being drug through a civil court where he may lose millions of dollars.

Finally, Iowa Gun Owners will be working this year on an effort to repeal Iowa’s Permit-to-Purchase handguns altogether. The overwhelming majority of states in the nation have repealed this unconstitutional law. In those states, private citizens can buy and sell handguns amongst themselves without needing the government to authorize it.

These are ambitious goals. But with your help, we will continue to advance the cause for gun rights here in Iowa.

We’ve made some progress, but we have much to do. In fact, recent reports out of Dubuque County would indicate that the sheriff there is assuming the power to decide what training he is willing to accept and what training he won’t accept when you apply for your permit.

This is outrageous – and this is just one of the issues that we were very opposed to in last year’s bill.

Training, while a good idea, should be optional. Now we have a situation where one government official can decide who can offer you training (does anyone see a possible financial incentive here since law enforcement is one of the primary entities that can offer this training?) and if you go to an unapproved trainer you will not get your permit.

Not to mention the fact that the only approved course may just have a six month waiting list.

So much for shall issue.

It’s time for all Iowans to get together and support the REAL Right-to-Carry/Constitutional Carry that would truly restore the 2nd Amendment here in Iowa.

Please take a moment to sign the petition, if you’ve not already done so, calling on the General Assembly to pass this bill this year!

We will be updating you often during the next few months and we encourage you to take the action requested in these emails.

We need to maintain the pressure and hold this new General Assembly to their promises.

Get ready!

In light of the recent horrible shooting in Arizona there have been the predictable calls from the liberal media and some of their allies in Congress to enact tougher gun laws.

From high capacity magazine bans to reinstatement of the so called “Assault Weapons” ban, the anti-gun crowd is doing what they can to use this tragic time for their agenda.

Clearly this was a horrible crime and the suspect, if convicted, should pay the price for his actions. But clearly someone who is willing to commit mass murder wouldn’t have been stopped by the legality of carrying a weapon with or without a permit.

One interesting thing that an Iowa Gun Owners supporter brought to our attention is something that we’ve not yet heard much about in the national news.

One of the men who tackled and pinned the shooter to the ground was carrying a concealed firearm!!

When asked by the media about his actions that day

Joe Zemudio said, “…I just came running up to him – I carry a firearm, so I wasn’t really afraid.”

From what we know at the moment, Mr. Zemudio wasn’t in the immediate vicinity when the shooting took place. Had he or another armed person been closer, perhaps much of the carnage of that day could have been avoided.

We will keep you posted if any new or relevant information regarding this terrible shooting becomes available.

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

OpenCarry.org

Sacramento, California --(Ammoland.com)- Iowa’s “new” gun laws are still more strict than most states – further reforms needed

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller just picked a fight he can’t win, legally, or politically.

On December 29, 2010 Miller’s staff issued a letter to Des Moines County Pat Jackson encouraging him to advise Des Moines County supervisors to violate Iowa’s firearm preemption statute.

According to the AG’s staff, despite Iowa Code Section 724.28’s command that local regulation of the “possession . . . of firearms . . . when the . . . possession . . . is otherwise lawful under the laws of this state . . . is void,” localities are still free to ban gun carry by way of Iowa’s “state criminal trespass statute.”

“REALLY!????,” says John Pierce, co-founder and spokesperson for Opencarry.org, adding “what part of ‘is void’ does Attorney General Miller not understand?”

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller just picked a fight he can’t win, legally, or politically.

The amusing part about the recent AG letter is that it cites only to a dated 2003 Iowa AG Opinion even though the opinion itself did not cite to ANY court case anywhere in the United States which held that a state statutory firearms preemption statute could be abrogated under state trespass law as applied to citizens who had a right to be on local property, e.g., paying a water bill, attending a public meeting at city hall, etc.

And since 2003, Iowa’s state wide gun rights reforms have clearly made the entire field of gun regulation a state affair in Iowa by eliminating local discretion in licensing, invoking what’s know as “field preemption” of local gun bans even if Iowa Code Section 724.28 did not exist. Moreover, since 2003, state courts around the country have struck down gun bans on preemption grounds in many states, including, inter alia, Colorado, Ohio, Washington, Georgia, and even New York.

According to Pierce, open carry at city hall meetings is legal and increasingly common in many or most states, including Michigan, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Maine, and Washington, and that OpenCarry.org members will not stand for any city hall gun bans in Iowa.

“They will organize and attend city hall meetings to speak out against any effort to enact illegal local gun bans, and expect them to be legally carrying properly holstered handguns concealed or openly when they speak,” adds Pierce.

And Iowa’s state gun rights groups are not sitting still either.

Iowa Firearms Coalition President Sean McClanahan says that local officials are going to have plenty of opposition from gun owners if they try to violate state preemption – “NATO doctrine for gun owners is in effect here in the Hawkeye State. An attack on gun owners by one County is an attack all gun owners in every County” warns McClanahan.

Tellingly, not all Iowa County Attorneys appear ready to drink Miller’s anti-preemption Kool-Aid. Here’s a report from one of McLanahan’s Iowa Firearms Coalition members:

“I did take some time to call Larry Brock, the new Washington county attorney, this morning as a concerned citizen. From my conversation he stated that he ‘doesn’t necessarily agree with Tom Millers opinion.’” He has been studying a Michigan case that he said was similar to what their resolution was that got beat in court. I also brought up Ohio’s ruling yesterday. He said he was concerned about the liability that Washington County would assume with this new resolution. He said that Tom Miller was telling all the counties that instead of an ordinance, that a resolution was the best way to achieve their goal. I told him I would be in Washington on Jan. 18th and he looked forward to speaking with me on the subject.”

Iowa Gun Owner’s Executive director Aaron Dorr agrees that local officials will be surprised by the size of the hornet’s nest they will step on if they consider enacting local gun bans. But Dorr says his group will do more than just attend meetings – “we will lobby the legislature” to enact severe financial penalties on any preemption violation.

“We worked hard to reform” Iowa’s gun laws, says Dorr, and “We will not allow localities to spit on this legislative outcome.”

On the subject of Iowa’s “new” gun laws, you would not know it from some of the mainstream media’s reports, but Iowa’s laws are pretty much the same as they were in 2010, except for 2 differences: First, Iowa Sheriffs have substantially less discretion to deny gun carry permits. Second, Iowa Sheriffs can no longer issue “non-professional” gun carry permits to adults aged 18-20.

In fact, says OpenCarry.org’s John Pierce, Iowa’s gun laws are stricter than most other states. “In Iowa, citizens need a state permit to purchase a handgun, must be at least 21 years of age, and even then, they still need yet another permit to carry in public, even openly!”1 Contrast that with most states which “do not require a permit to buy handguns or carry them openly at age 18” adds Pierce.

And that’s why the legislature will be considering and likely passing further gun rights reforms in 2011 notes Iowa Gun Owner’s Aaron Dorr.

“We have a lot of catching up to do,” says Dorr, whose priorities include repealing Iowa’s permit to purchase statute and enacting “Constitutional carry,” a moniker for the growing practice by states to eliminate the need for any permit to carry handguns in vehicles (28 states), or to carry concealed handguns generally, as Vermont, Alaska, and Arizona have done.

Media Contacts:

National: John Pierce, co-founder and spokesperson, OpenCarry.org, John@OpenCarry.org, 276-206-xxxx

Iowa Firearms Coalition: Sean McClanahan, President, http://www.iowacarry.org, seanm@iowafc.org, 515-442-xxxx

Iowa Gun Owners: Aaron Dorr, Executive Director, http://www.iowagunowners.org, director@iowagunowners.org, 515-309-xxxx

References:

1. Iowa Code Section 724.28 (Prohibition of regulation by political subdivisions) “A political subdivision of the state shall not enact an ordinance regulating the ownership, possession, legal transfer, lawful transportation, registration, or licensing of firearms when the ownership, possession, transfer, or transportation is otherwise lawful under the laws of this state. An ordinance regulating firearms in violation of this section existing on or after April 5, 1990, is void.”
2. 2003 Iowa AG Opinion: www.handgunlaw.us/documents/agopinions/IAAGOp03_4_1.pdf
3. 2010 Iowa AG Staff Letter & Iowa Firearms Coalition preemption alert: www.forum.opencarry.org/forums/showthread.php?84772-Iowa-Firearms-Coalition-Preemption-Alert-December-31-2010&p=1432208#post1432208
4. 2010 Colorado Appeals Court ruling that state agency firearms preemption statute precludes Colorado state colleges from banning student gun carry on campus: www.coloradodaily.com/cu-boulder/ci_14889133#axzz19u4heA2M
5. 2010 Ohio Supreme Court ruling that state firearms preemption statute bars localities from enacting bans on, inter alia, open carry: www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/12/29/ohio-supreme-court-gun-control.html?sid=101
6. 2008 Georgia Appeals Court ruling that state firearms preemption statute voids local park gun bans at www.georgiacarry.com/county/coweta_parks/Order%20Granting%20Pla%20MSJ.pdf
7. 2010 Washington Supreme Court ruling that firearms preemption statute voids local gun bans at www.capitolhilltimes.com/Main.asp?ArticleID=28389&SectionID=26&SubSectionID=248
8. 2010 New York Court of appeals ruling that even local “toy” gun bans violate implied or “field” preemption doctrine at www.volokh.com/2010/12/31/victory-for-firearms-preemption-in-new-york
9. OpenCarry.org state gun law maps: www.opencarry.org/maps.html

About:
OpenCarry.org was founded in 2004 by Virginia gun-rights activists John Pierce and Mike Stollenwerk and has served to ignite the “Open Carry Movement” that is sweeping the country. In addition to being an invaluable legal resource for gun owners, the site has quickly grown to be a social networking portal for thousands of American gun owners. Visit: www.OpenCarry.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa--(Ammoland.com)- Two years ago, when Iowa Gun Owners was formed, Iowa had some of the worst gun laws in the country.

You needed government permission to do virtually anything when it came to buying or carrying a gun for self-defense.

A permit to buy…and the fees…later on a class on how to carry a gun…and pay the fee after waiting for months for the class. Later on a permit to carry…and pay another fee and wait for a few more weeks…with baited breath.

After all that, the sheriff could and often times did deny your permit… …often with no explanation or justification whatsoever.

Only a handful of states had laws this bad, IE: New Jersey. Then Iowa Gun Owners got involved in the fight to defend and enhance your Second Amendment rights.

At first we were called crazy. Nut-jobs. Idiots who didn’t understand how the political process worked. But we held on. We grew. Our membership grew and your support continued to help this organization.

At the end of the 2009 legislative session, due to all the pressure you helped create, we obtained what no one else had ever achieved: a roll call vote in the House on a REAL Right-to-Carry bill which would allow all law abiding Iowans the option to carry a weapon for self-defense WITHOUT all the classes, fees, and waiting.

Of course some said this was meaningless. But the anti-gunners didn’t think that vote was meaningless. They knew that now they were on the record as being opposed to gun rights.

They knew that they needed to do something about that or else they would face the wrath of the voters in 2010.

And so they passed a gun bill last year. While it provided some marginal improvements over existing law, it came at a terrible cost.

But what would you expect from a bunch of anti-gunners? They wanted to tell you that they were pro-gun without really doing anything.

So they passed a bill that takes guns away from young Iowans. They passed a bill that takes guns away from those with simple misdemeanors. While claiming to be pro-gun, they passed a bill that makes it easy for veterans to have their guns striped from them.

And for the lucky few who are allowed to carry a gun…well you have to get certified every couple of years for the rest of your life!

(Maybe some of you have seen the signs in Des Moines on the side of the road, advertising for training? Pretty sweet deal if you are the company offering the training – it costs $400 for the class!)

Anti-gun politicians wasted no time in trying to tell you how pro-gun they were. In fact they began to flaunt their new found pro-gun positions immediately.

Through it all you helped IGO stay fixed on the goal of passing a REAL Right-to-Carry bill. We worked hard and got a floor vote on our legislation.

Now we had what we were shooting for: a target list.

While the institutional gun lobby was endorsing Chet Culver, notorious anti-gun Senators like Keith Kreiman, Amanda Reagan, Daryl Beall as well as gun hating Representatives like Kevin McCarthy, Doris Kelley, McKinley Bailey, Ray Zirkelbach and more- we went to work.

With your support we launched a massive mail campaign to our members and other gun rights enthusiasts across Iowa in the week before election day exposing anti-gun candidates for who they were. When election night was over we were pleased to help kick out over 20 anti-gun legislators in the House and Senate.

Our long two year fight paid off and we now have a much different make-up in the House, Senate and Governor’s Mansion.

Now the fight to pass solid gun bills can begin again. Only this time we’ve got the support of the majority of the House, and even Governor elect Branstad supports REAL Right-to-Carry according the survey he returned to us.

In fact, the same groups and out of state organizations that said we were crazy and too extreme for Iowa are now joining in the fight to pass a REAL Right-to-Carry bill.

Thank you for all of your support which helped to get us to this point!

We look forward to contending for your gun rights again this legislative session.

For our members, your renewal notices are in the mail and you should be receiving them soon. For those who have not yet joined please consider doing so today. You can join at a variety of membership levels that you can learn more about by clicking HERE.

Also, please take a moment to check out our redesigned website. While it’s still under re-construction, please take a moment to sign our petition in support of REAL Right-to-Carry.

While you are at it, forward the petition page to a few of your friends. Word of mouth is still one of the best tools we have in growing Iowa Gun Owners.

We look forward to another aggressive year of fighting with you to defend our 2nd Amendment freedoms.

Contact Us: You can contact us in the following ways:

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa--(Ammoland.com)- Tuesday was a huge victory for pro-gun candidates across the state of Iowa!

It was the culmination of a two year battle that you’ve been a part of.

To find out the good news, keep reading the article below!

Gun owners across the state, and Iowa Gun Owners members and supporters in particular, have dealt a telling blow to the anti-gunners in the State of Iowa.

We have fantastic results to report below in detail.

In a nutshell though, pro-gun candidates that IGO ran our election program for picked up 14 additional seats in the House! These are candidates that have answered perfectly on our candidate survey. 2 additional seats were picked up by marginally pro-gun candidates that will likely support us when the time comes.

In the Senate, pro-gun candidates that IGO ran our election program for picked up an additional 6 seats!

Two of the above races are still being contested by the gun-grabbing candidate so there may be some changes still. More on those below.

To be clear, Iowa Gun Owners can not expressly advocate for candidates. That’s the job of the Iowa Gun Owners PAC, which supported many good candidates this election cycle. But we do survey candidates and inform you, our members, and other gun rights supporters in the district, about the results of these surveys and all anti-gun votes cast by anti-gun incumbents.

And it sure paid off last night!

In the Senate:

• District 1 - Pro-gun candidate Rick Bertrand, who was being supported by Iowa Gun Owners by sending 1,000′s of pieces of mail to pro-gun voters in the area, WON by 286 votes. This seat was previously held by an anti-gunner.
• District 5 - Pro-gun candidate Robert Bacon, who likewise received a lot of support from Iowa Gun Owners in the form of direct mail, WON by almost 2,000 votes against anti-gun Rich Olive. This seat was previously held by an anti-gunner.
• District 9 - Pro-gun candidate Bill Dix trounced anti-gunner William Heckroth by 3,584 votes! Heckroth voted against REAL Right-to-Carry and refused to answer the survey. This is another pro-gun seat that was previously held by an anti-gunner.
• District 37 - Pro-gun champion, and Iowa Gun Owners lead bill sponsor for two years in a row, Kent Sorenson destroyed gun grabber Staci Appel by over 5,000 votes! This is especially sweet for Iowa Gun Owners since Appel spent approximately $500,000 attacking Sorenson – mostly over his pro-gun positions. IGO volunteers went door knocking and lit dropping for Kent, worked the phones to get out the vote for Kent, did TONS of pro-gun mail in the district, and did robo calls for Kent. This does not count the direct financial support that the IGO PAC gave to Sorenson. Clearly the voters in SD37 saw through the lies in Appel’s campaign and they threw a gun-grabber out of the Iowa State Senate! Congrats to Representative (soon to be Senator) Sorenson.
• District 45 - Sandy Greiner has returned to Iowa politics by defeating incumbent gun-grabber Becky Schmitz by 1,481 votes. Greiner is fully supportive of REAL Right-to-Carry and the Stand-Your-Ground bill that IGO is pushing. This is another pro-gun seat that was previously held by an aggressive anti-gunner.
• District 47 – In what is shaping up to be the closest race of the Fall, Mark Chelgren is currently ahead of extreme gun grabber Keith Kreiman. Kreiman was the Floor manager of the 2010 Disarmament Act and he was directly behind the watered down bill that ensured REAL Right-to-Carry failed by 6 votes in the Senate. Kreiman is currently losing to pro-gun candidate Mark Chelgren by 13 votes!!!

Clearly there will be a recount here. Iowa Gun Owners is trying to route some help to Chelgren to make sure that this race is not stolen from him by a gun grabber. But for now, this seat has flipped to a pro-gun legislator.

In the House:

• District 1 - Jeremy Taylor defeated David Dawson by about 7% in this open seat race. Dawson refused to answer the survey and the members of IGO let him hear about it after receiving our campaign mail.
• District 8 - In what was one of the most enjoyable House races to be involved with all year, Tom Shaw crushed anti-gunner Susan Bangert by 3,554 votes. Bangert was contacted repeatedly by IGO supporters in the district and refused to answer the survey. In fact, she said that IGO (and you by default) were an extremist group that was advocating for violence against the government! Tom received direct support from the Iowa Gun Owners PAC as well as a bunch of election mail from IGO, and we are very pleased that it paid off. This seat was previously held by a legislator who did not support gun rights.
• District 9 - McKinnley Bailey was the incumbent in this race. In 2008, Bailey promised to support and vote for REAL Right-to-Carry in his survey. Bailey broke that written promise two years in a row and the voters in that area sent a clear signal by electing Stew Iverson in his place by a solid 700 votes, in part because they received our mail on the situation. This is another pro-gun seat that was previously held by an anti-gunner!
• District 14 – Josh Byrnes won this open seat race by almost 20% against an anti-gun candidate. Josh answered our survey 100% pro-gun and will be a much better supporter of gun rights than Mark Kuhn was.
• District 16 - Bob Hager won this seat last night by a slim margin against incumbent John Beard. Beard voted against REAL Right-to-Carry and refused to do our survey. Hager took a little convincing but ultimately completed our survey with good answers. Hager ran his campaign largely without help from any other political organizations. When our mail and autocalls landed in this race we received a flurry of calls about it and we’re pleased that this helped Hager.
• District 20 - Iowa Gun Owners was very pleased to see that Walt Rogers handily beat Doris Kelley by almost 1,000 votes. Kelley was a solid anti-gun vote and Rogers has promised to sponsor legislation for IGO! This is another flip for pro-gunners.
• District 23 – Dan Rasmussen pledged to support our legislation in writing by completing the survey. Rep. Gene Ficken, on the other hand, voted against REAL Right-to-Carry and refused our survey. When our mail and autocalls landed in this race, IGO received howls of complaints from Ficken supporters, and with good reason as we detailed Ficken’s anti-gun stance. The voters heard about this and ejected Ficken from office by a slim 206 vote difference.
• District 31 – This race was of special note to Iowa Gun Owners as incumbent Ray Zirkelback is one of the most hostile people in the entire House of Representatives against Iowa Gun Owners. Members will recall that Zirkelbach tried to file criminal charges against representatives of IGO last year for asking him where he stood on REAL Right-to-Carry. So we were pleased to do campaign mail into the district detailing his hostility towards gun rights and those who advocate for them. Lee Hein defeated Zirkelbach last night by 847 votes and so another anti-gun vote was converted to a pro-gun vote as Hein answered all our questions pro-gun.
• District 42 – Another close race in Iowa, which is perhaps too close to call completely is this race. Extremely pro-gun candidate Kim Pearson is currently leading Geri Huser by a 159 vote margin. However, there are still absentee votes to count in this race. Huser has flip-flopped on guns for the last few years, voting pro-gun one year, anti-gun another. She answered some questions correct on our survey and other portions of the survey were very troubling like her willingness to ban semi-auto weapons. For these reason Iowa Gun Owners did a significant amount of mail into this district to all of our members and other known pro-gun supporters. In addition, Iowa Gun Owners PAC contributed to Pearson’s race. We will wait to see what happens but a Pearson win would be a huge step forward for gun rights as Pearson has promised to sponsor legislation! For the record, the AP has already called this race for Pearson.
• District 75 - Notorious anti-gunner Eric Palmer was soundly rejected by the voters last night by over 700 votes. Palmer was a “no” vote on REAL Right-to-Carry and refused to do the survey. Our mail informed the voters about this and our members went to work. Hank Vander Linden did the survey and has pledged support for the 2nd Amendment. Here is another vote for pro-gun supporters.
• District 84 - Ross Paustian completed our survey with solid answers and has pledged to support IGO legislation. His opponent refused to do either and thankfully the voters supported Paustian by over 15%!
• District 89 – Jared Klein is the winner of this race by a margin of over 1,200 votes. Klein has talked with IGO often and is strongly pro-gun. He also completed the survey 100%. Larry Merek was the incumbent in this race and arrogantly voted against our bill and won’t do the survey. Marek supporters called us in anger when our educational mail landed in the district, but an anti-gun vote is hard to argue with. This is another flip for gun rights where the anti-gun vote was rejected.
• District 95 - Michael Reasoner was the incumbent in this race and he was an antagonist towards the 2nd Amendment based on all of his past votes. He refused to do the survey as well. Joel Fry, on the other hand, did the survey 100% and we were pleased to report that to people in the district. The result: another pro-gun flip in the House as Fry won by 1,456 votes.
• District 100 - This seat was held by Rep. Paul Shomshor who liked to pretend he was pro-gun until the moment of truth came and Shomshor voted anti-gun and refused to complete a simple gun rights survey. Mark Brandenburg was the opposite. We’ve had multiple conversations with Mark and he’s clearly a pro-gun candidate. His public support of the 2nd Amendment, as evidenced by his survey responses, was released to the district in waves of IGO mail and autocalls and the voters responded by ousting Shomshor by 411 votes.

These are all the races where Iowa Gun Owners, with your help, were able to see anti-gunners sent packing!

Exposing anti-gunners takes work. It takes recorded votes (yet another reason why forcing votes in the legislative session is vital.) It takes persistence as well, but now we are seeing the payoff.

Folks, we were 5 votes short of passing REAL Right-to-Carry in the House last year. We’ve now picked up 14 additional pro-gun votes!

In the Senate we fell 6 votes short last session and we’ve just picked up 6 votes!

Now, there are some races that need to be certified as we discussed. But we’ve made tremendous gains here.

Our job now will be to make sure that these politicians keep their word to the voters and to Iowa Gun Owners. We’ve experienced some betrayal in the past and can’t assume anything at this point.

But we are in a good position. Thank you for all of your support and action taken in the past few weeks!

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa--(Ammoland.com)- Dear Friends of Iowa Gun Owners,

Today is election day. It’s time to make sure that your voice is heard.

It’s time to send a message to the anti-gun crowd that you will not forget their betrayal and their votes cast that interfere with your 2nd Amendment rights.

We simply ran out of time trying to get an alert out to you yesterday. There are so many pro-gun candidates that we are trying to help in targeted districts…..

Many of you have asked about some of the state wide races that are being voted on today. We will answer some of those questions below. Many of you have also been asking about more local (County) races as well as Congressional races.

Iowa Gun Owners is focused on passing our gun bills through the Iowa General Assembly and so we’ve focused our efforts and energy in that direction and are unable to give suggestions in other races.

Please read below for some final races that we are covering for you.

The 2010 Gun Rights Candidate Survey consists of 8 simple questions that poll candidates on REAL Right-to-Carry, the repeal of Iowa’s permit-to-purchase, a true Stand-your-Ground bill, opposition to banning semi-auto weapons, support of the Firearms Freedom Act, and more.

If a candidate won’t put their beliefs on paper then you and I have every reason to expect an aggressive anti-gun vote to be cast by that candidate if elected.

In this final article we are going to focus on several state wide races that you’ve been asking us about.

Don’t forget to take action today on these alerts you’ve been receiving. Now is the time to send a loud message to the gun grabbers, after two years of fighting with them, that you’ll not forgot their anti-gun positions.

In the race for Governor:

Terry Branstad has completed the Iowa Gun Owners candidate survey with all pro-gun responses. He has pledged, in writing, to sign the REAL Right-to-Carry bill into law once we get it on his desk.

This is an amazing feat to have accomplished! There is virtually no position that Brandstad had to take while Governor regarding the 2nd Amendment to look into – which is why we use the candidate survey in the first place.

We should also point out that Lt. Governor candidate Kim Reynolds always co-sponsored our legislation and voted for it on the Floor as a Senator.

On the other hand, Governor Culver refused to complete our survey. He also signed into law, this year, SF2357 which allows you to lose your guns based solely on an accusation of a crime. By signing this bill, Governor Culver did away with the concept of ‘innocent until proven guilty.’

These two anti-gun facts are very telling regarding Culver’s views on the 2nd Amendment.

Secretary of State
Neither candidate returned the survey. For those who are asking why we would survey those candidates, recall that Governor Culver was formerly the Secretary of State and it is helpful to understand the views of these individuals.

Attorney General
Neither candidate returned the survey. Tom Miller, however, has been working both directly and indirectly to regulate, restrict and interfere with your gun rights for a long time. From allowing cities to ban weapons in city property to pushing for SF2357 last session, Miller has been very dangerous to your gun rights.

Please feel free to forward the link to this article to fellow shooters.

If you want to help Iowa Gun Owners spread the word to 1000′s of gun rights activists in the State, and to help us ensure a pro-gun majority in the House next legislative session, please go to our website located at www.IowaGunOwners.org.

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa--(Ammoland.com)- It is the final day until the election, and Iowa Gun Owners continue highlighting various state level campaigns and informing you as to who supports gun rights, who is opposing your gun rights, and who refuses to go on the record.

Members of Iowa Gun Owners should be receiving detailed information in the mail regarding the candidates in their House and Senate districts.

But for those who are not members, these articles will assist you in learning more about the results of our survey program.

Please feel free to forward these updates to your friends, family, and shooting buddies so that everyone will know who’s pro-gun and who is not.

Read the article below for the fourth round of candidates we are highlighting.

In this update we will focus on the SW part of the state – specifically on contested races.

The 2010 Gun Rights Candidate Survey consists of 8 simple questions that poll candidates on REAL Right-to-Carry, the repeal of Iowa’s permit-to-purchase, a true Stand-your-Ground bill, opposition to banning semi-auto weapons, support of the Firearms Freedom Act, and more.

If a candidate won’t put their beliefs on paper then you and I have every reason to expect an aggressive anti-gun vote to be cast by that candidate if elected.

In House District 99 (Council Bluffs area)

Mary Ann Hanusa is running in this race as a pro-gun candidate. Hanusa has answered the Gun Rights Candidate Survey with all pro-gun responses. She has publicly committed herself to supporting the REAL Right-to-Carry bill.

Kurt Hubler is running against Hanusa and refused to complete this survey. He won’t even pledge lukewarm support for your gun rights. You can contact Hubler at (402)812-8455.

In House District 100 (Council Bluffs area)

Mark Brandenburg is the clear champion for gun rights in this race. IGO has spoken to Mark multiple times and he is solid on this issue. What’s more, Mark promised to sponsor all IGO legislation. A fantastic response.

Opposing Brandenburg is incumbent Paul Shomshor. Shomsor voted against the REAL Right-to-Carry bill and he refuses to complete the survey. That’s about all you need to know about his views on the 2nd Amendment. You can reach Shomshor at (712)325-0638.

In House District 51 (Carroll and Auburn area)

Daniel Dirkx is running to replace retiring Rod Roberts. Dirks handily won a 3 way primary in June and is trying to win the general election right now. Dirkx and his campaign team met with Iowa Gun Owners early on in the election cycle and we can say without a doubt that Dirkx is extremely pro-gun. Of course he completed our survey 100% and promised to sponsor legislation if elected.

Opposing Daniel is Dan Muhlbauer. Muhlbauer refused to answer our survey. This is sad, since this part of the state is very rural and extremely pro-gun in general. Worse, Muhlbauer is stating publicly that he doesn’t own any firearms. Clearly he doesn’t understand the importance of the 2nd Amendment. You can reach him at (712) 653-2838.

In House District 59. (The Clive/Urbandale area.)

We forgot to mention this race yesterday. Chris Hagenow is running in this race. Hagenow has been a friend of IGO for the past two years since winning in 2008. Hagenow serves on the Public Safety Committee where he has helped us run amendments. Hagenow supported REAL Right-to-Carry from the Floor and has returned a perfect survey to us.

Andrew McDowell is running against Hagenow. McDowell has refused to complete the IGO candidate survey and won’t even return our calls. You can reach him at (515)238-1299.

There are a few other candidates that we are going to mention in the Western Iowa region even though they are not being opposed this election cycle.

In House District 55 (portions of Ida, Woodbury, and Crawford county)

Jason Schultz is the candidate in this race. Jason has been a close friend to Iowa Gun Owners for the past two years since his ’08 election. Schultz ran a bill for us on the Floor last session and moved to suspend the rules when anti-gun Speaker of the House Pat Murphy refused to allow our bill to come to the Floor. Schultz fought hard for us and we appreciate it.

In House District 4 (Lyon and Sioux Co.)

Dwayne Alons is running unopposed in this race. Alons was a true hero for gun rights last year. Alons fought for your gun rights in committee and on the Floor. When other compromised “pro-gun” politicians began to betray you and IGO, Alons went toe to toe for us. Possessing an unflappable personality, Alons’s support for the 2nd Amendment is deep.

That’s all for today’s update. Next we will focus on some of the remaining races that we’ve not yet had a chance to discuss as well as the Governor’s race.

If you want to help Iowa Gun Owners spread the word to 1000′s of gun rights activists in the State, and to help us ensure a pro-gun majority in the House next legislative session, please go to our website located at www.IowaGunOwners.org.

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa--(Ammoland.com)- There is much to update you on in the fight for our gun rights in light of the upcoming elections.

Over the next week, Iowa Gun Owners will be highlighting various state level campaigns and informing you as to who supports gun rights, who is opposing your gun rights, and who refuses to go on the record.

Members of Iowa Gun Owners will be receiving detailed information in the mail regarding the candidates in their House and Senate districts.

But for those who are not members, this article will assist you in learning more about the results of our survey program in Iowa.

Please feel free to forward links to this article to your friends, family, and shooting buddies so that everyone will know who’s pro-gun and who is not.

Keep reading below for the first round of candidates we are highlighting.

In this update we will focus on the NW to North Central portion of the state – specifically on contested races.

The 2010 Gun Rights Candidate Survey consists of 8 simple questions that poll candidates on REAL Right-to-Carry, the repeal of Iowa’s permit-to-purchase, a true Stand-your-Ground bill, opposition to banning semi-auto weapons, support of the Firearms Freedom Act, and more.

If a candidate won’t put their beliefs on paper then you and I have every reason to expect an aggressive anti-gun vote to be cast by that candidate if elected.

In House District 1 (Sioux City area)
Jeremy Taylor is a candidate that has answered our Gun Rights Candidate Survey 100%. This means that he supports REAL Right-to-Carry and the other bills mentioned above. He has publicly pledged to be a supporter of the 2nd Amendment.

His opposition, David Dawson, has not completed the survey. More than that, Dawson refused to even accept the survey from the Post Office! Clearly he would be an aggressive anti-gun vote based on this action. Feel free to call Dawson at (712) 898-5804 and let him know what you think of his refusal to complete the survey.

In House District 2 (Sioux City area)
Cate Bryan was quick to complete the Gun Rights Candidate Survey way back in May when she was engaged in a three-way primary. Bryan has promised to co-sponsor all IGO legislation if elected and was very willing to discuss the issue with representatives of Iowa Gun Owners.

Her opposition, Chris Hall, would not complete the survey. Even after IGO members in the district contacted him seeking his views on the 2nd Amendment, we’ve yet to receive any answer from Hall. This should tell you all you need to know about the way Hall will vote regarding gun rights if elected. Let him know your thoughts on this by calling him at (712) 490-2088.

In Senate District 1 (Sioux City area)
Rick Bertrand met with representatives of IGO months ago to pledge his strong support for the gun rights of law abiding Iowans. He has pledged to sponsor IGO legislation and we applaud him for this position.

Rick Bertrand is being opposed by Rick Mullin. Mullin, who has refused to complete the Gun Rights Candidate Survey, is a danger to gun rights and can be contacted by emailing rick@mullinforiowa.com.

In House District 7 (areas around West Bend, Emmetsburg, and Estherville)
Iowa Gun Owners was pleased to meet with Lannie Miller in his home in West Bend. Lannie grew up around weapons and has a high regard for the 2nd Amendment. He too has pledged his 100% support by completing the survey with all pro-gun answers.

Unfortunately, his opponent, John Wittneben, refuses to answer the Iowa Gun Owners survey. Members in this district have tried to contact him about his refusal, but as of yet, no survey has been completed by Wittneben. In a rural, pro-gun area like this, this refusal is especially disappointing. Wittneben can be contacted at (712) 362-4797.

In House District 8 (areas around Algona, Humboldt, and Pocohontas)
This race has been especially fun for Iowa Gun Owners. Tom Shaw sought out IGO last session when he heard about our ongoing fight at the Capitol to reform Iowa’s gun laws. Tom’s support of the 2nd Amendment is deep and strong. As a small town Police Chief, Tom knows that criminals will always find weapons and that citizens need to have the means of self-defense in case they are attacked. IGO was active in the Primary campaign that Tom ran against an anti-gun opponent. In fact, the Iowa Gun Owners PAC was so impressed with Tom that they endorsed Tom and gave him a substantial campaign contribution.

Susan Bangert is running against Tom, and despite multiple contacts from the members of IGO she refuses to complete our survey. Not only that, Susan refers to Shaw’s views on the 2nd Amendment as “extremist.” Clearly she would be a very anti-gun vote if elected. Susan can be contacted at (515) 295-9505.

In Senate District 25 (the larger Fort Dodge area)
Chris McGonegle met with Iowa Gun Owners and was happy to complete the survey. We are pleased with his replies and trust that he’ll be a strong pro-gun vote if elected.

Daryl Beall, on the other hand, refuses to answer the survey. Beall really wants to be considered pro-gun. He’s tried to talk pro-gun and act pro-gun….but he won’t complete the survey and he voted against REAL Right-to-Carry on the Senate floor last session. You can contact Beall at (515)573-7889.

In House District 49 (Fort Dodge)
Matt Alcazar has been a friend to IGO for some time now. After initially running as an Independent, Alcazar is now the GOP candidate in this district. Matt quickly completed the Gun Rights Candidate Survey. IGO members who came to the June ‘Freedom Rally’ had a chance to speak with Matt who was in attendance – and if you were lucky, you got a chance to shoot his new rifle!

Helen Miller, unfortunately, will not complete the survey. She, too, has had IGO members calling her to do the survey, but as of yet, refuses to tell the voters in HD49 where she stands. Call Miller at (515) 570-3535 and expresses your frustration if you wish.

That’s all for today’s update. Tomorrow we will focus on some races in the NE part of the State.

Please feel free to forward these around.

If you want to help Iowa Gun Owners spread the word to 1000′s of gun rights activists in the State, and to help us ensure a pro-gun majority in the House next legislative session, please go to our website located at www.IowaGunOwners.org

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa--(Ammoland.com)- Many of you have contacted us regarding the NRA’s recent endorsement of Governor Chet Culver in his bid for re-election.

For more details on this and other soon to be announced shocking endorsements from the NRA please keep reading.

In our alert yesterday we informed you about the endorsement of anti-gun Iowa Governor Chet Culver by the NRA.

We choose our words carefully since it’s Governor Culver who signed into law the bill that we described yesterday-the one that takes away guns from those who are merely accused of misdemeanor crimes.

Governor Culver also refuses to answer the 2010 Iowa Gun Owners Gun Rights Candidate Survey…

…the survey that Governor Branstad completed with 100% pro-gun responses.

Many of you have been asking us how to contact the NRA-ILA to complain about this endorsement.

The number to call is 800-392-8683. Tell them that we don’t need their political favors taking a toll on our gun rights. Urge them to reconsider this endorsement.

But there is more.
Representatives from Iowa Gun Owners have been hearing rumors in the recent past that the NRA is about to endorse liberal, gun grabbing Senator Staci Appel over gun rights champion Rep. Kent Sorenson!!!

Iowa Gun Owners members will recognize Kent Sorenson as our lead bill sponsor in the House for the last two years.

Besides being the lead sponsor of House File 596 (REAL Right-to-Carry) for the last two years, Representative Sorenson:

• Co-sponsored HF86 – A Castle Doctrine bill that provides important legal protections to Iowa gun owners.
• Co-sponsored HF2057 – A bill that disallows the government from demanding to know the make and model of your weapon prior to receiving a permit to carry it.
• Co-sponsored HF87 – A bill that disallows the government from making lawful Iowans give their fingerprints, like a common criminal, as part of receiving a concealed carry permit.
• Sponsored HF2267 – A bill that repeals Iowa’s unconstitutional permit to purchase handguns. If passed, law abiding Iowans will be able to purchase self-defense weapons from other law abiding Iowans without government interference.

Anti-gun Senator Staci Appel supported none of these in her capacity as a State Senator!

But we’ve moved beyond rumors. Today two news outlets in Iowa have broken this story, confirming what we’ve been hearing. (See links below.)

• http://theiowarepublican.com/home/2010/09/28/nra-not-relevant-anymore/
• http://www.thebeanwalker.com/

This is an outrage!
While Iowa Gun Owners prepares to launch our biggest grassroots initiative ever, to inform thousands of voters about the anti-gun positions taken by their State Representative and State Senators (or challengers) the NRA walks in behind us and is set to advocate for one of the most liberal gun-grabbers in the State of Iowa.

Iowa Gun Owners urges you to contact the NRA-ILA (the division that makes the endorsement decisions) and let them know what you think of this decision.

Whether or not you are an NRA member we encourage you to call. As a grassroots gun owner/activist they should hear from you.

The number to call is 800-392-8683.

To be perfectly clear, Iowa Gun Owners is not endorsing or advocating for or against candidates. That is the job of the newly formed Iowa Gun Owners Political Action Committee (PAC).

But we want you to be aware of the political issues surrounding your 2nd Amendment freedoms that we seek to defend and enhance.

Please make your calls today.

Contact Us

You can contact us in the following ways:

• Email: info@iowagunowners.org
• Phone: 515/309-7858
• Mail: P.O. Box 3585, Des Moines, IA 50323
• Website: www.IowaGunOwners.org

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa--(Ammoland.com)- Iowa readers, we recently called upon you to take action and call Senators Grassley and Harkin and urge them to vote no on the so-called “Disclose Act.”

This is the bill that would effectively silence organizations like Iowa Gun Owners from informing you about the positions that your elected officials have taken on the 2nd Amendment.

In particular, it would limit us during election time.

This is a dream bill if you are an anti-gun politician facing a tough re-election bid this fall. The last thing they want is for gun owners to be aware of their votes on gun bills!

We are pleased to report that thanks to your calls and emails, and those of other gun activists across the country, you helped kill this legislation that damages the 1st and 2nd Amendments at the same time.

• Senator Grassley voted against this bill.
• Senator Harkin, on the other hand, voted to support it.

It is important to note that there is no such thing as a dead bill as long as Congress is in session. So you may have to take action again. But for the time being, and for the 2nd time now, you have stopped this bill dead in it’s tracks.

NRA Not Helping
In a disappointing move that Iowa Gun Owners members are becoming all too used to, the NRA acted against the best interests of gun owners and returned a political favor to Governor Chet Culver today when they endorsed his re-election campaign.

IGO members will remember that it was the NRA that brought forth the watered down carry bill that passed through the General Assembly last session and ultimately was signed by the Governor.

IGO was concerned that anti-gun members of the legislature and Governor Culver would be able to use this bill to their advantage.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what took place.

While the NRA has endorsed Governor Culver, here are the real facts:

• Governor Culver refuses to complete the Iowa Gun Owners 2010 Gun Rights Candidate Survey.
• Governor Culver signed into law SF2357, which allows Iowans, not convicted of any crime and potentially not even being allowed to be present to make a defense at an evidentiary hearing, to have their lawfully owned firearms seized from them based on a mere accusation alone.
• Governor Brandstad has completed the Gun Rights Candidate Survey with 100% pro-gun responses.
• Lt. Governor nominee Senator Kim Reynolds co-sponsored and voted for REAL Right-to-Carry and other pro-gun bills for Iowa Gun Owners for the past two legislative sessions.

This NRA endorsement follows on the heels of a substantial PAC donation made from the NRA-PVF to Governor Culver’s campaign in the amount of $2,500 soon after he signed the watered down bill into law.

Unfortunately, for those Iowa Gun Owners’ members who are also NRA members, that’s your money helping to re-elect this anti-gun Governor who suddenly became pro-gun when it suited him politically.

It would appear as though the NRA has repaid their debt to Governor Culver for signing their watered down bill.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that Iowa Gun Owners has been meeting with pro-gun incumbents and first time candidates all over the state of Iowa and the 2nd Amendment has taken on a major component in their campaigns.

We have almost every pro-gun candidate in the state on the record now in support of REAL Right-to-Carry and our other pro-gun bills through our 2010 Gun Rights Candidate Survey program.

It looks very likely that pro-gun candidates will re-take the House of Representatives, at least, this Fall.

Thanks for your support as we get candidates on the record for gun rights.

As we roll into the final weeks of the election season, Iowa Gun Owners will be sending out waves of mail all across the state of Iowa. We will be informing you and thousands of other pro-gun activists like you, where your candidates stand on the issue of the 2nd Amendment.

We have the anti-gunners on the record after two years of recorded, roll call gun votes. (This is why procedural votes matter in the legislature.) Now they are on the run trying desperately to hide their anti-gun positions.

With your support we will make sure that their recorded votes and candidate surveys get out to the voters in their districts!

To help us with this vital program, and to help ensure a pro-gun majority next legislative session, won’t you please consider a special donation to help us with our pro-gun mail program?

It will be a costly program. But if we don’t get the word out to gun activists like yourself, then our chances of advancing solid gun bills next legislative session will be diminished.

You can contact us in the following ways:

• Email: info@iowagunowners.org
• Phone: 515/309-7858

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa--(Ammoland.com)- As we gear up for the Fall elections in Iowa the issue of the 2nd Amendment takes on a whole new focus.

Anti-gun politicians cross their fingers and are hoping that you forget their anti-gun votes which we’ve brought to your attention.

They are hoping that they bought you off this year with the watered down bill they passed during the 2010 session.

This is the bill that takes guns away from young Iowans, that makes it simple for Iowa vets to lose their guns for acknowledging mental stress, that requires you to get retrained for the rest of your life and more!

There are also a bunch of solidly pro-gun candidates out there, incumbents and challengers, that are hoping that the voters understand their views on the 2nd Amendment.

To better inform you, our members, about these various views Iowa Gun Owners has put together our 2010 Gun Rights Candidate Survey. This simple 8 question form allows us to get a fairly accurate idea of a candidate’s views on the 2nd Amendment.

The exciting news is that we’ve received pro-gun replies from almost all of the candidates that we expected to hear from.

Of course, the grabbers don’t return their surveys or they mark refused and mail them back. Don’t worry, we’ll tell you which ones did that later.

Right now though, there are still some candidates that have failed to return the Gun Rights Candidate Survey that need to. These are candidates that claim to be pro-gun, and likely many of them are, but we need to get the survey back from them.

Iowa Gun Owners recently re-mailed the surveys to those candidates that failed to return them to us.

Once the deadline has passed, we’ll inform you as to who has refused to complete the survey.

In the meantime, feel free to contact your incumbent representatives or the challenger that is vying for the honor of representing you and make sure that they’ve completed this important survey.

Almost every candidate will tell you that they are pro-gun. You saw that last legislative session when long time anti-gunners suddenly started to pretend to care about gun rights.

But for many candidates, this new found rhetoric is just smoke and mirrors, designed to confuse you and get them re-elected.

So if you are told by a candidate that they are pro-gun but that they have not returned the survey, remember that and urge them to do the survey.

We will let you know, in the next two weeks, the results of this candidate survey program so stay tuned.

In the meantime, if you would like to help us cover the costs of this survey program please feel free to chip in $10, $20, or even $35.

Armed with your support and our survey results Iowa Gun Owners will make sure that our members, as well as thousands of other gun rights supporters across the state, know who truly supports gun rights and who just says they do.

Governor Branstad
Many of you will remember that in the week before the June 8 Primary, Iowa Gun Owners announced which of the gubernatorial candidates had replied to the 2010 Gun Rights Candidate Survey and which ones had not.

If you recall, Governor Branstad did not choose to complete the survey at that time.

We are pleased to announce that since the Primary, representatives from Iowa Gun Owners have met with Governor Branstad’s campaign and we recently received a signed survey from him!

The board of Iowa Gun Owners would like to thank those of you who contacted the campaign and urged Governor Branstad to complete this important survey. Your calls and emails worked!

We will hang on to the results of this survey while we survey Governor Culver. Once we have a reply from that survey we will inform you of the results.

If you are a Republican, keep this in mind when talking to those Republican candidates who are running for State Senate and State Representative.

The signed survey from Gov. Branstad and the recent addition of a REAL Right-to-Carry plank to the GOP platform are positive signs in the fight to restore the 2nd Amendment to Iowans and any GOP candidate should have no problem signing this survey.

As a reminder, Iowa Gun Owners is truly a non-partisan organization. We will happily report the results of Governor Culver’s survey when we have something to report.

Contact Us

We’re also on Facebook. Search for the ‘Iowa Gun Owners’ group and join the group.

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa --(AmmoLand.com)- This is the bill that would directly threaten our ability to advocate for your right to keep and bear arms by not allowing us to inform you about the voting record of incumbent politicians.

In our last article we warned you that the vote on the so called “Disclose Act” was set to take place on Wednesday.

The “Disclose Act” is the 1st Amendment killing bill that seeks to silence organizations like Iowa Gun Owners from informing you about the votes cast by your elected officials during election time.

Passage of the “Disclose Act” would be a huge benefit to the anti-gun incumbents currently elected to office. You see, anti-gunners don’t like hearing from you at any time but they especially don’t like to hear from you during election time.

But members of grassroots gun rights organizations just like you went to work contacting your Senators and Representatives and we are pleased to report that your actions have paid off!

The vote on the “Disclose Act” stalled as the anti-gunners failed to obtain the required number of votes needed to move this bill forward! Thank you for all your hard work.

Senator Grassley kept his word and voted against this bill while Senator “put all the guns on a barge and sink them” Harkin voted in favor of this act.

But make no mistake, this fight is not over!

While the anti-gunners failed to muster the votes required to begin final debate on “Disclose,” this bill is not dead.

The Senate adjourns next week but this bill may rise up again next week, or, more likely, this bill may come up again in the Fall. Anti-gun politicians like Senator Reid will wait for the right moment to spring this.

When that time comes we will inform you. In the meantime, thanks for all your calls and emails regarding this bill.

Clearly gun owners from all across the country mobilized on this and you’ve made a tremendous impact!

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

National Association for Gun Rights

Iowa --(Ammoland.com)- In Iowa, a Federal judge has ordered the Osceola County Sheriff to issue a concealed handgun permit to a political activist and take a remedial course on Free Speech and the 1st Amendment.

Iowa Gun Owners member Paul Dorr, father of IGO director Aaron Dorr, successfully sued Osceola County Sheriff Douglas Weber, after his ccw permit application was denied.

Sheriff Weber testified that he denied Dorr’s permit application because of Dorr’s political activities and views — the same grassroots activism that gun owners like you participate in with the National Association for Gun Rights.

In the ruling Federal District Judge Mark Bennett said: “In denying Paul a concealed weapons permit, Sheriff Weber single-handedly hijacked the First Amendment and nullified its freedoms and protections. Ironically, Sheriff Weber, sworn to uphold the Constitution, in fact retaliated against a citizen of his county who used this important freedom of speech and association precisely in the manner envisioned by the founding members of our nation …”

As a result of his outrageous infringement upon Mr. Dorr’s rights, Sheriff Weber was ordered by Judge Bennett to complete a college level course on the U.S. Constitution, “including — at least in part — a discussion of the First Amendment.” Sheriff Weber is also required to file an affidavit proving his completion of the course with the court.

This is a huge victory for the right-to-carry in Iowa.

Congratulations are due to Paul Dorr and Iowa Gun Owners for this important victory.

You can read more about the lawsuit and Judge Bennett’s ruling on the National Association for Gun Rights’ blog.

For liberty,

Sincerely,

Dudley Brown
Executive Director
National Association for Gun Rights

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa --(AmmoLand.com)- The vote on the so called “Disclose Act” was held on Thursday as we reported to you last week.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, with her substantial majority, was able to force this bill through the House of Representatives.

However, what was supposed to be an easy victory with minimal resistance turned into an all out battle and “Disclose” passed by a slim margin of just 219 to 206.

Thanks to you, and thousands of gun rights activists across the country, you made this a tough fight for those anti-gun Democrats in the House.

Your calls and emails into Washington made a huge impact!

Iowa’s Congressional delegation was split on this issue.

• Congressmen King and Latham voted against this bill.
• Congressmen Loebsack, Braley, and Boswell voted in favor of this bill.

In case you missed the alert we sent out last week, the so called “Disclose Act” is being used by liberal power brokers in Washington to eliminate our ability to communicate with you regarding the political votes cast by your state and federal politicians during the months prior to an election!

Of course this is the most important time for grassroots activists like you and me to be communicating, right before it’s time to cast your vote.

It’s every anti-gun politician’s dream to be able to vote against your gun rights and then prevent No Comprise groups like Iowa Gun Owners from reminding you how they voted at election time.

And believe me, there are many anti-gunners in Des Moines who would love to silence Iowa Gun Owners so that no one can stand in their path as they continually attempt to regulate, restrict, and further erode your 2nd Amendment rights.

The fight now moves to the Senate – where we stand a fair chance of stopping “Disclose” if we act quickly!

The liberal anti-free speech and anti-gunners don’t have as big of a majority in that chamber, but they do have the majority so you need to get involved.

Contact Senator Grassley at 202-224-3744 and let him know what you think of this bill. He has indicated to Iowa Gun Owners that he will vote no on this bill. (More on that below.) But he needs to be reminded that Iowans find this bill repulsive so that he’s not tempted to change his mind.

In addition, call Senator Tom Harkin at 202-224-3254 and strongly urge him to vote no on the so called “Disclose Act” as well.

As we told you last week, this bill was dead in the water until the NRA made a deal with anti-gun politicians like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid that allowed a special exception for them.

We are not going to take your time to repeat what we said in the last alert but just want to remind you that this bill was dead until the NRA cut a deal to make them exempt.

So feel free to call the NRA at 800-672-3888 and tell them to knock it off. Tell them to denounce the so called “Disclose Act” for what it is, an attack on both our First and Second Amendment rights.

Many of you have called us reporting that the NRA says that they are opposing “Disclose.” We don’t understand why they are saying that as it simply isn’t true. Conservative organizations all over the country are scratching their heads trying to understand why the NRA would do this. So call them again and demand that they publicly oppose “Disclose.”

Need more confirmation? Read next to hear what US Senator Charles Grassley told Iowa Gun Owners at the state convention last Saturday about Disclose and the NRA.

As many of you know Saturday was the date of the GOP convention in Des Moines. Nearly every Republican figure you can think of was in Des Moines to attend the event.

Representatives from Iowa Gun Owners were also on hand talking to candidates and incumbents about REAL Right-to-Carry and Iowa’s unconstitutional permit-to-purchase requirements and other issues concerning our 2nd Amendment freedoms.

Senator Charles Grassley was present as well and one Iowa Gun Owners representative asked him how he intends to vote on the so called “Disclose Act.”

To his credit, Senator Grassley said that he plans to vote NO on “Disclose.”

We were pleased to hear this.
But more, Senator Grassley came back to us and urged us to contact the NRA and find out why they are supporting Disclose by default!

That’s correct, even Senator Grassley is acknowledging that the NRA could do much to stop this First Amendment attack on our Second Amendment rights. Their refusal to act needs to be confronted.

So make sure to contact the NRA today and tell them to officially oppose the so called “Disclose Act.”

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Gun Rights Champion Ron Paul

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa --(AmmoLand.com)- Iowa Gun Owners would like to inform you that Texas Congressman Ron Paul will be in Iowa in a few weeks speaking on freedom and his organization’s fight to restore liberty.

IGO will be at the event!

Dr. Paul is a friend to Iowa Gun Owners’ and you may recall that last summer Congressman Paul endorsed IGO and our fight to pass REAL Right-to-Carry for all Iowans.

This carries significant weight as Congressman Paul has been a lifelong advocate for 2nd Amendment freedoms during his time in Congress.

Below is a portion of the endorsement issued by Dr. Paul last year:

Iowa Gun Owners is the only organization that takes a committed no compromise stance towards your gun rights. This session they have introduced a Vermont style “Real Right to Carry Bill” into the House with the goal being that law abiding citizens don’t need the permission of a government official to carry a gun for self-defense.

I encourage all who love liberty and freedom to join and support Iowa Gun Owners! Now is the time for people to mobilize and take back their freedoms before more and more layers of government regulation are added to them.

Congressman Paul will be speaking in Des Moines on May 14 at 7:30pm at the Embassy Suites on the River. The address is 101 East Locust St. This event is free and open to the public.

On Saturday, May 15, at 2:00pm and 6:30pm, there will be a forum held entitled “Forum on the Future of Freedom in America” with a variety of conservative authorities.

Finally, there will be a variety of political training classes offered during this weekend as well on May 15 and 16.

For more information on this event including your chance to meet Dr. Paul in person, attend the valuable political training classes, or to listen in on the forums please click HERE.

And if you have time to attend, be sure to stop by the Iowa Gun Owners table where you can join up at a special discounted rate, see how your Representative and Senator voted on REAL Right-to-Carry last session, and get involved with IGO as we work to elect truly pro-gun politicians to the Iowa House and Senate this fall.

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners Annual Rally

Iowa Gun Owners

Steamboat Rock, Iowa --(AmmoLand.com)- The board of directors of Iowa Gun Owners would like to invite you to our annual Freedom Rally.

This will be a wonderful time to come out and meet some of the board members and director of Iowa Gun Owners and take part in a fantastic afternoon program where we celebrate our 2nd Amendment rights!

Here are the details:

• Date: Saturday June 19, 2010
• Time: 1:00pm until approximately 7:00pm
• Location: Pine Ridge Campground, Steamboat Rock, Iowa

Starting at 1:00pm we will be hosting an open range time where you can shoot your own weapons or those that are provided on the park firing range. During this time, we will have firearms instructors on site to help teach newer shooters how to safely and effectively handle firearms of all makes and models.

There will be room here for the newest shooter or for one who’s been enjoying his/her 2nd Amendment rights for decades! (Want to buy a new gun? This may be a chance to come and test one out as we will have many different types of weapons on site.)

Our BBQ grills will start at 4:30pm and we will begin serving at 5:00pm. You are invited to attend. This will be followed at 6:00pm by our keynote speaker, and trust us, you won’t want to miss Tom Moore’s presentation regarding attacks on our gun rights – from right here in Iowa all the way up to the United Nations’ proposed Small Arms Treaty and what you can do to help stop it.

We also have an array of solidly pro-gun members from the Iowa House and Senate who have already confirmed they will be present and you will have the opportunity to hear, first hand, how effective your support of Iowa Gun Owners has been in the 2nd Amendment fight here in Iowa.

In addition, several candidates for the House and Senate have also made plans to attend this event, giving you a chance to ask the tough questions to those candidates that want to represent you in Des Moines next January.

This is going to be a family event so feel free to bring the whole family and make a day of it. There are modern restrooms available, a playground for the kids, and access nearby to hotels or camping should you prefer to stay overnight.

If you can’t come for the day but would like to shoot for a few hours, or can’t come until later but would like to hear our keynote speaker, don’t worry – you can attend for the whole day or just an hour.

This will be Iowa Gun Owners’ annual membership event – make sure you don’t miss this exciting opportunity to enjoy and help preserve your 2nd Amendment freedoms.

This is a free event; however we will be accepting your generous donations to cover both the cost of the event and continue the fight for your 2nd Amendment rights here in Iowa as we enter the 2010 campaign cycle.

You can indicate your intention to attend this event by:

• Emailing us at: info@iowagunowners.org (preferred) or
• Calling us at 515-309-7858.

(When contacting us please tell us how many people will be attending in your party so we can better prepare for all the food we will need.)

Resume on Key-Note Speaker Tom Moore:
Current Washington representative for Fabrique Nationale Herstal (FNH), the world’s leading manufacturer of military small arms; Also represents the sporting arms producers Browning and Winchester; From 1995 to 1998, Tom was director of the international and defense studies at The Heritage Foundation; From 1992 to 1995 was a Professional Staffer on the Senate Armed Services Committee, where his portfolio included strategic missile programs, ballistic missile defense, and U.S. operations abroad; Helped conduct a comprehensive survey of training and operational units of the Armed Forces in CONUS and overseas. Security Clearances when last active were Top Secret/SCI; Former officer in the U.S. Army Reserve (Armor Branch), and completed the U.S. Army Armor Basic and Infantry Officer Advanced courses; 1970 graduate of The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, attended the University of Grenoble, France under a French Government bourse d’etude (awarded from the Georgetown University); Moore is an avid skier and Scuba diver and a skilled marksman, and participates in various tactical shooting activities (handgun, combat shotgun, tactical rifle, long-range precision rifle), and in sports shooting (skeet, trap, and sporting clays.)

Items to bring:
Some hard chairs will be provided but feel free to bring your favorite lawn chair and sun screen, your personal firearms and ammo. IGO will provide a variety of weapons to practice with under supervision and, on a limited basis, ammo for them to shoot.

Directions to Rally:
From US Highway 20 (east bound – south east of Iowa Falls) turn south on County Road D-35 off exit 175, travel one mile south and then continue on D35, as it turns east, 3½ miles to the Iowa River bridge. Immediately before the bridge turn left (north) on gravel road into the Pine Ridge County Park and follow the signs.

From U.S. Highway 20 (west bound – west of Cedar Falls) turn south on County Road S-56, off exit 181 (ethanol plant corner), travel 3¾ miles to County Road D-35 on east side of Steamboat Rock. Turn west on D-35 and travel through Steamboat Rock (approx. ½ mile) until crossing the Iowa Riverbridge. Immediately upon crossing, turn right (north) on gravel road into the Pine Ridge County Park and follow the signs.

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Concealed Carry Shall Issue Passes in Iowa

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa --(AmmoLand.com)- As you may have heard in the media, on April 29 Governor Culver signed into law a bill that makes Iowa a ‘shall issue’ state in regards to concealed carry.

This is, in some regards, good news for Iowans in certain counties where it was impossible to obtain permits to carry.

For many Iowans, however, this is a major step backwards.

If you are between the ages of 18 and 20 you will no longer be able to carry. If you are a military veteran, recently home from military service, and you speak to a counselor and confide in that person that you’re having trouble sleeping or eating, etc., you will likely not be able to carry ever again. If you have certain misdemeanor offenses on your record - even misdemeanors that involve no physical contact – these misdemeanors will now be grounds to deny you your gun rights for life. Also, you’ll have to get re-trained to carry your weapon every time you renew your permit for the rest of your life. You can do your own math regarding the costs associated with that.

In our last email update we provided you with an analysis of this bill and the way it came about being passed and so we’ll not do that again here.

But it’s important to remember that this bill passed only because the anti-gunners at the Capitol are scared about their re-election chances and they now know that the gun issue will be a force to reckon with this November. This only happened because you’ve made this into an issue.

But more to the point, this bill was passed because it was seen as more ‘reasonable’ than the REAL Right-to-Carry bill which was being pushed by Iowa Gun Owners with your constant help. (Note: when an anti-gunner talks about ‘reasonable’ gun bills they are referring to the bill that allows for the least amount of freedom.) But don’t take our word for it.

In their recent legislative year end report the Iowa State Sheriff’s and Deputies Association (ISSDA) lobbyists, trying to explain how the ‘shall issue’ bill passed said, “Lobbyist Susan Cameron and her team of sheriffs did all they could to defeat SF2379 (the ‘Shall Issue’ bill.) However, with the Republicans in the legislature locked up in support of SF2379, and supporting even stronger versions of the concept, it didn’t take many Democrats to pass the bill.”

Did you catch that, the comment at the end about many Republicans supporting even stronger versions of the concept?

This is a direct reference to the REAL Right-to-Carry bill. As we’ve said all along: the extremes always dictate the middle in politics. Your calls, emails, and presence at the Capitol for the last two sessions is what made the anti-gunners sit up and take notice. They’ve given us this crumb from their table – they are trying to make you go away. It’s important that they realize that we are not satisfied and are coming back for more.

Because don’t forget, your sheriff can still deny you the right to carry a weapon. In fact, they can deny you a permit for something that they think you may do in the future. That’s right, if the sheriff thinks you are likely to commit a crime or negligent act in the future he can deny your permit – under this new law!

As if to make our point, CedarCounty Sheriff Warren Wethington said last week on WHO radio regarding the new gun bill, “We still have discretion [to deny permits], really the only difference is we have to put it in writing [why we are denying] and show the person…”

Great, that’s great, all the anti-gunners who voted for this bill get to claim to be pro-gun when this bill still gives the sheriff’s discretion to deny you your right to keep and bear arms!

This is exactly what Iowa Gun Owners said was going to happen and the very thing we tried to stop - and with your help we came close - falling just 6 votes short in the House and Senate from passing REAL Right-to-Carry.

It’ll be important now to make sure everyone knows that we are not satisfied and are going to come back for more next session. Stay tuned for more on that later.

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa --(AmmoLand.com)- As the dust settles on the 2010 legislative session it is clear that Iowa Gun Owners has had a major impact on the 2nd Amendment debate at the Capitol and across the state.

There is a saying in politics that the extremes dictate the middle. That’s exactly what took place in Iowa in the 2010 session.

Fifteen months ago when Iowa Gun Owners formed there was practically no momentum here in Iowa in the fight to restore the 2nd Amendment to law abiding Iowans. There was almost no one calling for any changes at all to the arbitrary concealed carry laws Iowans were suffering under.

Iowa was considered a ‘fairly administered’ may issue state where the sheriff may issue you a permit and he may not. Sheriffs had complete control over who carried a weapon for self-defense, and many sheriffs were making it very, very hard to obtain permits. Some issued no permits at all and many of you experienced some combination of this.

Enter Iowa Gun Owners in January of 2009. With your support we began to advocate for the REAL Right-to-Carry bill that would allow all law abiding Iowans the option to carry a weapon for self-defense WITHOUT needing to first obtain government permission. REAL Right-to-Carry allows for you to obtain a permit for reciprocity and it also allows you to openly carry as most other states do. This is not a new concept and is the law currently in Vermont, Alaska, most of Montana, and will likely soon be law in Wyoming and Arizona.

Many people at the Capitol and across the state immediately said that Iowa Gun Owners, and you by default, were crazy and that this ‘extremist’ view of the 2nd Amendment would never work here in Iowa. Even some pro-gun people said that this was too much for Iowa’s political climate and that we’d never get anywhere. We were told to compromise and make deals – which usually means deciding to take gun rights away from a certain age group or people with certain types of mere misdemeanors or the like.

But the board of Iowa Gun Owners does not accept this line of thinking.

You see, when you adopt the principle that you are going to lose, and you merely try to limit how much of your rights you will lose, you still lose.

Iowa Gun Owners went to work building a grassroots army across the state comprised of people just like you to inform the political class in Des Moines that we want our freedoms back – not in 10 years, but now.

At the conclusion of the 2009 legislative session we were able to walk away with a 49-49 procedural vote on REAL Right-to-Carry in the Iowa House. This meant that 49 members of the House were voting to use procedural rules to support REAL Right-to-Carry and this was a huge first step.

Despite what some say, procedural votes certainly count. The first step towards passing a law is to get all the politicians on the record for or against your legislation and that tie vote accomplished that.

During the rest of 2009 Iowa Gun Owners spent our time continuing to grow our base by conducting many direct mail campaigns, going to gun shows from Council Bluffs to Cedar Rapids, speaking at public forums, and mobilizing more and more people. This was easy to do as people naturally gravitate towards freedom and our bill is the clearest expression of freedom available to Iowans regarding the 2nd Amendment.

As the 2010 session approached, Iowa Gun Owners, with the help of nearly 100 volunteers over a multi-day time frame, mailed out ten’s of thousands of pieces of direct mail to gun rights activists all over the state. This mail contained post cards to be mailed into the Capitol urging law makers to pass a REAL Right-to-Carry bill. People responded in waves and this set the stage for what took place during the session.

It is also vital to grasp the political backdrop at work here. With the anti-incumbency wave sweeping the state many anti-gun politicians were desperate to be able to claim that they too are pro-gun. In that context Iowa Gun Owners began seeing drafts, already last November, of the new carry bill that establishment gun groups were going to try to pass in Iowa. You see, even a gun grabber can support a gun bill if it’s so watered down that it’s largely meaningless.

The drafts were terrible and continued to be so as late as two weeks ago. We saw language that would allow you to lose your carry rights if you were ever arrested for an assault – not convicted, just arrested. Another draft would have struck down Iowa’s pre-emption law and would allow individual cities all over the state to pass their own gun laws. That would have been a disaster. Still other drafts allowed the government to deny you your rights if you’d ever been part of proceedings that may result in convictions – think social services at your door because you spanked your child in the park.

The list goes on. Iowa Gun Owners mounted intense battles against all of these provisions and we were successful at eliminating all of this language from the final watered down product.

Despite wanting to appear to be pro-gun, the leadership of the committees where Iowa Gun Owners’ bill resided refused to move them out of their committees. They wanted to appear to be pro-gun – but to heavily regulate that right and make sure that they could still control this right. And so our bills died in committee.

However, we kept working and the politicians in Des Moines continued to get your emails and calls. One time, while I was talking to a Representative, his phone chirped twice in just a few minutes. After reading the emails that he received on his phone, he looked at me and said, “I get these IGO email’s all the time.”

So the message was getting out and it was clear – Iowans want their 2nd Amendment rights back – not something less that is designed to throw us off course and buy political cover for anti-gunners.

In the final hours, literally, of the 2010 session a watered down gun bill was brought forth in both the House and Senate. Let me be clear, this bill was a step forward over current law because it is ‘shall issue.’ But this came at a terrible price.

I will briefly summarize the problems with this bill in order of importance:

This bill allows the government to deny you a permit if they think that you may do something unlawful or negligent IN THE FUTURE with a firearm. This is ridiculous on its face and you can imagine the implications to this. This bill requires you to be retrained every five years when you renew your permit. This was not the case prior to this bill being passed. That’s right, you need to pay $100, give or take, every five years. It is hard enough to find a class as it is, imagine what it will be like now!

We predict that firearms instruction will be a new growth industry in Iowa and it’s sad that gun rights organizations are supporting this bill when they stand to financially gain.

A quick review of the numbers: Currently there are about 30,000 permit holders in Iowa. That number will jump with shall issue, let’s assume that it climbs to 100,000 in a few years. You are retrained every five, so 100,000 permit holders divided by 5 equals 20,000 permit holders being trained every year. 20,000 times approximately $100 per class equals roughly $2,000,000 every year in fees associated with your right to defend yourself! $2 million, every year – no wonder some, even in the gun rights movement are so crazy about this bill, think of the money!

This bill incorporates federal disqualifiers into Iowa code when it comes to carrying weapons. This was not the case prior to this bill being passed. Now, if you ever commit a domestic violence misdemeanor, which does not require any physical contact, your gun rights are gone for life. This is a dangerous precedent to set. What other misdemeanors will be grounds for refusal next?

Obviously IGO doesn’t want spousal abusers carrying weapons, but this issue is very dynamic and often convictions are handed out like candy and, especially in light of the fact that convictions can occur without physical contact, this is a dangerous precedent.

This bill allows you to now be denied your gun rights if a mental health staffer thinks you are not stable. This was not the case prior to this bill being passed. While on the surface this sounds fine, consider that according to Gun Owners of America, approximately 200,000 veterans have lost their gun rights because they spoke to a counselor upon returning from military service and that counselor decided that the vet is not fully stable. It would be one thing if their due process rights were ensured – but this bill allows a mental health staffer, a commission, a panel or a judge to declare you unstable without any promise that you can confront witnesses, challenge the facts, or prepare a defense. This is dangerous, and unconstitutional. This bill raises the age on applicants for carry permits from 18 to 21. This was not the case prior to this bill being passed. Yes, we know that not many 18 year olds carry – but some do. Yes, we know that federal law prohibits anyone under 21 from buying a gun. But Iowa code allowed 18 year olds to carry under supervision. What a place to learn how to carry a gun responsibly – carrying Dad’s gun under Dad’s watchful eye. No longer.

This is the bill that did pass the House and Senate last week. The fact that this bill is shall issue means it is a step forward – but only in the current paradigm. You see, REAL Right-to-Carry, Freedom Carry, Constitutional Carry or whatever you call it is catching on all over the country. Vermont and Alaska already have it. Montana has it in all rural areas. Arizona and Wyoming are close to passing this into law as well.

With the anti-gun politicians in Des Moines nervous about re-election, gun rights groups could have banded together and passed REAL Right-to-Carry but some were told by the political bosses that that would never happen. And so it didn’t. The paradigm needs to be changed.

The excellent news however is that Iowa Gun Owners is working on doing just that. With your support we are closer than ever to passing REAL Right-to-Carry here in Iowa. This year, in the final hours of the session our bill came to the Floor in the Senate for a vote. The result was 20 for with 28 against. While we lost, realize that we are only 6 votes short in the Senate (with a vast anti-gun majority) from passing this bill and we had bi-partisan support.

In the House we are short only 5 votes as the bill failed on a close vote last week. (For those who check this online, we were short by 6 votes but that was only because one Republican representative was absent for a while and she would have voted in favor of this.)

Understand what that means. While being told that this was too extreme, that Iowans would never support this measure, and that it was a waste of time to try, Iowa Gun Owners has, with your faithful support, come to within a handful of votes of passing the best pro-gun bill ever in Iowa in a mere 15 months of operation!!!

This is thanks to the constant pressure that our members continue to place upon their elected officials. It is due to your trips to the Capitol. It is due to the unyielding philosophy of the board of Iowa Gun Owners.

But here is the best part: you and I now know who truly supports your 2nd Amendment rights and who is just posturing for political bonus points. If your Representative or Senator was truly pro-gun then he/she should have voted for the REAL Right-to-Carry bill. If they voted for the watered down carry bill but not REAL Right-to-Carry then you know that your elected official is merely paying lip service but will not support the real deal.

November is right around the corner. Between now and then Iowa Gun Owners will be informing thousands and thousands of fellow gun rights activists across the state about the true colors of their elected officials. It will be important that you help out as well.

After the election, when your voices are heard, we can roll into the 2011 session with everyone at the Capitol knowing one thing: we were not satisfied with the 2010 gun bill, we are not going to be bought off so easily, and we want real change.

Folks, we have made tremendous progress in the first 15 months of operation and many politicians in Des Moines have told us this. You will be hearing from some of them in the near future. Thank you for your help in this important fight. Your effort and your asking for what you really wanted is what got us the ‘shall issue’ bill that was passed this year. That’s a start – but we are not done.

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa – -(AmmoLand.com)- Hours ago the 2010 legislative session came to an end. There is much to report in the 2nd Amendment fight. That report will be coming out in a matter of days.

For now, know that ‘shall issue’ did pass – with a lot of problems. The anti-gunners surely bought themselves some political cover with this vote. We have a lot to do.

Our bill did not make it this session but the good news is that in the Iowa Senate our bill is only 6 votes short of passage! In the House, we are only 5 votes short! (It was short by 6 yesterday but one pro-gun Representative was not there and she would have voted yes.)

Folks – in 15 months we’ve taken Iowa to the brink of some of the best laws anywhere in the country.

You deserve a huge thank you for all your support this session. Your emails, phone calls, and trips to the Capitol have been extremely successful.

Now the fun part begins! November is not that far away and between now and then Iowa Gun Owners will be educating thousands of grassroots gun owners across the state about the gun views of the members of the House and Senate.

For today know that you have been very successful this session and clearly deserve a lot of thanks for what did pass – as faulty as it is.

Please look for Iowa Gun Owners’ 2010 Legislative Analysis that will be coming out later this week.

Yours for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms,

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa – -(AmmoLand.com)- Folks, this article is difficult to write. But you have to hear about what happened yesterday in the Capitol to State Representative Kent Sorenson.

For two years now, Representative Kent Sorenson has been one of the leading champions for the 2nd Amendment here in Iowa.

He was the one who introduced and pushed the REAL Right-to-Carry bill for Iowa Gun Owners last session.

(This is the famous legislation that would allow all law abiding Iowans the option the carry weapons, openly or concealed, WITHOUT having to beg permission from the government first. This is similar to the laws in Vermont, Alaska, most of Montana and may soon become law in Wyoming and Arizona.)

When the Speaker of the House used procedural rules to try to kill your gun rights, Rep. Sorenson pressed ahead and used his own procedural moves to force this issue to a vote and walked away with a tie vote of 49-49! This was a very important step – only by obtaining a vote can you and I know who truly supports your right to keep and bear arms.

(Of course, even though the bill was not passed you and I now know which politicians support the 2nd Amendment and we can use this information this coming November.)

Since that time Rep. Sorenson has worked tirelessly with Iowa Gun Owners to fight for your 2nd Amendment rights – the whole Capitol knows that he is a major gun rights advocate.

Like you and Iowa Gun Owners, Rep. Sorenson has concerns about the other gaggle of compromised carry bills being offered at the Capitol. And like you, he wants the best bill available for Iowans.

Some of the concerns with the current bills include:

1. The option for the government to deny you a permit for a mere misdemeanor assault charge;
2. The ability for the government to deny you a permit if some mental health staffer says you are not stable because you’ve seen horrific combat – what an insult to Iowa veterans;
3. Raising the age on applicants from 18 to 21 – which simply takes gun out of the hands of young Iowans;
4. Making you get government permission to exercise a Constitutionally guaranteed right.
5. Being forced to submit to mandatory government training before being allowed to carry a gun and defend your family in public.

These are clearly big concerns and you, Iowa Gun Owners, and Rep. Sorenson are right to not want this bill when the REAL Right-to-Carry bill contains none of these problems.

Well the truth is, the authors of this compromised legislation is the National Rifle Association. Like many of you, many of us at Iowa Gun Owners are either current or past members of the NRA – and we have a natural respect for them. This is not something we want to bring to your attention.

But unfortunately the fight for concealed carry reform this year has been a two-fold fight. You see on the one hand the hard corps anti-gun crowd is always trying to destroy more of your freedoms and we are working on stopping them.

But on the other we have the NRA with their poorly written bill.

This is the bill that you’ve been hearing about. It’s gone through many versions and edits but still has the troublesome issues listed above. This bill is something that many “moderate anti-gunners” are in favor of because as watered down as this bill is even they can support it! That’s why anti-gun politicians Senator Mike Gronstal and Representative Kevin McCarthy introduced this bill for the NRA last week.

Because of all of your emails, phone calls, and trips to the Capitol the NRA bill is not moving as quickly as they would have liked. You see, your elected officials realize that Iowans both want and deserve the best gun bill possible – and that you don’t want to settle for anything less.

So yesterday the NRA did the unthinkable. The lobbyist that the NRA sent to Iowa, sent one of his subordinates to Representative Sorenson and gave him an ultimatum: either help us with our bill (and we will make you a hero in Iowa) or we will help your opponent in the upcoming election.

That’s right, an NRA lobbyist said that he was going to try to defeat a pro-gun Representative like Sorenson because he’s too………….pro-gun.

And, the opponent that Sorenson has in his upcoming election is a notorious anti-gunner!!!

So the NRA is willing to support an anti-gunner over pro-gun Representative Kent Sorenson just because he does not like the details of the NRA bill.

I don’t know about you, but I find this outrageous!!

Also, you don’t have to just take our word for it. You see, word of this attack is getting out and yesterday Rep. Sorenson was interviewed about this on WHO radio in Des Moines. You can listen to a podcast by clicking RADIO.

This is especially confusing in light of the fact that bills very similar to our bill are getting NRA support in states like Wyoming and Arizona. Why can’t they support the bill in Iowa?

While today may be the last day in the 2010 legislative session it is not too late for you to take action.

Please do the following things:

1. Email Representative Sorenson and thank him for his vast support of your right to keep and bear arms. His email address is: kent.sorenson@legis.state.ia.us and folks, he truly deserves this.
2. Email your Senator and Representative and demand that they support the REAL Right-to-Carry bill that will be coming to the Floor as an amendment on the NRA bill – if it comes to the Floor. (You may use the pre-written email below.)
3. Call the NRA lobbyist, Chris Rager, and tell him that his conduct towards Rep. Sorenson is outrageous and demand that he publicly apologize for it. (Don’t be thrown off track – just because he had an underling deliver the threat doesn’t lessen his personal responsibility.) His number is 703-282-5296 and folks, he needs to hear from you.

• To find out who your State Representative and Senator is please FIND OUT HERE.
• To find the email address of your State Representative please click EMAIL.

You can reach your Representative by either calling the House switchboard at 515-281-3221 (ask to be transferred) or by clicking on your State Representative’s name once you hit the link above and calling the number given with their information.

To find the email address for your Senator please click EMAIL.

To call your Senator please call 515-281-3371 and ask to be transferred.

—————————————————————————–

(Pre-Written Email)

Dear ________________,

I am sending you this last email to urge your support for the REAL Right-to-Carry bill that should be coming to the Floor as an amendment as soon as today.

REAL Right-to-Carry is the best bill ever introduced here in Iowa and allows all law abiding Iowans the option to carry a weapon for self-defense without having to beg government permission.

No other bill does this. In fact, HF2528/SF2379 contain very compromised language and I am not in support of it – even as a gun owner.

I will be watching to see how you vote on REAL Right-to-Carry.

Sincerely,

—————————————————————————–

Yours for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms,

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa – -(AmmoLand.com)-There is a reason that Iowa Gun Owners calls itself “Iowa’s Only No Compromise Gun Group” – and it’s not just because of the snazzy sound of it.

It’s because we are not willing to make back room deals and compromise one piece of your rights away to secure another.

Maintaining this philosophy has kept Iowa Gun Owners from falling into one political trap after another for the last two legislative sessions. You see, when you trust an anti-gun politician to help you with your legislation you run the risk of getting burned.

We are here to warn you about another last minute attempt to take a watered down gun bill and make it truly terrible for Iowans.

This needs your immediate attention!
As we warned you last week, anti-gun legislators Senator Mike Gronstal and Representative Kevin McCarthy introduced companions pieces of legislation in the House and Senate that looked somewhat decent – relatively speaking.

This was done not because these two are pro-gun but because many anti-gun incumbents are scared about their re-election campaigns and they want to be able to say that they supported a gun bill.

Of course, it wasn’t REAL Right-to-Carry and so we asked you to contact your State Senator and State Representative to urge them to support amendments to make the bill reflect the REAL Right-to-Carry bill.

(For those new here, and new folks join here every single day – REAL Right-to-Carry would allow any law abiding Iowan the right to carry a weapon for self-defense WITHOUT having to beg government permission first. This is already the law in Vermont, Alaska, most of Montana and may soon become law in Wyoming and Arizona.)

From the start we suspected a trap was coming and today it came.

Senator Keith Kreiman, the same one who managed the Iowa Disarmament Act of 2010, has an amendment ready to go on this bill that would do the following:

Guts Iowa’s preemption law, 724.28. This is the important legal principle that states that no political subdivision may enact gun laws that are more restrictive than state code. Without this law in place your town may allow you to carry weapons for self-defense but the town next to you may deny that right – and you may be arrested for not knowing their laws. That’s right – Kreiman’s amendment will allow each individual municipality to decide which of your 2nd Amendment rights that will accept and which ones they will reject.

(Imagine driving from Des Moines to Cedar Rapids with your concealed carry permit in hand and when you get to Cedar Rapids you get stopped for running a red light. The officer asks for your license, registration and then asks if you have any concealed weapons in the car. You are trying to be honest and say that you do but that you have your concealed weapons permit with you. It will not matter – you can be arrested for having a concealed weapon in a town that prohibits this!)

This is a major, major step backwards for gun owners in Iowa and reduces this bill from a mere ‘shall issue’ back to ‘may issue.’ Allows you to be denied a permit for a mere misdemeanor assault charge! Note we are not talking here about domestic violence – we have been fighting that fight all session but it was recently made law. No, this amended language says that you will be denied a permit for a fist fight you were in 10, 20, 30, maybe 40 years ago while in a senior in high school! Of course, assaults don’t require actual physical contact in the eyes of the law. You can be arrested and convicted for actions that seem to be offensive or insulting to someone else. And this thresh hold will now be used to decide whether or not you have the right to defend yourself in public for the rest of your life! Soon spitting on the sidewalk will also be grounds for losing your 2nd Amendment rights if this keep up.

Destroys any idea of this bill still being ‘shall issue’ by allowing the government to deny you a permit to carry a weapon if they think that probable cause exists that you are likely to use your weapon in an unlawful manner or in a negligent manner. That’s right - the government gets to look into the future and decide that you may, in the future, act in a negligent manner - and you will lose your right to self-defense in public because of this. For those of you who live in counties where your sheriff refuses to issue permits, or only gives them out to a chosen few, just think of how this statue will be abused! Folks there is more – but we simply don’t have time to include it now.

This is what happens when you start to compromise and decide what rights you can barter away – ‘they’ always get what they want and you get stuck with the leftovers.

Iowa Gun Owners will not do this. The anti-gun crowd may have killed our bill this session but we will never concede the fight and give them what they want.

It’s time to call your Senator and Representative (this has been introduced in the Senate for now but may quickly come to the House version of this bill) and demand that he or she oppose this amendment. If this amendment is adopted then they need to vote no on the final passage.

If this amendment is adopted then Iowa Gun Owners will be scoring the final vote as a gun vote, not just the vote to amend this with the REAL Right-to-Carry language.

This is a very dangerous attack. Please call and email your Senator and Representative immediately and tell them to oppose this. We are down to the last few days of the 2010 session and things will be happening quickly.

Once you’ve done that, take a moment to send an email to Senator Keith Kreiman and let him know what you think of his attack on your 2nd Amendment rights. His email address is: keith.kreiman@legis.state.ia.us.

To find out who your State Representative and Senator is please FIND OUT HERE.

To find the email address of your State Representative please click EMAIL.

You can reach your Representative by either calling the House switchboard at 515-281-3221 (ask to be transferred) or by clicking on your State Representative’s name once you hit the link above and calling the number given with their information.

• To find the email address for your Senator please click EMAIL.
• To call your Senator please call 515-281-3371 and ask to be transferred.
• Feel free to use this pre-written email below or compose your own.

Thanks for your help in this pivotal fight!

(Please note that this amendment is not yet available online. We obtained a copy while working at the Capitol today but as of yet there is no online version for you to look at.) —————————————————————————-

(Pre-Written Email)

Dear ____________________,

Recently I learned of a sneak attack on my gun rights being launched by anti-gun State Senator Keith Kreiman that would:

eliminate Iowa’s preemption law which would allow any city in Iowa to make up their own gun laws and prosecute me for breaking them, even if I didn’t know about them; allows me to lose my right to carry a weapon in defense of violent criminal attack because of a mere assault conviction that may have occurred 10, 20, 30 or even 40 years in the past; allow the government to deny my right to carry a gun because of a crime that I MAY commit in the future! I expect you to do all you can to stop this anti-gun amendment and instead support the REAL Right-to-Carry bill that would allow all law abiding Iowans the right to carry a gun for self-defense without having to obtain government permission first.

Please don’t bargain my rights away in some attempt to “get something done” – please fight for the 2nd Amendment and the REAL Right-to-Carry bill.

Sincerely,

—————————————————————————–

Yours for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms,

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa – -(AmmoLand.com)- A few hours ago the concealed carry bill that we alerted you to yesterday, House File 2528, was handed over to a sub-committee consisting of Representatives’ Rick Olson, Jim Lykam, and Clel Baudler.

(This is the bill that the Democrat leadership brought forth on their own initiative. As a leadership bill it is exempt from the normal legislative deadlines.)

This is interesting indeed because Representative Olson is no friend to gun owners. In fact, when he was in charge of a previous concealed carry bill this year he took a compromised bill and made it far, far worse.

It was so bad that if you were to give a gun to your college bound daughter, or if a grandparent gave a gun of familial importance to a grandchild without state permission, both you and the recipient would be felons for life if convicted! This goes way beyond current Iowa code.

There was much more about that bill that was very dangerous but we didn’t alert you to it because it did not emerge from the funnel process in time for consideration and wasn’t ever actually filed. Instead, it was just being passed around the Capitol.

So with Rep. Olson in charge of the sub-committee anything could happen to this bill. He may do what his party leadership wants him to do and pass the bill out of committee as is. But he also may make the bill worse, maybe a lot worse.

Representatives of Iowa Gun Owners will be on hand to see how this plays out and will keep you updated.

As we said in our most recent alert, we want a vote on the REAL Right-to-Carry bill as it is brought forth as an amendment to HF 2528. We want your Representative and Senator to vote right on that. That’s the vote that we are grading. What happens on the Floor after that is less important to us and we are somewhat neutral on it.

However, all of that changes if this bill changes. If suddenly we see provisions that make gun laws more restrictive as mentioned above, or if we see language that allows you to lose gun rights because some government official thinks that you may, possibly, down the road sometime be a danger to yourself or someone else based on hearsay evidence or similar provisions, then we will be opposed to this bill in its entirety.

We are not going to support a bill that takes guns away from whole classes of people while granting them to a few.

The legislative process is very fluid and most of these deals are being cut behind closed doors and at the behest of the special interest lobbies. In fact, Capitol sources indicate that just moments ago lobbyists in favor of this bill were seen working together with lobbyists for anti-gun Attorney General Tom Miller. This bill may get way worse and we need to be prepared for that possibility.

Please take a moment to email these three legislators and tell them that you would like to see this bill get improved with an amendment using the language of House File 2241.

• You can reach Rep. Olson at this address: rick.olson@legis.state.ia.us
• You can reach Rep. Baudler at this address: clel.baudler@legis.state.ia.us
• You can reach Rep. Lykam at this addres: jim.lykam@legis.state.ia.us

Alternatively, or in addition to your emails, please feel free to call these three up and tell them this over the phone. Their numbers are given below.

• For Olson call: 515-281-7545
• For Baudler call: 641-431-3309
• For Lykam call: 515-281-3221 and ask to be transferred.

Please do this today as the details are being hammered out as we speak. And it does not matter whether or not you are a constituent of them or not. They are the ones that leadership has put in charge of this bill and, as such, are the ones to contact at this time.

We have included the same pre-written email below that was used a few days ago. Feel free to use it or write your own.

—————————————————————————–

(Pre-Written Email)

Dear ____________________,

House File 2528/Senate File 2379 is being billed as pro-gun but it is far less pro-gun that what is currently available in the legislative process.

This bills raises the age on applicants, allows me to lose my guns for mere misdemeanors, allows Iowa vets to lose their guns easier by incorporating dangerous federal language about mental health, creates entirely new ambiguous code sections related to carrying under the influence which can be harmful to gun owners, and more!

The only gun bill that I consider to be truly pro-gun this session is House File 2241/Senate File 473. The REAL Right-to-Carry bill restores my right of self-defense without making anti-gun compromises.

I therefore urge you to use all procedural tools available to you to move HF2241/SF473 onto the Floor as an amendment to improve this bill.

I will be closely watching your vote on this amendment process.

Sincerely,

—————————————————————————–

Yours for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms,

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa - -(AmmoLand.com)- While we are trying to hold the line on any additional anti-gun legislation like the Disarmament Act mentioned above, Iowa Gun Owners is still focused on trying to pass the REAL Right-to-Carry bill in the Iowa General Assembly.

The REAL Right-to-Carry bill would allow any law abiding Iowan, who is not a felon or barred by federal law, the right to carry a weapon for self-defense without having to get a permit, go to a class, pay fees, and shoot like an Olympian.

It restores freedom to Iowans by removing abusive government interference in what is a constitutionally guaranteed right. Currently, the sheriff can arbitrarily decide who can and can not carry. In a growing number of counties virtually no one can obtain the needed permit.

The bill, HF596/SF473 did not emerge from the funnel deadline in time to be considered on its own merits but will likely still be brought to the floor via an amendment.

You should know that there is a reason our bill didn’t come to the floor. The anti-gun crowd at the Capitol is scared and looking for political cover. They know that the November elections are not that far away and they are desperate to avoid being seen as anti-gun.

But rather than pass the bill that obtained a tie procedural vote last year, the anti-gun and compromised “pro-gun” politicians made a deal to bring forward a terribly compromised carry bill that:

• makes it very easy for Iowa veterans returning from war to lose their gun rights because of the word of a psychologist or therapist;
• takes guns away from young Iowans who currently can carry at the age of 18, now they will have to wait for 3 more years;
• makes an entirely new crime of carrying under the influence – with no definition of what that means. You can be walking home from dinner, having had one drink, and you can be considered ‘under the influence;
• incorporates large sections of dangerous federal law into Iowa code, resulting in certain mere misdemeanor crimes and leaving you unable to carry a gun.

We could go on, but by now you get the point. The anti-gun politicians are desperately trying to kill the REAL Right-to-Carry bill and they are using compromised legislation like the one above to do it.

We at Iowa Gun Owners are committed to the idea of effecting real change regarding Iowa’s gun laws. But that change has to enhance gun rights in Iowa – not restrict those rights even further!

That’s what the above bill does.

The good news is that the November elections are not that far away. Every seat in the House is up for election as are half of the seats in the Senate.

Iowa Gun Owners intends to work very hard to educate our members as well as the rest of the grassroots voters across the state as to the views of their elected officials.

For those politicians who are trying to kill your right to keep and bear arms, or for those who are working to subvert the best bill, it will likely be a tough election!

Thank you for your continued activism and your willingness to help us as we fight for your right to keep and bear arms!

For Freedom,

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa - -(AmmoLand.com)-After reviewing the legislation being proposed by the Attorney General’s office, and consulting with attorneys both here in Iowa and in Washington, D.C. – Iowa Gun Owners is still very much alarmed about the domestic violence gun bill that we alerted you to last week.

We have named this bill the Iowa Disarmament Act of 2010. This bill goes by a variety of numbers: HSB46, SSB1033, and SF2357 are some of the versions that this bill has undergone.

Before we discuss the current version of this bill it is important that you understand that as bad as this bill is – it was even worse before you went to work.

In previous versions, the Iowa Disarmament Act of 2010 amounted to a lifetime gun ban because there was no mechanism that the guns be returned once the protective order was lifted!

That has been fixed due to your efforts. Now, within 5 days of the ‘no contact’ order being lifted your guns will have to be returned to you thanks to an amendment offered by Senator Hartsuch.

In previous versions of this bill the government was allowed to come into your home and take your guns if these protective orders were filed against you and charge you a fee of $50 per firearm for the privilege of taking your guns! The way it now reads you will have the option to give them to a qualified person and while the sheriff may have to store them for you while you find someone qualified, you are not going to be charged for them coming to take your weapons. Once you find someone ‘qualified’ that person can get your guns back.

That said the Iowa Disarmament Act of 2010 is still a terrible bill, and the modest progress that we made in this bill does not change that fact.

This bill still:

• allows you to lose your gun rights, for years, without ever having been convicted in criminal court of anything;
• allows an anti-gun court to decide who is qualified to take possession of your guns;
• incorporates the Lautenberg Amendment (brought about by Sarah Brady of Handgun Control Inc.) into Iowa code whereas current Iowa law does not recognize this anti-gun language;
• gives the anti-gunners one more foothold into your rights; if misdemeanor domestic violence is grounds to lose your gun rights then what other misdemeanor crimes will be grounds for losing your gun rights?

All this can be done to a person who has not been convicted of anything in a court of law. And again, there is not a guarantee that you can be present at the hearing, or bring legal counsel, or have time to prepare a defense.

Despite our efforts we were unable to stop this bill in the Senate. Working with our bill sponsor in the Senate, Senator David Hartsuch (R-41), we offered five amendments to this legislation. Only one amendment passed.

Your gun rights were sold out in a major way by multiple State Senators, who claim to be “gun guys.” We will bring the details of this to your attention later on.

For now the fight goes to the House, where we have a greater chance at stopping this dangerous legislation.

It is vital that you contact your Representative as soon as possible and urge him or her to vote no on the Iowa Disarmament Act of 2010, currently SF2357.

To find out who your State Representative is please FIND OUT HERE.

To find the email address of your State Representative please click EMAIL.

To call your State Representative please call 515-281-3221 and ask to be transferred.

In addition, please take a moment to thank State Senator David Hartsuch for his courageous fight on behalf of our 2nd Amendment rights last week. He stood alone, with no help, and did what no other Senator was willing to do and deserves to be commended for that. His email address is: david.hartsuch@legis.state.ia.us.

For those of you who contacted Senator Kreiman after receiving the email alert we sent last week, we thank you. The reply you got from him was typical anti-gun drivel and was bending the truth because he is feeling pressure from pro-gun forces in his district and around the state. Please keep it up!

Feel free to contact your State Representative today using the pre-written email below, or compose one of your own.

————————————————————

(Pre-Written Email)

Dear Representative __________________,

As an Iowa gun owner I am very concerned about the status of the Iowa Disarmament Act of 2010 making its way to the House, after having been passed through the Senate last week.

This bill, most recently known as SF2357, allows an anti-gun court to take my weapons and ammunition away from me before I am ever convicted in criminal court of anything. And there is no certainty that I can have counsel at the hearing or be given time to make a defense.

The bill sets a dangerous precedent in Iowa by allowing Iowans to lose their guns, for life, because of mere assault misdemeanors. What misdemeanors will be next?

The bill would attempt to codify the federal language regarding prohibited persons into Iowa code in general. I have voted to elect you to represent me and decide what is best for Iowans. So don’t let someone tell you that ‘this is already federal law so we have to do this.’

If that were true, than we wouldn’t need an elected legislature in the first place.

Please vote NO on the Iowa Disarmament Act of 2010, in whatever form it comes to your desk. I will be waiting to see how you vote.

Sincerely,

————————————————————

Thank you for your continued activism and your willingness to help us as we fight for your right to keep and bear arms!

For Freedom,

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa - -(AmmoLand.com)- Members and Friends of Iowa Gun Owners, your emails and phone calls into the Capitol have been taking a toll on the anti-gunners in the Capitol as many elected officials have told us. We are writing you now to urge you to stand up for your gun rights again.

The Senate bill that we asked you to oppose last week, Senate File 2357, was brought up on the Senate floor yesterday evening with an amendment being offered. Both the bill and the amendment are overtly hostile to your gun rights.

The bill, Senate File 2357 and its Amendment, S-5126 are set to receive a vote as early as this morning!

It is vital that you act today and contact your State Senator and demand that he or she oppose this legislation.

Allow us to briefly review what this legislation would do.

If passed this bill would:

• Allow virtually anyone who knows you to apply to the court for a no-contact order – even if no physical contact has ever occurred between the two of you. As condition of this no-contact order you would be required to hand over all of your firearms and ammunition.
• Not require that you even be present at the court hearing. This bill does not even ensure that you have the right to even have legal counsel present or a chance to confront your accusers in a court of law.
• Allow an anti-gun court to decide who is qualified to take possession of your firearms should they decide to take them from you.
• Allow this same court to decide that no one is qualified to take your guns and order the sheriff’s department to seize them, and make you pay the sheriff for the right to lose your guns! Yeah, you get to pay the government $50 per gun that they seize from you!
  Declare you a felon, and unable to ever own guns again, if you fail to turn over so much as a single .22 cartridge.

There is more but I am sure you get the idea.

Even as amended this bill is very dangerous. Don’t let them fool you by saying ‘all we are doing is making Iowa code mirror federal code.’ That is not true!

Even federal language, as bad as it is on this issue, provides for some standard of due process. The amended version of this bill simply states that ‘Upon the issuance of a protective order…the court shall inform the person who is the subject of such order or conviction that the person shall not possess, ship, transport, or receive a firearm…”

Just like that, you are done owning firearms. Also, there is no mention, in either the bill or the amendment, of how or if you can get your guns back. The amendment talks about the protective order being lifted but there is no requirement for the state to return your guns to you! This has the appearance of a lifetime gun ban – all because some ex-girlfriend went to the court saying that she is afraid.

It is vital that you send out the pre-written email below to your State Senator immediately as the vote could happen at any time.

In additional Gun Rights News
Iowa Gun Owners would like to call special attention to State Senator Keith Kreiman (D-47). Senator Kreiman has refused to move the REAL Right-to-Carry bill out of his sub-committee and onto the Floor for a vote all session. He is aggressively opposed to your right to keep and bear arms.

Care to guess who is sponsoring the bill we are discussing above?
That’s right – Senator Keith Kreiman. Sarah Brady of Handgun Control Inc. would certainly be proud of Senator Kreiman.

Please take a moment to send Senator Kreiman an email as well. Let him know what you think of his refusal to pass REAL Right-to-Carry as well as his support for the bill mentioned above. As the Chair of the committee holding up our carry bill and of the committee that is producing this anti-gun legislation, Senator Kreiman needs to be contacted whether or not he is your Senator.

Feel free to use the second pre-written email below for this purpose or you may compose your own. His email address is: keith.kreiman@legis.state.ia.us .

If you need assistance in figuring out who your State Senator is please click here to find out.

If you need to locate your State Senator’s email address please click here for that information.

If you would like to call your State Senator please call 515-281-3371 and ask to be transferred.

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(Pre-Written Email)

Dear State Senator _____________________,

I am writing to urge you to OPPOSE Senate File 2357 and the amendment currently filed on the bill, S-5126.

This bill would allow me to lose my gun rights based on the accusation of a mere acquaintance who says that he/she is afraid of me – with no physical contact. As amended, this bill would not even require that I be present for this process and would deny my due process rights by not even allowing me to confront my accuser.

Also, should some anti-gun court decide to take my guns away under this proposal the court gets to decide who is qualified to take my guns!

The court would even have the option to allow the government to seize my guns, and make me pay them to do it!

Lastly, there is no mention of how I can ever get my property back! This seems to be a lifetime gun ban based on the words of one person in a hearing that I might not even be able to attend.

Regardless of how many amendments are added to this bill to make it ‘better’ this bill will always be anti-gun and I certainly expect you to vote no on it. I will be watching to see how you vote on this important matter.

Sincerely,

———————————————————————

Pre-Written Email to Senator Keith Kreiman
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Dear Senator Kreiman,

As a gun owner and someone who cherishes the Constitutional protections that I enjoy as an American I am very upset that you are bringing forth SF 2357 as well as the anti-gun amendment S-5126.

These proposals will take guns away from people based merely on the allegations of another person and there is no guarantee that the affected party can even be present at the hearing!

From making Iowans pay the state to come in and seize their guns, to allowing anti-gun courts to decide who is ‘qualified’ to take possession of the seized property of an Iowan who has not even been convicted of anything, this bill is anti-gun and un-American to the core.

How dare you try to force this on law abiding Iowans!

In addition, I would like to express my frustration at your refusal to move SF473, the REAL Right-to-Carry bill out of committee. This bill would increase public safety by allowing more law abiding Iowans the right to carry a weapon for self-defense.

Please represent the views of the voters who elected you to office in the first place and not those of the anti-gun special interest groups in the Capitol.

Sincerely,

———————————————————————

Thank you for your continued activism and your willingness to help us as we fight for your right to keep and bear arms!

For Freedom,

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

(Senator Gronstal (at left) hurls hundreds of 2nd Amendment petitions to the floor in disgust. The papers are seen in the lower right corner moving so fast that the camera had a hard time capturing their motion. And no, the man sitting down and using a laptop is not a staffer who just 'missed' the throw.)

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa --(AmmoLand.com)- You have got to take a moment to learn about the outrageous conduct of State Senator Michael Gronstal in the Capitol yesterday in Des Moines. Senator Gronstal, who has an A+ rating from a national gun group and who even takes their PAC money, made it very clear yesterday what his views on the 2nd Amendment really are.

But you don’t have to just take our word for it – check out the pictures!

Iowa Gun Owners Betrayed!

Voters in the Council Bluffs and Carter Lake area today were slapped in the face by their State Senator, Mike Gronstal.

For a long time Senator Gronstal has told the voters in his district what he’s recently been telling representatives of Iowa Gun Owners: “I’m pro gun.”

Knowing that he says he’s pro-gun and knowing that he’s received an A+ endorsement from a national gun group, not to mention the fact that he took money from that organization, one would think that he would be quick to help us pass our REAL Right-to-Carry bill.

What a faulty assumption!

After approaching him two weeks ago to ask him for his direct support to move our Senate version of the REAL Right-to-Carry bill (S.F. 473) out of committee and onto the floor for a vote and getting a noncommittal answer, we approached him again today.

This time we brought with us hundreds of petitions that many of you signed at our gun shows in Council Bluffs (this is Sen. Gronstal’s district so these petitions were signed by his voters) or through the mail that you’ve received from us. We brought these to him to show him that you – the voters in his district – want him to represent you and support the 2nd Amendment.

We presented these petitions to him and respectfully asked him to help move this bill and guess what he did with your petitions: he threw them on the floor!!!!

That’s right; at the Capitol, in the rotunda, in front of a hundred people.

His actions spoke loud and clear on what he thinks of your 2nd Amendment rights. He thinks its trash – not even worth looking at!

Further, he made it very clear what he thinks of your right to petition the government for redress of grievance when he threw your wishes on the floor without even looking at them.

This is outrageous! Senator Gronstal may be the Senate Majority Leader and one of the most powerful men in Iowa, but he was put in that position by the voters of Senate District 50.

Please take a moment to express your frustration with his antics by using the pre-written email below. Also, if you would prefer to call him (or do both) feel free to call him at his office by calling 515-281-3901. You don’t have to be a resident of the Council Bluffs area to do this either. As the Majority Leader in the Iowa Senate, Gronstal has assumed the primary leadership position at the Capitol – contact him today.

IGO Executive Director Aaron Dorr (at middle right holding yellow petitions) speaks to Senator Gronstal.

After receiving another non-answer from the Senator, IGO Executive Director Aaron Dorr (at right) delivers a stack of hundreds of signed petitions to Senator Gronstal.

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Pre-Written Email

State Senator Michael Grontstal,

I find it outrageous that you care so little for the opinions of the voters of your district.

That you would actually throw our petitions on the ground and stomp off is the height of arrogance.

Regardless of the issues involved, when you are presented with signed petitions, from actual voters, I expect you to do the job you were elected to do and represent us.

I expect you to fight for our 2nd Amendment rights by moving SF473 out of committee and I also expect you to apologize to the members and representatives of Iowa Gun Owners and show more respect next time you are speaking with them.

Sincerely,

——————————————————————

Compromises

Many of you have acted on our recent email alert and have done a fantastic job at letting the members of the House know that you do not support any compromised bill when it comes to your gun rights.

In fact, yesterday, when representatives of Iowa Gun Owners were talking with one State Representative for a few moments he received multiple emails on his cell phone from you! He said he gets a steady supply of IGO member communication.

Another State Representative told us that the pressure that Iowa Gun Owners has brought to bear at the Capitol this session has been ‘incredible’ and that we’ve been gaining ground steadily.

Thank you for that! This only happens due to the constant pressure that you are keeping on your elected officials.

As our recent article stated the sell-out Baudler bill (HF2255) was brought forth in committee yesterday. Your pressure helped us to generate much opposition to this bill proposal. In fact, Representative Dwayne Alons (R-4) made a courageous stand and led an amendment charge trying to replace the compromised bill with the REAL Right-to-Carry bill that would allow all Iowans who are not felons to carry without a permit. (Rep. Alons deserves your thanks for this and can be contacted by emailing this address: dwayne.alons@legis.state.ia.us.)

Unfortunately we lost this vote 14-7, with members of both political parties voting both yes and no.

The good news here is that your contact with your elected officials has caused serious concern in both parties. Yesterday’s vote confirmed this when we saw Representatives who cosponsored this compromised bill vote in favor of amending that same bill in committee. They are feeling your pressure.

Now we have to prepare to halt this bill on the floor assuming that it does come up.

We will give you more updates when the time comes but please be prepared to call, email, and visit with your State Representatives and Senators when you get our alert.

In the meantime, more and more of you are contacting us wanting to come to the Capitol to express your outrage at your inability to carry a gun for self-defense.

If you would like to come down to the Capitol sometime please get in touch with us and we’d be happy to show you around.

Contact Us
You can contact us in the following ways:
Email: info@iowagunowners.org
Phone: 515/309-7858
Mail: P.O. Box 3585, Des Moines, IA 50323
Website: www.IowaGunOwners.org

Yours for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms,

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa --(AmmoLand.com)- To recap, currently in Iowa if you want to carry a weapon to defend yourself or your family you need to get permission from your sheriff to do so. In certain parts of the state you can get these permits pretty easily.

In others, you can not get permits at all. There is no one else to apply to either, leaving the sheriff with the complete power to decide who’s life is worthy of defense and whose is not.

Further, in many counties, while you can get a permit, it can be regulated so heavily as to be virtually worthless – leaving you with a permit that is only good in very specific cases.

Iowa Gun Owners is promoting the REAL Right-to-Carry bill as the answer to this abusive system. The REAL Right-to-Carry Bill would allow any law abiding Iowan the right to carry a weapon for self-defense WITHOUT having to first beg government permission. This is patterned after the common sense gun laws in Vermont and Alaska where permits are not required of law abiding citizens.

Last session, Iowa Gun Owners, working with our bill sponsor Rep. Kent Sorenson, was able to secure a tie procedural vote on this historic legislation.

This session our bill, HF596, is lodged in sub-committee. Continue reading below for more information of who is supporting the REAL Right-to-Carry bill and who is not.

Enemies of the REAL Right-to-Carry
Politicians are human beings, just like you and me. As such they get nervous from time to time. Right now in Des Moines, there are a lot of nervous anti-gun politicians who are watching the days go by and trying to figure out a way to win their re-election bids later on this year. They are aware of the anti-incumbent wave that is sweeping the nation and they are scared.

So in an attempt to bolster their image with the voters in their districts these anti-gun and closet anti-gun politicians are seeking political cover.

This is only possible if another gun bill, besides the REAL Right-to-Carry bill, is introduced into the General Assembly that is so compromised that even an anti-gunner can vote for it.

Unfortunately, one such bill has emerged this session. House File 2255, sponsored by Rep. Clel Baudler, would do the following things:

• Still require that law abiding Iowans beg permission from the government to be able to carry a weapon for self-defense.
• Raises the age on applicants for a carry permit from the present 18, to 21.

So if you are a veteran, returning home from war and are still under the age of 21, you would not be able to carry in Iowa because you are not considered mature enough to carry a gun. Even for those who are not vets, this bill denies young Iowans their right to keep and bear arms for an extra 3 years!

Incorporate federal language into Iowa code regarding mental health that makes it easier for some psychologist to deny you your gun rights based on their say so.

This dangerous policy, as interpreted by the BATFE, has lead to some 200,000 vets having their gun rights taken from them. This has been aptly tracked by Gun Owners of America and more information can be found about this on their website. This issue is so divisive that just last week, on Capitol Hill in Washington, the Veterans Affairs Committee unanimously, and with bi-partisan support, passed a bill out of their committee that would finally provide vets with the needed due process protections that they currently lack. Clearly even the politicians in Washington realize how abused this current language is – and the Baudler bill would bring that same mess into Iowa.

Incorporate the dangerous Lautenberg language into Iowa code. This is the idea that anyone with a domestic violence misdemeanor conviction can’t possess or carry a handgun. While this is federal law right now, it’s not been put into Iowa code yet and we see no reason why a “pro-gun” bill should do so. In fact, recently the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the conviction of a man who was convicted of having a weapon after having been declared prohibited due to a domestic violence conviction.

The court said that the defendant’s 2nd Amendment rights were not forfeited on account of a mere misdemeanor.

We could not agree more – and we can’t understand why anyone would want to throw up more roadblocks to gun ownership here in Iowa.

We could go on – but likely you get the idea. (In addition, IGO members deserve a major round of applause here because as bad as this bill is, it was far worse in its original form. Your constant pressure being expressed to your elected officials regarding this bill has directly impacted it and made it “better” according to sources at the Capitol.)

What is starting to become evident now at the Capitol is that those who are not truly pro-2nd Amendment want to kill the REAL Right-to-Carry bill by leaving it stuck in committee where they will never have to vote on it. Instead, these anti-gun folks want to be able to vote on another bill, being touted as pro-gun, to receive the political cover for being pro-gun, when as we’ve shown above, this bill is clearly not.

If these politicians want to prove their commitment to your gun rights they should simply move the REAL Right-to-Carry bill out of sub-committee and then onto the floor and pass it.

Anything less than that is making concessions up front to anti-gun politicians. Why would a “pro-gun” organization, or Representative, make this kind of deal?

We’ve spoken to Representative Baudler about this but he needs to hear from you as well. Please take a moment to contact Representative Baudler and demand that he support the REAL Right-to-Carry bill – the same bill he voted in support of last legislative session – by working to move it off the sub-committee where it currently is stuck. (Rep. Baudler is on the sub-committee and could do a lot to see it passed onto the full committee.) Tell him that his bill is dangerous as it takes guns out of the hands of many Iowans and makes dangerous concessions to the anti-gun lobby in Des Moines.

You can contact Representative Baudler by calling 641.431.3309

In addition, in the last few days at the Capitol, representatives from Iowa Gun Owners have received very hostile responses from Rep. Ray Zirkelbach. Zirkelbach, who says he is in favor of gun rights, refuses to even speak to us at the Capitol and needs to hear from you as well. Rep. Zirkelbach can be reached at 319.480.0296

You should know that the calls you make and the emails that you send are having a major impact at the Capitol. I see it every day down there. Elected officials are telling us daily that they are receiving constant emails and phone calls regarding the REAL Right-to-Carry. Some have even asked us to stop the calls. We tell them that the calls will stop when they vote the right way. So thank you for all your work so far and please take a moment to call these individuals today. In addition, you can email them the pre-written email below by using the following email addresses:

• clel.baudler@legis.state.ia.us
• ray.zirkelbach@legis.state.ia.us

——————————————————————————–

Pre-Written Email

Dear Repsentative _____________________,

As a 2nd Amendment supporter in Iowa I am very concerned about House File 2255 that is currently being touted as a pro-gun bill.

This bill makes it easier for Iowans to lose their gun rights if they are: young Iowans, vets returning from military service, or people with certain mere misdemeanor convictions.

Any bill that weakens Iowa’s gun laws is a bad bill and I would urge you to drop your support of this bill and instead support the REAL Right-to-Carry bill. This bill eliminates the need for law-abiding Iowans to have to seek government permission for the right to defend themselves and their families. This bill, House File 596, needs your full support. I would ask that you drop your support of the dangerous HF2255 and support HF596 instead.

2nd Amendment enthusists across Iowa are now watching to see who truly supports the 2nd Amendment and who just says they do.

Sincerely,

——————————————————————————–

Supporters of the REAL Right-to-Carry
Often you receive alerts from us telling you about an anti-gun politician who needs to hear from you immediately about some anti-gun bill he’s promoting or an anti-gun vote that he needs to vote no on.

Today I’m happy to tell you about some supporters of the REAL Right-to-Carry bill, besides our bill sponsor Rep. Kent Sorenson, at the Capitol that have stood fast and not supported a compromised carry bill.

These Representatives needs to hear from you as well – they are under a lot of pressure – yet they have remained true to the 2nd Amendment.

They are:

• Rep. Matt Windschitl (matt.windschitl@legis.state.ia.us)
• Rep. Jason Schultz (jason.schultz@legis.state.ia.us)
• Rep. Chris Hagenow (chris.hagenow@legis.state.ia.us)

Please take a moment to email these Representatives and thank them for their stance on the 2nd Amendment. Your calls and emails played a major role in keeping their feet anchored and they deserve to hear from you now.

Yours for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms,

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa – -(AmmoLand.com)- January 12th, 2010 the General Assembly gaveled in at the Capitol in Des Moines and Iowa Gun Owners was there to continue our fight for the REAL Right-to-Carry bill.

For those unfamiliar with IGO, I will quickly summarize what the bill would do. The REAL Right-to-Carry bill would allow any Iowan, who is not a felon or otherwise barred by law from owning weapons, to carry a weapon for self-defense, concealed or openly, WITHOUT having to get government permission.

The bill restores the 2nd Amendment in Iowa by eliminating mandatory government training, paying fees, and the whole concept of having to beg permission to exercise a Constitutional right.

Our bill currently has 24 co-sponsors in the House, nine in the Senate, and is causing a major stir at the Capitol amongst anti-gun politicians and even amongst a few “pro-gun” politicians who can’t fathom a law that allows you to carry a weapon without a permit! Of course, this is already the law in Vermont, Alaska, and most of Montana – and these are some of the safest states anywhere in the country.

In the final hours of the 2009 session, Iowa Gun Owners, working with our bill sponsor Rep. Kent Sorenson (R-Indianola), was able to force a vote on this historic gun bill in the House. The result was an amazing 49-49 tie!

Since that time the anti-gun crowd in Iowa has been on the run. With the November elections not too far away they know that there may be a price to pay for their anti-gun votes.

Now we are seeing new gun bills being introduced at the legislature that seem designed to give these anti-gun politicians ‘cover.’ You see, these anti-gun politicians are desperate to vote on a watered down gun bill so as to be able to tell you, their constituents, that they are pro-gun when, in reality, they refused to vote for the REAL Right-to-Carry.

One proposed bill this session would raise the age on applicants for carry permits, incorporate abusive federal language into Iowa code regarding mental health requirements, create ever larger classes of people in Iowa who are prohibited from owning and carrying weapons, and more! In fact, one proposal would even seek to create new classes of people who can no longer even BUY a handgun, let alone carry it.

We must not allow anti-gun politicians to get a free pass. We must demand that they vote on the REAL Right-to-Carry bill and focus their energy on this bill.

If the anti-gun politicians want to kill the bill, or water it down with weakening amendments they can do that. But they are going to have to do it on the record, with recorded votes. This may come at a high price next November.

What you will not see happen is Iowa Gun Owners making these concessions up front, granting the gun-grabbers exactly what they want. This is what it means to be No Compromise!

Now is the time to contact your elected officials. Tell them that you expect them to support and vote for the REAL Right-to-Carry bill. Any other bill is a compromise designed to protect anti-gunners.

To find out who your elected officials are click HERE.

To find your elected official’s phone number click HERE.

If you prefer, or in addition to any calls that you make, you can certainly email your elected officials as well using this pre-written email found below.

To find your elected official’s email address click HERE.
(Once you are here, just click on your legislator’s name.)

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(Pre-Written Email)

Dear Representative ________________,

As your constituent I am writing to urge you to co-sponsor and vote to support the REAL Right-to-Carry bill being offered by Rep. Kent Sorenson.

This bill would allow all law-abiding Iowans the right to carry a weapon for self-defense without having to beg permission first. This is currently the law in Vermont and Alaska and as a mid-western state Iowa should join them as a leader in the right to keep and bear arms.

I understand that there are other gun bills being introduced this session. Iowa Gun Owners has informed me that these bills contain compromises that are dangerous to my right to keep and bear arms.

The 2nd Amendment doesn’t say anything about begging permission, paying fees, passing tests, or having to shoot a government mandated training course before I should be allowed to carry a weapon for self-defense. I consider these types of provisions to be dangerous to my right to keep and bear arms.

Again I ask you to co-sponsor and give your full support to the REAL Right-to-Carry bill. If the anti-gun politicians want to kill this bill or attempt to destroy it with weakening amendments that is something they will have to do on the record with recorded roll call votes.

You must not concede this fight up front with anti-gun compromises. Please co-sponsor and vote in favor of this bill.

Sincerely,

—————————————————————-

Dear Senator ________________,

As your constituent I am writing to urge you to co-sponsor and vote to support the REAL Right-to-Carry bill being offered by Senator David Hartsuch.

This bill would allow all law-abiding Iowans the right to carry a weapon for self-defense without having to beg permission first. This is currently the law in Vermont and Alaska and as a mid-western state Iowa should join them as a leader in the right to keep and bear arms.

I understand that there are other gun bills being introduced this session. Iowa Gun Owners has informed me that these bills contain compromises that are dangerous to my right to keep and bear arms.

The 2nd Amendment doesn’t say anything about begging permission, paying fees, passing tests, or having to shoot a government mandated training course before I should be allowed to carry a weapon for self-defense. I consider these types of provisions to be dangerous to my right to keep and bear arms.

Again I ask you to co-sponsor and give your full support to the REAL Right-to-Carry bill. If the anti-gun politicians want to kill this bill or attempt to destroy it with weakening amendments that is something they will have to do on the record with recorded roll call votes.

You must not concede this fight up front with anti-gun compromises. Please co-sponsor and vote in favor of this bill.

Sincerely,

—————————————————————-

Yours for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms,

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa – -(AmmoLand.com)- The 2010 Legislative Session is underway in Des Moines and concealed carry promises to be a big issue.

Representatives from Iowa Gun Owners will be on hand all session long to advocate for the REAL Right-to-Carry bill.

Last year, with your help, we were able to get a tie vote in the Iowa House on the most pro-gun bill ever introduced in Iowa! We are taking that momentum right back into the Capitol and are pushing to get a vote in the Senate.

We are also pushing a bill that would eliminate Iowa’s abusive Permit-to-Acquire law that makes law abiding Iowans get government permission before being able to buy a handgun for self-defense.

We will also be keeping a watchful eye over any attempts made by the anti-gun politicians to move bad gun bills.

One seems to be in the works right now – keep reading below to find out more and to see the pre-written message that you can send in to your politicians.

That’s what Iowa Gun Owners is doing right now to preserve and enhance your right to keep and bear arms. But we need your help as well. Besides sending in the pre-written e-mails that are below, can you help us right now with a donation?

For the next 80 days anything can happen at the Capitol and we need to be able to respond to it. Direct mail, literature drops, and other mobilization methods all cost money and we need your support for this fight.

If you can give through the mail you may do so to the following address:

Iowa Gun Owners, P.O. Box 3585, Des Moines, IA, 50323.

Yours for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms,

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners Launch Into Action for Concealed Cary

National Association for Gun Rights

Colorado - -(AmmoLand.com)- Last week I asked you to help Iowa Gun Owners in their battle to pass Real Concealed Carry into law.

And boy did you respond!

Aaron Dorr, Director of IGO, reported a sharp increase in donations on his website and I was able to write a significant check forwarding all your contributions on our special Iowa Donation Page directly to them.

All together you contributed over $20,000!

I’m proud to say that with your support Iowa Gun Owners has launched an all out campaign to pass Real Concealed Carry legislation.

Iowa Gun Owners Launch Into Action for Concealed Carry

They’re pulling out all the stops and they’ve worked up a massive mail program to mobilize gun owners all over the state.

And that’s just the beginning.

Thanks to your generous support, Iowa Gun Owners has started their 2010 legislative session with a bang and Real Concealed Carry now has a great chance at become law.

Check out the pictures below of IGO volunteers stuffing envelopes with materials you helped to purchase.

Nothing feels better than seeing your contributions directly effecting the political process.

If you would like to continue helping IGO fight for Real Concealed Carry please visit their website to donate.

And if you live in Iowa, please join their organization, volunteer, and contact your state officials to let them know you support Real Concealed Carry and IGO.

With your help, IGO will pass Real Concealed Carry in Iowa and start a trend that will spread to states across the nation!

Iowa Gun Owners

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Please visit the NAGR blog for more stories affecting your gun rights.

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa – -(AmmoLand.com)- Since coming so close to passing the REAL Right-to-Carry bill in the Iowa House last session Iowa Gun Owners has continued to grow and expand our membership base across the state. This is great news as the more people we can involve the more pressure we can place on the politicians in Des Moines to support our right to keep and bear arms.

The politicians now know that we will hold them to account if they vote in a way that jeopardizes our constitutional rights. With the 2010 elections coming quickly, and the anti-gunners hoping to save themselves from a possible anti-gun backlash, this will be a great year to press ahead for your right to keep and bear arms.

As you know, our bill would allow anyone in Iowa who is not a felon or barred by federal law the right to carry a weapon for self-defense, openly or concealed, without having to first obtain government permission. We believe that this is what the 2nd Amendment intended and this is what we are committed to fighting for.

As we continue to talk with more and more of you at gun shows, through the mail, and over the phone it’s clear that you, our members, support this vital effort. For far too long law abiding Iowans have had to beg the government for the right to keep and bear arms and we are seeking to totally overturn that.

What’s important now is that the politicians in Des Moines are not allowed to take the easy way out and pass a lesser quality gun bill. Many would like to do this so as not to anger the anti-gun crowd in their district. They want to be able to claim to be pro-gun while being open to “reasonable gun control” at the same time.

As you and I know, there is no such thing as “reasonable gun control.” If given an inch, the anti-gunners will go for a mile. We must not allow that to happen.

There are bills being proposed right now that claim to be pro-gun but are very dangerous to your rights and we want you to be aware of them.

One such proposed bill says that if you are caught carrying while intoxicated your right to carry weapons can be denied for good. Of course we don’t want someone carrying a gun while intoxicated. But there is no definition of intoxicated in this proposal. Will drinking one beer at a friend’s house and then walking home while carrying concealed be considered carrying while intoxicated? Two? No one knows. And to deny someone’s right to keep and bear arms over suck ambiguities is not right.

Another provision of these dangerous proposed bills would mandate that you go through up to 8 hours of government training before being able to carry a weapon for self-defense. IGO encourages all of our members to seek training when carrying a weapon for self-defense. Many of our members seek this out on their own accord.

But to allow the government to mandate it sets a dangerous precedent. The 2nd Amendment doesn’t say anything about having to sit in class, pass a test, and pay a fee before being allowed to exercise your constitutional rights. You should know that several other states have no requirement to sit through government training including our neighbors in South Dakota.

But it gets even worse. Should this proposed bill pass, the government would be able to deny you a permit if you were ever arrested for any crime of violence. Please note I did not say convicted or sentenced for a crime of violence, I said arrested. If this bill becomes law you can be arrested for a crime that you did not commit, go to court and be cleared of all charges, and then, apparently, still be denied your constitutionally guaranteed right to keep and bear arms.

There are other bad provisions, such as raising the age on those who can apply for permits, incorporating vast amounts of federal language into the Iowa code, etc but you can take our word for it, no other gun bill in the 2010 legislative session will be as pro-gun as the REAL Right-to-Carry bill.

Now is the time for you to contact your elected officials, in the House and Senate, and urge that he/she support and move for passage of the REAL Right-to-Carry bill, sponsored by Rep. Kent Sorenson (in the House) and Sen. David Hartsuch (in the Senate.) Tell them that no other bill is as strong on the 2nd Amendment as this one and you expect their full support for this bill.

You can also tell them that by supporting a watered down gun bill they will be providing political cover to anti-gun politicians who are desperately seeking to campaign as being pro-gun in the 2010 election races.

We must not let this happen. Please call your Representative and Senator today. You can find their numbers by clicking HERE.

In addition, if you would prefer to use email, or want to do both, you can use the pre-written email found below. You can find your representative’s email address by clicking HERE. Once you get to this point, search for your elected officials by name and you can locate their email address.

Thanks for your help. This promises to be a big year in the fight to keep and bear arms in Iowa!

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa – -(AmmoLand.com)- As the session nears we are gearing up for what promises to be a very exciting and fast paced session. The members of the General Assembly have made it clear that this will be a shortened session due to budget constraints and so we will need to move fast once the session begins.

Since forming in January of 2009 Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) has been growing at an incredible pace because the people of Iowa are so fed up with having their 2nd Amendment rights denied by a government official for no reason.

For those new to our email list you should know that IGO is working hard to pass a Vermont/Alaska style carry bill in the Iowa General Assembly. This bill would allow anyone in Iowa, not a felon or barred by federal law, the right to carry a weapon for self-defense, openly or concealed, WITHOUT having to first beg permission from the government. This is currently the law in Vermont and Alaska and we believe that, as a Midwestern state, Iowa should be a leader in gun rights – not tied with states like California and New York as one of the worst states.

In the final hours of the 2009 session IGO, working with Rep. Kent Sorenson, was able to obtain a roll call procedural vote on our bill with an exciting 49-49 tie. This was possible only because our members put pressure on politicians of every stripe, urging that they vote to support their 2nd Amendment rights. We can now use this vote to inform our members who supports their right to keep and bear arms and who just says they do.

All this work and energy has certainly got the attention of people across the state and country. Some are trying to harness this energy and direct it away from where it needs to be – preserving your right to keep and bear arms.

Please keep reading below for more about this. It’s time to start calling your representatives and urging them to continue to support and press for passage of the REAL Right-to-Carry bill in the Iowa House while we push now for a vote in the Iowa Senate.

Yours for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms,

Aaron Dorr

Executive Director

Iowa Gun Owners

P.S. As we near the end of 2009 IGO would like to remind you to renew your annual membership. This is important as we make plans for the 2010 legislative session. Also, if you’ve not yet joined, now would be a great time. You can do both by clicking DONATE.
Your generous help is greatly appreciated.

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now! Visit: www.iowagunowners.org

Letters to the AmmoLand Editor: Got something on your mind? Let us know and you can see it here.

Central City, Iowa - -(AmmoLand.com)- For over two decades I have volunteered for you here in Iowa. As your Second Congressional District’s Election Volunteer Coordinator, I worked to elect pro-gun congressmen.

I served on the board of your lobbying arm, the Iowa Sportsmen’s Federation (ISF), and chaired the first two Friends of NRA fundraising dinners in Cedar Rapids. My friends and I have written numerous pro-gun letters to the local paper as well as appearing on radio and television fighting for our rights.

Yes, my support of the 2nd Amendment and the NRA has been broad, deep and consistent. However, I have long been troubled by your unwillingness to fight for political liberty in Iowa. We may be a “fly-over” state, but we have some of the worst concealed carry laws in the nation.

Years ago we had a pro-gun Republican majority in both legislative chambers and a willing Republican (Terry Branstad, 1983 – 1999) in the governor’s mansion, but the ISF refused to consider carry reform. Not enough political capital, we were told. Instead our NRA political contributions were spent on expanded deer seasons and a failed fight to shoot mourning doves.

That political vacuum spawned a grassroots movement that addressed Iowa’s concealed carry shortcomings. Two groups with decidedly different approaches have formed. IowaCarry.org introduced a “Shall Issue” bill during each of the last two sessions. It is an improvement, in certain areas, but sprinkled with concessions the sponsors expect to have to make for passage. It has never left committee.

The more recently organized, and rapidly growing, Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) championed a Vermont-style version in the Iowa House that drew a 49-49 procedural vote in this last session. Our state politicians do fear the people! It is fashioned after the Vermont and Alaska laws and would allow anyone in Iowa who is not barred from owning a weapon to carry one without a state-issued permit or fee. What??!! The 2nd Amendment restored to Iowans? Outstanding!

But would you support Vermont-style carry here as has Gun Owners of America? Or even the local “Shall-Issue” bill? Guess not. Last month your lobbyist dropped into Des Moines with a bill that erodes our rights even further!

• Your bill brings “Iowa’s standards into compliance with federal ‘prohibited persons’ law”. It bars entire classes of peaceable people from getting a carry permit – resident aliens, dishonorably discharged servicemen, et. al. Compliance with federal law in this instance is not necessary or desirable. It addresses a non-existent problem and should be left to Iowans.
• Another clause creates a new crime, an aggravated misdemeanor to carry while “under the influence of alcohol”. That arrest standard is very low and open to abuse. In Iowa, an aggravated misdemeanor is punishable by 2 years in prison, making one a prohibited person under the aforementioned federal standard. Call it “Two beers, too bad” – lose your firearms and gun rights forever. Whatever happened to an action not being a crime unless someone is harmed, or are you directing the NRA’s version of Minority Report?
• Your bill raises the age for a permit from 18 to 21 years. Guess our young servicemen who operate multi-million dollar fighter jets aren’t to be trusted with a concealed pistol. But then they have no need to protect themselves…unless they are at Fort Hood.

Like the local versions, your bill contains some positive points concerning reciprocity and permit records confidentiality, but you can do better than this. The expected Obama mid-term backlash has Iowa’s Democrats sweating bullets. Press the advantage. Don’t just propose what our anti-gun enemies are willing to concede. You’re only providing them political cover so they can appear to be on our side. Make them vote on a real pro-gun bill so we can hold their feet to the fire.

Call me naive, out of touch with political reality. I heard that Bravo Sierra from the ISF in the 80’s. The fact is, regardless of the political climate, you have never shown interest in Iowans’ liberties. Your bill with its restrictions, federal language and new criminal penalties twist a God-given, constitutionally guaranteed right into a privilege that even fewer Iowans could exercise. We already have two solutions [I favor Iowa Gun Owners' version] that are superior to the tortured language your hired gun brought.

Our liberties should not be subject to the whims of Iowa legislators, BATFE goons or a politically ambitious sheriff. Earn the contributions we’ve been sending to you, and help restore the 2nd Amendment to Iowa. Partner with Iowa Gun Owners and Gun Owners of America and endorse Representative Sorenson’s bill HF 596 and its companion bill SF 473 sponsored by Senator Hartsuch.

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa – -(AmmoLand.com)-Recently Iowa Gun Owners, with the help of several dedicated volunteers, attended the Waterloo gun show.

The crowd was impressive and diverse. We met with doctors, waitresses, line workers, pastors, Democrats, and Republicans. All are tired of the government being able to regulate their right of self-defense and were happy to sign our petition.

The energy was contagious and there were times when we were simply overwhelmed by the crowds and couldn’t interact with everyone. What a great problem!

IGO was able to secure an additional 550 signed petitions for the REAL Right-to-Carry bill next session and raise some much needed financial support as well.

We are going to be at the following locations this fall:

• Nov. 6-7 in Altoona, held at the Adventureland Park (305 34th Ave NW), from 5-9pm on Friday to 9am-5pm on Saturday.
• Nov. 13-14 in Cedar Rapids, held at the Hawkeye Downs Building #1 (4400 6th St SW) same times as above.
• Dec. 11-12 in Waterloo, held in the McElroy Auditorium (257 Ansborough St) same times as above.

If you are coming to these shows please look for us. We really enjoy getting to meet our members. In addition, if you would like to volunteer working at an IGO table during an upcoming gun show please let us know. They really are a lot of fun!

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now!

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa – -(AmmoLand.com)-Besides promoting and working to pass the REAL Right-to-Carry bill in the upcoming session, Iowa Gun Owners is also working on repealing Iowa’s permit-to-purchase laws as well.

The permit-to-purchase law requires you to seek approval from the government, in the form of a government issued card, before you can purchase a handgun for self-defense. The criteria for this permit are similar to the criteria for a permit-to-carry: you can not be a felon, can not be addicted to drugs or alcohol, you can’t have a history of acts of violence, etc. Should you be approved for the permit, it is good for a period of one year.

While many assume that obtaining a permit-to-purchase is normal and just a part of doing business, you should know that 36 other states DO NOT have this tyrannical requirement.

That’s right – Iowa is one of only a handful of states that require people to get a permit to purchase handguns for self-defense. Delaware, Maryland, and New Hampshire are just some of the states that do NOT require law abiding citizens to get this type of permit.

The argument most commonly offered in defense of this permit goes something like this: this permit is needed to ensure that criminals and the mentally deranged don’t have access to firearms. Gun control advocates usually toss in examples of a school or church shooting at this point to silence opposition. This argument is so emotionally charged that sometimes even gun owners accept this at face value.

However, federal law already prohibits felons, fugitives from justice, illegal aliens, those addicted to narcotics, and those considered mentally deranged from owning firearms. There is no need for additional state language.

More to the point, as everyone already knows, criminals and the mentally deranged don’t buy weapons from a gun dealer or at a gun show anyway. They steal them or buy them from other criminals. In fact, a Justice Department study concluded that over 90% of criminals who use handguns in the commission of their crimes obtained the gun from some source other than a licensed dealer.1

So this argument is obviously wrong.

But worse than that, this argument gets innocent people killed. Sensational? Hardly. By requiring law abiding citizens to go through all the hassle and expense of obtaining a permit to buy a weapon for self-defense, the government ensures that many people just won’t go through the headache. How many elderly people or young single women (the kind of people who most need to be able to defend themselves) find this process intimidating? Many, I know, because I talk to them often. So these people, who want to have the means of self-defense, are being denied this option due to bureaucratic red tape.

And again, don’t forget that 36 other states don’t require a permit to purchase. The crime rates in those states are not higher than states that do require this permit – in many cases the crime rates in those states are lower! If this permit could somehow ensure public safety than all those states without a permit to purchase should have drastically higher levels of violent crime.

In fact, the opposite is true. California, Washington D.C., and Illinois all have permits-to-purchase amongst other anti-gun regulations. But according to the FBI’s ‘Uniform Crime Reports’, released in September of 2008 and based on 2007 data, Los Angeles had over 380 homicides, Washington D.C. had over 155 homicides and Chicago had over 440 homicides!

Clearly these permits are not stopping crime at all.

So if a permit to purchase does nothing to reduce crime what does it accomplish? In a word: registration. (The information below comes from Gun Owners of America located at www.gunowners.org.)

In 1994 the Justice Department gave a grant to the city of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University to create a sophisticated national gun registry using data compiled from states’ background check programs. This attempt at registration was subsequently defeated in the courts.2

In 1996, computer software distributed by the Justice Department allowed police officials to easily (and unlawfully) register the names and addresses of gun buyers. This software — known as FIST — also kept information such as the type of gun purchased, the make, model and caliber, the date of purchase, etc.3

In 1998, despite prohibitions in federal law, the FBI announced that it would begin keeping gun buyer’s names for six months. FBI had originally wanted to keep the names for 18 months, but reduced the time period after groups like Gun Owners of America strongly challenged the legality of their actions. GOA submitted a formal protest to the FBI, calling their attempt at registration both “unlawful” and “unconstitutional.”4

Of course, we can use a mid-western example as well. The government in Illinois has gone so far down this road of regulation that our friends in Illinois now can’t even own a handgun or long gun without first obtaining a government issued firearms owner identification (FOID) card!

That’s right, to even own a hunting shotgun in Illinois you must first be approved by the state. As bad as that is, it gets worse. You see, in Illinois, to even buy a single round of ammunition you need to possess a FOID card – otherwise a dealer can not sell ammunition to you. Further, if you move into the state already owning weapons, you have a limited amount of time before those guns too must be registered with the government.

Of course, we’ve not even mentioned the idea of concealed carry in Illinois, which is totally prohibited.

And again, as mentioned above, despite all these onerous gun laws Chicago had over 440 homicides in 2007! This does not count rape, aggravated assault, robberies and other types of violent crime.

Just think how many of those innocent victims would have been able to defend themselves had they been carrying weapons for self-defense.

This is what will happen in Iowa if we don’t start to fight back. If the state of Iowa can tell you when you are eligible to buy guns, carry guns, and shoot guns (all areas that they currently regulate) then it’s a short hop to the kind of total registration that gun owners in Illinois deal with.

So this session, as Iowa Gun Owners begins to promote a bill repealing the permit to purchase law in Iowa, we hope that you will do your part. Email and call your elected officials, come down to the capitol on an Iowa Gun Owners lobby day, donate to Iowa Gun Owners via our website, and tell your family and friends about us.

The time to act is now. Our rights are under attack.

Footnotes:

1. Department of Justice, “Survey of Incarcerated Felons,” p. 36.
2. Bureau of Justice Assistance, Grant Manager’s Memorandum, Pt. 1: Project Summary (September 30, 1994), Project Number: 94-DD-CX-0166.
   
3. Copy of “FIST” (Firearms Inquiry Statistical Tracking) software at GOA headquarters, Springfield, VA. See also Pennsylvania Sportsmen’s News (Oct./Nov. 1996). The default in the “FIST” computer software is for the police officials to indefinitely retain the information on gun owners-despite the fact that the Brady law only allows officials to retain this data for 20 days.
   
4. FBI’s Final Rule printed in the Federal Register (October 30, 1998) at 58311. After the FBI submitted its proposed regulations on June 4, 1998, Gun Owners of America submitted written comments (in September of 1988) to challenge the FBI’s regulations.

Aaron Dorr is the Executive Director of Iowa Gun Owners, a non-profit organization in Iowa dedicated to overturning Iowa’s abusive laws when it comes to the purchasing, carrying, and using firearms for self-defense. He can be contacted at director@iowagunowners.org.

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now!

State Representative Kent Sorenson (R-74) (Left, in suit) and IGO's Executive Director Aaron Dorr (Right) explaining the REAL Right-to-Carry bill to 2nd Amendment supporters at the gun show.

Iowa Gun Owners

Iowa - -(AmmoLand.com)-Our goal was to spread the message of Iowa Gun Owners to like minded 2nd Amendment supporters in Iowa as well as obtain petitions to the Iowa State Senate urging the Senate to vote on the REAL Right-to-Carry bill.

(After receiving a tie vote in the House last session of 49-49, our next goal is to obtain a vote in the State Senate so we can inform you, our members, where your State Senator stands on the 2nd Amendment.)

Our booth at the show was a tremendous hit! Iowa Gun Owners succeeded in obtaining over 500 signed petitions to the Iowa State Senate from Friday night through Saturday afternoon!! That’s 500 new people who are now aware that there is a No Compromise gun rights group in Iowa at last, dedicated to fighting for their right to keep and bear arms. Many of these people joined as regular dues paying members as well.

Iowa Gun Owners was also pleased to have State Representative Kent Sorenson drop by and meet some of our members and friends!

At the show we met a lot of interesting people from the Central Iowa region. All are tired of Iowa’s terrible gun laws. One of these people was a woman from Eastern Iowa. Originally from Austria, this woman has lived in Iowa for the past 18 years and has no criminal background of any kind. She told us that she was born in Austria, right after it was freed by Allied Forces in 1945.

While having no personal knowledge of that time, she vividly remembers her parents and neighbors telling her about the gun registration and eventual confiscation initiatives that preceded Austria’s takeover by the Axis forces.

She told us that she supports our work 100% because she can see the gun laws in the US and in Iowa heading right down that road unless we organize and stop them now!

Oh yeah, and her sheriff won’t give her a permit to carry either because he doesn’t think the Constitution mentions anything about carrying weapons for self-defense.

The overwhelming message we took away from Des Moines is that the people of Iowa are sick and tired of a permit system that requires law abiding citizens to beg permission from the government to be able to defend their families.

The excitement at the No Compromise philosophy of IGO’s REAL Right-to-Carry bill was contagious. We had doctors, line workers, pastors, laborers, farmers, and even some law enforcement officers (yes, in full uniform) sign our petition and join our organization.

For all the members that came by and introduced themselves to us, thank you. It is a big encouragement to meet our members in person.

Our next gun show is in Council Bluffs. Dates are October 9 and 10, 5-9pm on the 9th and 9am-5pm on Saturday and it’s being held in the Westfair Amphitheatre (22984 Highway 6).

This will be an important show for us because as we press ahead to obtain a vote on our bill in the State Senate, Senator Mike Gronstal, Majority Leader of the Senate from Council Bluffs, will be a major obstacle to overcome. It will be vital to have grassroots pressure ready to bring to bear on him in the form of petitions during the session.

So if you live in the area of South West Iowa, and especially if you are in the Council Bluffs area, please come out and meet us!

Yours for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms,

About:
Iowa Gun Owners (IGO) was formed in January of 2009 to combat the oppressive gun laws in the State of Iowa. IGO does not believe that you, as a law abiding citizen, should have to beg permission from the government to be able to defend yourself and your family. That’s why we are working so hard to get a Vermont/Alaska style carry law passed in Iowa. In these states, unless you are a convicted felon or otherwise barred from possessing weapons, you don’t need a permit to carry a gun for self-defense! Join us now!