NRA Out of Line in Iowa
Manassas, VA –-(AmmoLand.com)- The Firearms Coalition yesterday issued a scathing denunciation of legislation proposed by the National Rifle Association for the state of Iowa saying that Iowa is the latest instance of the NRA cavalry riding in to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
In Iowa, Sheriffs have broad discretion in the issuance or denial of permits to carry concealed weapons and Iowa GunVoters have been rallying support for removing that discretion and moving the state to a “shall issue” system.
In the last legislative session an Alaska-style bill, pushed by local grass roots rights activists led by the group Iowa Gun Owners, fell just one vote short of passage in the Iowa House. In response to that impressive achievement the NRA has decided to get involved in the state. They have proposed a bill that shifts the law from “may issue” to “shall issue,” but their bill also raises the minimum age from 18 to 21, retains extensive mandatory training requirements, enhances penalties for possession of a firearm while “under the influence” of alcohol – without defining exactly what “under the influence” means – and expands the list of things which make a person ineligible to receive a permit – including an arrest for a violent crime, even if the arrest was erroneous.
The combination of activated grass roots supporters, politicians fearful of Obama backlash in the November elections, and the NRA’s experience and resources should equate to a perfect storm for passage of serious rights reform legislation in Iowa. Instead NRA is lowering the bar with a bill that all but the most committed anti-rights politicians can happily support. Primary opposition to the NRA proposal is coming not from the gun haters, but from strong Second Amendment supporters.
Details of the Iowa problem, and NRA’s misguided solutions, can be found on The Firearms Coalition’s main web site at www.FirearmsCoalition.org.
About:
The Firearms Coalition is a loose-knit coalition of individual Second Amendment activists, clubs and civil rights organizations. Founded by Neal Knox in 1984, the organization provides support to grassroots activists in the form of education, analysis of current issues, and with a historical perspective of the gun rights movement. The Firearms Coalition is a project of Neal Knox Associates, Manassas, VA. Visit: www.FirearmsCoalition.org
FLAVET: Spoke like a TRUE ingnorant Lib! Keep up the bad work.
Where were U when the NRA's chips were down… huh? Not a rhetorical question. If u bought a Gun this yr. AT ALL – THANK THE NRA!! Like the Bill of Rights, they're there for U, despite popularity Polls!!!
Merry X-mas… twit.
Bill Logan is correct. IGO has never come close to having a bill passed. They simply had one made that never even got to the house floor. a 49-49 vote means it was turned down, without anyone being able to say it was "technically" turned down.
This is NOT the whole story. The Iowa Gun Owners bill did not come anywhere near passing in Iowa. It was a simple vote as to whether it should even be debated and they often end in a 49-49 tie in this state. To pass, it would've had to have gotten one more procedural vote, then get pas our anti-gun legislature and finally get signed by our anti-gun governor.
Iowa Gun Owners has been distorting their accomplishments to try and drive contributions.
The NRA did something similar in Illinois this year. A downstate democrat introduced a conceal carry bill that would allow each county to pass their own CC law. It’s not the best way to go but it’s a strategy that has worked before in States like Kansas. The bill was going to pass the Illinois house but the NRA blocked the bill. Illinois is a horrible state for gun owners but this bill had support even among democrats. The NRA supported the FOID card law and refuses to support its repeal even though evidence from JPFO has exposed the racist… Read more »
I would have to agree with the great state of Iowa.
Our freedoms are lost a little at a time, and it may have to be won a little at a time. I believe that one word that moves a state in the right direction should not have been tampered with. NRA made a fowl move this time….
With friends like this, we have no need. . . . Reading "The Sand Pebbles" I acquired a helpful and succinct new phrase, "to break one's rice bowl," which means, as the rest of you probably knew all along, to deprive another person of income or other sustenance by making the service or product he sells unnecessary. As GPS thingies have broken the rice bowls of the road-map printers. Iowa's narrowly defeated new law would have broken the rice bowls of NRA-certified CCW instructors and, to a lesser extent, those of the NRA itself which surely derives a bit of… Read more »