I really wish it hadn’t come to this.
The fight for gun rights has taken a devious and nasty turn here in Des Moines and I need you to read this email and take immediate action to help us stop a wolf in sheep’s clothing – before it devours your gun rights.
As you’ll recall, we’ve spent this legislative session fighting to advance and get a vote on Stand-Your-Ground legislation.
The bill, SF137, picked up 24 co-signers almost immediately demonstrating broad support in the Senate. But, as you’ll remember, the anti-gun Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Steve Sodders, has spent 4 months trying to block this bill from moving through his committee.
Of course, Sodders didn’t act alone but at the behest of Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal. Together, these two Senate leaders have blocked this bill from advancing to keep their caucus from voting against a pro-gun bill.
The grassroots groundswell of support from IGO members has been staggering as thousands upon thousands of calls, emails, and Facebook messages have been sent in to the Senate demanding a vote on Stand-Your-Ground law.
As IGO pounded the airwaves on statewide radio, dropped mail in these districts, sent gun show coordinators into their districts to sound the alarm, and went house-to-house passing out fliers, a chill went down the spine of anti-gunners like Steve Sodders who are scared about their 2016 re-election.
And so suddenly they started talking about passing a ‘gun bill’ – to pretend they are pro-gun.
Of course, they have worked to block Stand-Your-Ground (SF137).
And they moved to quash Constitutional Carry (SF400).
Instead, they worked out a deal to advance the omnibus gun bill that many of you have heard about in the news.
As we reported before, this omnibus bill had some good things in it.
In fact, some of the main components are pieces of legislation that we authored in the past. And so even though it was designed to provide political cover for anti-gunners at election time, we did not oppose it.
Not anymore.
The omnibus bill started out decent in the House, was gutted and stripped in the Senate, and was sent back to the House last week for ‘cleanup.’
And folks, this new version is awful!
Capitol insiders are reporting to us that anti-gunners in the Senate, especially Steve Sodders, are DESPERATE to move a gun bill and so they went to House leadership and worked out a treacherous deal.
As a result, the new omnibus bill that many gun owners supported in the past is now almost unrecognizable.
That’s because the new bill includes provisions like:
- A new clause that will allow anyone, even convicted felons, to submit YOUR name to the DPS or your sheriff and demand to know whether or not you have a permit to purchase or carry a firearm!
Imagine a dangerous predator who is stalking your daughter as he decides whether or not to attack and rape her – if this bill passes he’ll know that he faces an unarmed victim, making him that much more likely to attack!
Or imagine what a criminal gang could do, armed with this information, as they decide which houses in a neighborhood to break into. - A searchable statewide database of firearms and firearms owners!
Current Iowa code only allows the Commissioner of Public Safety to have access to the list of CCW holders here in Iowa.
This language, slipped in to placate the radically anti-gun Iowa State Sheriffs’ and Deputies’ Association, will create a massive new digitized list of gun owners in Iowa!
Worse still, this list can be accessed by employers in certain situations.
Who will be able to guarantee those lists are protected?
What happens when those companies have a data breach, like the one Target had two years ago, leaving your information available to the highest bidder?
Even more dangerous is the fact that by creating a digitized and searchable database of gun owners, we’re giving anti-gun politicians the tools they need to come after gun owners if the political situation changes in Iowa – much like they are doing right now in Connecticut.
These major changes mean that this bill has gone from being a positive bill to a serious attack on your rights that I need you to help me stop!
Understand that there are still good components in this bill.
Of course there are, that’s a standard tactic used here at the Capitol.
Gun grabbers will bring up a bill packed with anti-gun language that’s wrapped with some pro-gun language hoping that you’re not going to be willing to oppose them.
Another tactic is to run a good bill, get a lot of media on it, and then once gun owners associate this bill as being a pro-gun bill they quietly gut, stuff, and destroy it – and if they are lucky you are still calling and emailing them supporting it.
Both tactics are being employed here and, frankly, it’s insulting.
What’s even more shameful is the cast of characters who conspired together to pull this off.
Senator Steve Sodders, as we said above, is desperate to pass a bill to pretend he’s pro-gun in his upcoming re-election campaign. But he knows that others in his party won’t pass the omnibus bill in its original format.
So according to Capitol insiders, Senator Sodders has worked a deal with House Judiciary Chairman Chip Baltimore and House Speaker Pro-Tem Matt Windschitl to incorporate these awful additions to this bill to protect political careers in the Capitol.
Everyone remembers former Senator Daryl Beall, former Rep. Dan Mulhbauer, former Rep. Pat Murphy and hosts of other legislators who were defeated in their re-elections because of mobilized and informed gun owners who held them accountable for betraying the 2nd Amendment.
(Murphy wasn’t running in the House for re-election but for Congress. But IGO’s work to expose his awful record on the 2nd Amendment played a major role is his losing what should have been an easy race.)
Understand this.
Portions of the leadership team in the House and Senate are now making political calculations designed to protect them – at your expense.
Worse, they are arrogantly assuming your blind faith in them no matter how ugly they make this legislation.
That’s why I need your help right away.
The bill has already passed the House. It’s now in the Senate. I need you to call, email, and Facebook the Senate IMMEDIATELY and demand that they vote NO on the omnibus gun bill aka the wolf in sheep’s clothing!
(If you’d like, you can use the pre-written email below.)
Tell them that you’re sick of them playing politics with your gun rights. If they want to pass substantive pro-gun bills this year they should hold immediate votes on SF137 and SF400.
Remind them that you’re watching this closely and will hold legislators accountable for leaving you and your family in danger by allowing convicted felons to access your information in this way.
The Senate switchboard number is 515-281-3371.
You can learn who your legislator is by going here.
You can find your legislator’s email address by going here.
This is a shameless, arrogant, desperate ploy designed to fool gun owners for yet another election cycle.
In the past, these guys could get away with it as other organizations in Iowa are happy to go along with this stuff to maintain their friendships in the legislature.
Not Iowa Gun Owners. Help us get the word out by forwarding this email to your friends, family and anyone else you know who cares about the 2nd Amendment here in Iowa.
We are posting the most up to date information possible on our Facebook page, including videos with multiple State Senators who are also urging you to get involved in stopping this bad bill.
Be sure to “Like” our page for the very latest.
Either way, please make your calls and send your emails right away!
For Freedom,
Aaron Dorr
Executive Director
P.S. In a disgusting ploy designed to protect legislators’ careers in Des Moines, elements within the House and Senate have taken the previously pro-gun omnibus bill and packed it with dangerous anti-gun amendments!
Electronic databases that allow gun owners to be identified and tracked like child molesters, new code sections that allow convicted felons to inquire as to whether or not your wife or daughter has a handgun permit – it’s all in the new omnibus gun bill that passed the House.
This is being done for one reason only: to allow radically anti-gun legislators like Sen. Steve Sodders and his pals in Des Moines to vote for this bill and claim that they are pro-gun.
In a shocking move, he convinced House Speaker Pro-Tem Matt Windschitl to back him!
While there are good portions of code still in this bill, there are aggressively anti-gun portions as well. I need you to get involved and tell your Senator to VOTE NO on the omnibus bill!
You can call them at 515-281-3371.
To find out who your Senator is go here.
You can find their email address here.
Feel free to use the pre-written email below.
These guys in Des Moines are banking on the fact that the word won’t get out about their treacherous actions. Help us spread the word, tell your friends and family that the omnibus bill has turned ugly and needs to be stopped now!
——–Pre-Written Email——–
Dear Senator _______________,
As I’ve been alerted by Iowa Gun Owners, the omnibus gun bill has gone from being a decent piece of legislation to a sham, filled with anti-gun sections that allow criminals to learn whether or not my family members or I have concealed carry or purchase permits!
More, it creates a searchable, statewide database that catalogues and quantifies me as a gun owner like we do for convicted sexual predators.
For legislators to employ these bait and switch tactics, hoping that they can fool gun owners into blindly supporting this legislation, in a blatant attempt to buy political cover for the 2016 election cycle, is simply outrageous.
That’s why I’m strongly urging you to vote NO on the omnibus bill (SF427) if it comes up for a vote.
I’ll be watching this legislation to see what you do with it.
Signed: ___________________
