Earlier in the year, we watched the members of the Iowa State Sheriffs and Deputies Association (ISSDA) come to Des Moines and begin to do what they do best: lobby against your gun rights.
Using the intimidation power of their office, these elite anti-gun lobbyists are effective at stalling and killing pro-gun legislation – because they get to use YOUR tax money to accomplish their agenda.
As we documented in a series of emails earlier in the year, the ISSDA employs multiple lobbyists in the Capitol spending over $50,000 a year in their fight to restrict and control our gun rights!
More outrageous, a significant portion of this money comes from your county supervisors who appropriate money to pay for their sheriff’s membership dues to this organization every year.
This is too bad – after all, the ISSDA used to lobby in support of gun bills back when IGO’s board chairman was an elected sheriff here in Iowa.
At the time, we asked you to contact the executive committee of the ISSDA and demand that they stop lobbying against gun bills – especially when other state law enforcement organizations nation-wide were aggressively telling President Obama that they would “trade their lives” in defense of their citizens’ gun rights.
And call you did!
At the time, many of you contacted our office and told us that the ISSDA informed you that in response to your calls and emails (and likely because you were threatening their taxpayer funding) they were working overtime to draft legislation that they could introduce to appear reasonable to gun owners in Iowa.
Well, exclusively thanks to your efforts holding ISSDA to account, the House Judiciary Committee passed HF535 – a bill that would protect the identity of concealed carry permit holders here in Iowa and this bill is headed to the Floor in the House for a full vote in the very near future!
This bill’s purpose is simple and obvious: to keep criminals from knowing which houses have guns in them and which ones do not.
Newspapers and sheriff’s offices in Iowa have made a habit of publishing the names of Iowans who have a permit to carry weapons – thereby leaving those homes ripe for criminals to break in and steal guns while the homeowners are away.
This bill would prohibit that.
As one IGO member commented, “Gun-grabbers should be in favor of this bill too since having this list printed in the paper show the criminals that their homes are unprotected!”
While we appreciate his humor, as you can imagine, the anti-gunners are going nuts.
So please take a moment to contact your Representatives and encourage them to vote in favor of this legislation, HF535, when it comes to the Floor for a vote.
You can locate your Representative’s information here.
Make no mistake, this legislation would not have surfaced had your calls and emails not scared the ISSDA into finding something, anything, they could do to alleviate their anti-gun reputation.
Thank you for getting us to this point!
Also, do not confuse these actions on the part of the ISSDA or the gun-grabbers who voted for this bill in committee. They have not turned over a new leaf, or changed their ways. They got exposed – by you – and they didn’t like it. This is their attempt to cover up their tracks.
They still won’t lobby in support of Constitutional Carry, allowing guns in schools, removing the unconstitutional permit to purchase handguns in Iowa, or any of the other pro-gun legislation that IGO has had introduced.
Don’t forget that, the next time their fundraising letters come in the mail.
Thank you again for creating the environment for this legislation to come to the Floor. Please make your calls today to your Representative and urge him or her to vote in favor of this bill!
For Freedom,
Aaron Dorr
Executive Director
Iowa Gun Owners
P.S. After thousands of you contacted the ISSDA’s Executive Committee and demanded that they stop lobbying in favor of gun control, especially when their sister organizations were doing the opposite in other states, the ISSDA got nervous and decided that they needed to promote legislation to change their image.
The result is House File 535 – a bill to keep the identity of Iowans who possess concealed carry permits secret. This is a good bill, as criminals can and do use this data in deciding what unoccupied homes to break into to steal valuable collections of firearms.
This bill has passed out of committee and will likely be coming to the Floor for a vote very soon. So please, take a moment to contact your representative right away and urge them to vote in favor of this legislation!
Make no mistake, this bill would not have come to the Floor had you not gotten involved the way you did earlier in the year. Thank you for joining us in taking a stand!
Finally, do not mistake this action on the ISSDA’s part as being indicative of a change in their direction. They are still refusing to lobby in favor of ANY of the other pro-gun bills that IGO is supporting.