“I can’t believe how quickly the members of Iowa Gun Owners stepped in and helped us with this local problem. Tell them that gun owners in George extend a huge ‘Thank you’ to them and a bunch of us will be joining IGO immediately!”

This was the call that I got this morning from multiple residents of the city of George, IA, who were mobilized yesterday en masse with the help of Iowa Gun Owners as the George City Council was poised to vote, today, on a proposal to ban all defensive weapons on city property.

But unlike some of city bans that we’ve seen, this small town in NW IA has a true “Boss Hogg” mentality as the language had a carve-out for elected officials like the very City Council members who would be voting to end your ability to defend your family!

That’s right, “elected officials” would still be allowed to carry at the town hall, town pool, town baseball complex, etc.

But the taxpayers who pay to build and maintain these city properties would have to hope that a deputy could make it to town in time to save them should a violent criminal attack them.

We alerted you by email and also on our 42,000 person strong Facebook page and asked you to take action – and you did!

(By the way, if you’ve not “Liked” our Facebook page, you’re missing out. Over 42,000 of your fellow Iowa gun owners are mobilized here and we can move very quickly on Facebook to alert you to threats to the 2nd Amendment. To get involved just “Like” our page right here.)

You swarmed the City Council and mayor’s office with calls and the council immediately began to have second thoughts.

Of course, the city attorney, from the same law firm that drafted this “Boss Hogg” language in the first place, was working overtime with multiple emails to our office wanting the pressure to stop.

It didn’t.

Finally, after the word was spreading all over the state by email and social media the City Council announced that they were cancelling their meeting for today and doing away with this proposal on the advice of the same attorney whose firm drafted this language and put this sign on the front door of the town hall.

(After an outpouring of calls from gun owners, the George, IA City Council has cancelled tonight’s meeting and announced on the bottom page in the picture above that the proposal to ban guns on city property is not moving forward.)

IGO members who live in George are reporting to us that today the town hall isn’t even open for business.

Of course any time a governmental body gets caught violating or attempting to violate the civil and constitutional rights of the population they often will recoil initially and then come out with a story about how they were receiving “threatening phone calls.”

Having gotten to know some of the players that are involved in this situation in George, we wouldn’t be surprised to see that happen here.

Just know that this is par for the course whenever citizens like you and I band together and insist that government leave our gun rights alone.

The council has told some of you that this “Boss Hogg” proposal was done because they are concerned about a possibly “disgruntled” resident doing something violent.

While we have no knowledge of that situation, its all the more reason why George should NOT be making it harder for law abiding taxpayers to have defensive firearms available to them!

All of this brings up a major point that hundreds of you have asked us about in the last day by calling, emailing, and sending us messages on Facebook – how is this possible when Iowa code 724.26 clearly states:

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.

Simply put, Iowa’s rabidly anti-gun Attorney General has issued a ‘finding’ where he announced that he would not be prosecuting municipalities for violating this code section.

This, in effect, gave cities and counties an open door to step through in violating your rights.

Since that ‘finding’ was issued, Iowa Gun Owners has worked in the legislature to strengthen Iowa’s pre-emption statute so as to take any decision making authority away from the Attorney General.

However, when the legislation came up in the House Public Safety Committee in February of 2012, Republican Committee Chairman Clel Baudler GUTTED the bill and sided with anti-gun legislators in the committee to add numerous areas where guns were prohibited all across the state!

So the very legislation that was designed to protect Iowans from a capricious, patchwork system of laws was used to increase the number of places where you and I would be helpless in the face of a criminal attack.

Seeing this happen, IGO immediately put out the call to have you, our members, contact their legislators and demand that they kill this bill which is what ended up happening.

So for the time being, that’s why little towns like George, IA think that they can flaunt state code, and that problem will continue until we augment our state’s pre-emption statue.

That’s why it’s vital that we continue to fight together to stop these “Boss Hogg” efforts wherever they pop up!

Please contact Iowa Gun Owners if this happens in your community.

In the meantime, thanks for your efforts in what appears to be a victory in George…for now.

For Freedom,

Aaron Dorr
Executive Director

P.S. Word spread very quickly yesterday that the small town of George, IA was moving quickly to pass a “Boss Hogg” gun ban on city property that would ban you and I from having a defensive firearm on city property while carving out at exception for the City Council members and anyone who is elected.

Thanks to your calls, the City Council has pulled this item from tonight’s meeting and has, apparently, cancelled the entire meeting for tonight and closed down the town hall today.

Don’t be surprised to see some phony statement come from the city trying to claim that someone threatened them with violence or some other nonsense – the City Council got caught trying to clamp down on your right to self-defense pure and simple.

If you’re not involved with Iowa Gun Owners, now would be a great time to join as you’ve seen firsthand how effective grassroots gun owners can be.

And if you’re not on our Facebook page, you’re missing out so be sure to “Like” our page today!