The 2022 session of the Iowa General Assembly is well past the half-way point. And with critical deadlines coming fast, we need to crank up the heat if we want to pass the Second Amendment Preservation Act before the legislature adjourns.
The good news is that IGO’s SAPA legislation received a major endorsement recently, that has silenced some of the opposition from the politicians in Des Moines.
The bad news is that Public Safety Chairman Jarad Klein is refusing to hold the necessary sub-committee meeting for this bill, a step that is usually required to advance legislation!
Before I tell you what’s going on with SAPA legislation in Des Moines, I want to make sure you know the schedule that gun owners are facing when it comes to Joe Biden’s Executive Orders.
You see, gun owners have stopped Joe Biden’s gun control agenda dead in its tracks in the United States Senate. But we can’t stop him from trying to circumvent Congress and passing gun control through Executive Orders.
Just weeks ago, the ATF updated the ‘Federal Registry’ — the official journal of the United States government — with the two new unconstitutional regulations they will begin to enforce later this year pursuant to these Executive Orders.
The first of these orders will force gun owners to serialize all 80% lower receivers or face criminal charges! Tens of thousands of Iowans own these popular items, but all of us will be facing charges when this order takes effect in June!
And in August, the second of these orders will take effect, making felons out of Iowans who dare to attach a pistol brace to their firearms, even though they make them more controllable.
Neither of these tyrannical orders were ever heard in a legislative committee and they were never voted on by a single member of Congress. Tens of millions of gun owners across the country are going to be facing FELONY CHARGES by executive fiat!
<<< SIGN YOUR PETITIONS TO MOVE SAPA OUT OF COMMITTEE! >>>
But the problem Joe Biden has is that he doesn’t have the manpower to enforce this garbage…for that, he is counting on Iowa’s troopers, deputies, and city cops.
That’s why Iowa needs to pass the Second Amendment Preservation Act, which would instruct Iowa’s law enforcement community to only enforce Iowa laws when it comes to firearms — ignoring federal gun control laws and Executive Orders!
Sounds simple, right?
It is, but SAPA carries massive ramifications, because without the support of state and local officials, Biden’s gun control agenda will simply go unenforced!
Now it’s true that some of Iowa’s Democrat-run cities and departments simply won’t comply with SAPA law. We know that. That’s why we built civil penalties into this legislation.
These penalties start at $50,000 per violation and allow individual Iowans to sue these agencies in civil court. To be very clear, the individual officer would not be liable for anything. But the agency that ordered their officers to break the law and confiscate firearms would be held liable!
Of course, moderate Republicans in Des Moines are using these civil fines as a reason to try to block this legislation, claiming that it’s ‘anti law-enforcement.’
But that’s absurd. The truth is that Iowa cops love the Second Amendment Preservation Act because it spares them from having to choose between enforcing unconstitutional gun control laws or losing their jobs!
That’s why the Carroll County Attorney, John Werden, recently published an op-ed calling on the legislature to immediately pass SAPA legislation! Werden is the past president of the Iowa County Attorney’s Association and offers frequent testimony on legislation in Des Moines.
Werden’s editorial concluded with this:
The main controversy in the bill, is the up to $50,000 civil fine which may be levied on agencies, not individual officers. Many laws have no remedy. Some have civil remedies and others criminal charges. This middle of the road approach is necessary to incentivize the political appointees who run many law enforcement agencies to follow the law.
And with Werden being the chief law enforcement officer in Carroll County, it’s clear that this legislation isn’t anti law-enforcement at all!
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Nor does the Second Amendment Preservation Act violate the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution, as some legislators in Des Moines are trying to claim.
The Supremacy Clause — found in Article VI, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution — states that federal laws generally take precedent over state laws. And there is some validity to that.
But IGO’s SAPA legislation (H.F. 2303/S.F. 2002) doesn’t challenge the federal government’s right to pass laws or enact Executive Orders. Nor does it say that they are invalid here in Iowa. It simply says that the federal government can not force the State of Iowa to help them enforce their laws or edicts!
And the idea that SAPA is legal, that it doesn’t violate the Supremacy Clause, isn’t some new opinion that we came up with at the Iowa Gun Owners’ office.
The United States Supreme Court has upheld the state’s right to refuse to enforce federal laws that are not in the best interest of their citizens for hundreds of years, including cases like:
>>> The 2018 Murphy v NCAA decision where the Court affirmed that the state legislature in New Jersey had the right to place restrictions on sports gambling, even though the new state law contradicted federal law.
>>> The 2012 ObamaCare case (NFIB v Sebelius) where the Court cited the anti-commandeering doctrine again, as they affirmed the states’ right to refuse to expand Medicare.
>>> The 1997 Printz v United States decision where the Court agreed with Sheriffs Jay Printz and Richard Mack that they could not be forced to enforce the Brady Gun Control bill.
>>> The 1842 Prigg v Pennsylvania decision where the Supreme Court held that the federal government could not simply force the states to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793.
Clearly, the Second Amendment Preservation Act is constitutional, defends honest cops here in Iowa, and is the best tool available to protect gun owners from Biden’s tyranny!
But none of this will matter if Iowa’s House and Senate Republican leaders continue to lock SAPA legislation down in the committee process! That’s why you need to sign your petition immediately!
<<< SIGN YOUR PETITIONS TO MOVE SAPA OUT OF COMMITTEE! >>>
I don’t know about you, but the idea that tens of thousands of Iowans could be facing felony charges later on this year over unconstitutional gun control orders makes me furious…but so does the idea of Republicans in Des Moines blocking SAPA!
If you agree, please sign your petitions urging House Public Safety Chairman Jarad Klein and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Brad Zaun to stop locking SAPA down in their respective committees.
And when you sign them, please make a donation of $100 or even $125 so that Iowa Gun Owners can really crank up the heat on the legislature while we still have time to pass SAPA.
We are using emails, web and digital programs, and our notorious text-based systems to flood the Capitol with calls and emails in support of the Second Amendment Preservation Act.
But time is running out on the 2022 legislative session, and if we are going to force the legislature to move this bill, we need to fight even harder!
So if $100 just isn’t possible right now, I hope that you will consider $50 or at least $15!
<<< DONATE TO HELP PASS SAPA! >>>
Joe Biden believes he IS the law. He thinks he can make laws with the stroke of his pen, and he believes he can force us to comply. SAPA is our way of saying, ‘Let’s go Brandon!’
Help us get this done! Sign your petition and donate TODAY!
For Iowa,
Aaron Dorr
Chairman
Iowa Gun Owners
P.S. Biden’s two Executive Orders attacking gun owners will take effect in June and August, and these orders will make criminals out of tens of thousands of gun owners in Iowa!
IGO’s Second Amendment Preservation Act would limit the damage of these orders, by denying Biden the support of Iowa’s law enforcement community…if the bill passes.
<<< SIGN YOUR PETITIONS TO MOVE SAPA OUT OF COMMITTEE! >>>
Time is running out in Des Moines. So sign your petition telling the legislature to stop blocking SAPA! And please make a donation of $100, $50, or at least $15 so that we can HAMMER on the legislature!
<<< DONATE TO HELP PASS SAPA! >>>