Next month, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will be moving President Obama’s gun-control package to the Floor of the Senate for debate.
This is the moment that gun owners having been preparing for, for four months.
For months gun owners have been attacked virtually every day by the White House, the liberal media, and the anti-gun lobby.
Their message is the same: demonize gun owners incessantly until they just quit fighting and give up.
State after state has seen gun-control become law as this anti-gun hysteria sweeps over the country.
And Iowa has been smack dab in the middle of it all.
Starting before the 2013 legislative session had even begun, anti-gunners in Iowa were calling for the confiscation of EVERY semi-automatic firearm in the state!
The Des Moines Register was openly advocating for violence against pro-gun legislators.
And then came the anti-gun legislative agenda for Iowa: bans on modern “high cap” magazines, universal registration of all guns and gun owners in Iowa, drastic expansions of the mental health language – making it much easier for the government to label you and me “defective.”
They tried hiding gun-control bills in the education committee.
They’ve tried to bully pro-gun legislators into dropping their support for IGO legislation.
But you went to work and made your phone calls, sent in the emails, and talked to your neighbors and friends and together we’ve been able to shut down this agenda in our state.
But now the fight is moving to Washington, and your immediate action is needed again.
You see, the biggest threat we’ve always faced in this fight is not a direct assault but an “insider’s deal” from within.
As I type this, the institutional gun lobby is meeting with Republican Senator Joe Manchin trying to decide if they are ready to support President Obama’s “Universal Registration” plan.
Make no mistake, this legislation has one goal: to develop a list of every gun and every gun owner in the country. History tells us what happens after governments build such a list.
This will not stop any crime, as criminals already acquire their weapons through the black market or by stealing them.
If the institutional gun lobby is successful in doing what they’ve done so often, trying to make a deal with gun grabbers in a misguided effort to stave off more gun control, the results would be a disaster as the gun-grabbers would come for more and more.
That’s where you and I come in.
US Senator Charles Grassley is vital to the anti-gunners and they are piling pressure on him.
By now you’ve seen the TV ads that are being run in Iowa, or perhaps you’ve seen their targeted internet ads, calling on Grassley to agree with Obama’s “Universal Registration” plan.
Worse, I’m afraid that this out-of-state money may be having an effect.
Just two weeks ago, Senator Grassley cast a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee in SUPPORT of one of President Obama’s legislative proposals, helping to advance that bill out of the Committee.
It should be noted that Grassley was the only Republican to do so. This may be the tipping point that the gun grabbers are hoping for, as they can run all the bills they want as amendments, on that main bill.
Between Senator Manchin and Senator Grassley – the institutional gun lobby may strike a back-room deal to accept portions of the Obama agenda in an attempt to placate the anti-gunners.
We can’t let that happen!
Our message to Senator Grassley needs to be very loud and clear: SAY NO TO ALL GUN CONTROL AT EVERY STEP IN THE PROCESS.
And while you can and should call Senator Grassley at 202-224-3744 and tell him this, you may have another opportunity to contact him in person.
With the Senate in recess right now, Senator Grassley is hosting town hall meetings all over Iowa as we speak.
This is the perfect time for you to ask him to declare his public opposition to any form of gun control, even the “reasonable” sounding proposals, as they are just vehicles that the anti-gunners will use to pass their full agenda.
As I write this, other Senators in Washington are announcing that they are going to mount a filibuster in an attempt to block this legislation from coming up for a vote. This dramatic step is required, in part, because Senator Grassley supported moving this bill out of the committee in the first place!
Encourage him to stand beside his GOP colleagues like Senators’ Lee, Cruz, and Paul in defense of our gun rights.
Make your point very clear to Senator Grassley: he needs to vote NO to ANY gun control at ANY step in the process. Nothing else will be acceptable.
Also, please consider assisting Iowa Gun Owners as we work to mobilize Iowans in this fight.
IGO members and supports should have recently received our mailing with pre-addressed postcards to Senator Grassley. These mail programs programs, targeted internet ads, and robo calls are proven to work, but also cost money.
You may find Senator Grassley at any one of the following locations:
Tuesday, March 26
10:30-11:30 a.m.
Winnebago County Town Meeting
Lake Mills Public Library
102 South Lake Street in Lake Mills
1-2 p.m.
Hancock County Town Meeting
Garner Education Center
325 West 8th Street in Garner
3:15-4:15 p.m.
Cerro Gordo County Town Meeting
North Iowa Area Community College
Muse-Norris Conference Center, Room 180 D, E, and F
500 College Drive in Mason City
5:15-6:15 p.m.
Franklin County Town Meeting
Center 1, Back Room
5 1st Street SW in Hampton
Thursday, March 28
8:45-9:45 a.m.
Cedar County Town Meeting
Cedar County Courthouse, Large Meeting Room in the Basement
400 Cedar Street in Tipton
11 a.m.-12 noon
Tour, Meeting, and Q&A with Employees at Go Daddy
1 Parsons Drive in Hiawatha
2:15-3:15 p.m.
Q&A with Senior Class at Vinton-Shellsburg High School
210 West 21st Street in Vinton
4:30-5:30 p.m.
Buchanan County Town Meeting
Independence Public Library, Community Room
805 1st Street East in Independence
6-7 p.m.
Q&A with John Deere Supervisor’s Club
3265 Dewitt Road in Waterloo
Tuesday, April 2
8-9 a.m.
Tama County Town Meeting
Tama Civic Center, Auditorium
305 Siegel Street in Tama
10:45-11:45 a.m.
Q&A with Students at Clear Creek Amana High School, Performing Arts Center
551 West Marengo Road – Highway 6 – in Tiffin
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Iowa County Town Meeting
Williamsburg Community Recreation Center, Room A
939 South Highland in Williamsburg
2:30-3:30 p.m.
Poweshiek County Town Meeting
Michael J. Manatt Community Center
105 Jackson Street in Brooklyn
5-6 p.m.
Mahaska County Town Meeting
Smokey Row Coffee
109 South Market in Oskaloosa
Wednesday, April 3
8-9 a.m.
Keokuk County Town Meeting
Hedrick Community Center
109 North Main Street in Hedrick
10-11 a.m.
Tour Facility and Q&A with Students and Employees at the Ottumwa Job Corps Center, Gymnasium
15229 Truman Street in Ottumwa
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Jefferson County Town Meeting
Libertyville Community Center
110 North Main Street in Libertyville
2:45-3:45 p.m.
Tour Facility and Q&A with Employees at MackayMitchell Envelope Company
1500 Mackay Avenue in Mount Pleasant
5-6 p.m.
Washington County Town Meeting
Washington Public Library, Nicola-Stoufer Room
115 West Washington Street in Washington
7:30-8:30 p.m.
Speak at the Louisa-Des Moines County Corn & Soybean Growers Association Banquet
Pzazz! Hotel, Banquet Room
3001 Wingard Drive in Burlington
Thursday, April 4
7:45-8:45 a.m.
Louisa County Town Meeting
Wapello Ambulance Building
400 Highway 61 South in Wapello
10:15-11:15 a.m.
Q&A with Students at Fort Madison High School
2001 Avenue B in Fort Madison
12 noon-1 p.m.
Q&A at Burlington Kiwanis Club
Comfort Suites, Conference Room
1780 Stonegate Center Drive – off Highway 61 – in Burlington
2:45-3:45 p.m.
Van Buren County Town Meeting
Van Buren County Hospital, Conference Room, Community Services Center
304 Franklin Street in Keosauqua
4:45-5:45 p.m.
Davis County Town Meeting
Southern Iowa Electric Cooperative
Touchstone Energy Training Center
22458 Highway 2 in Bloomfield
Please be polite but very firm and insist that he stop supporting any part of the Obama agenda and vote NO on all forms of gun control.
For Freedom,
Aaron Dorr
Executive Director
Iowa Gun Owners
P.S. The institutional gun lobby is working hard to find a common ground with the Obama Administration according to multiple media reports.
This has been the biggest fear of gun owners since the beginning, a secret backroom sellout of our gun rights, once the gun grabbers realize that a direct attack won’t work.
Iowa Senator Charles Grassley is right in the middle of this, having already voted for one of Obama’s proposals in the Judiciary Committee just two weeks ago.
Now, while he’s home in Iowa having town-hall meetings, its vital that you go and publicly challenge him to stop voting for gun control, even if it’s considered “reasonable,” as the anti-gunners will use his support as proof of a bi-partisan deal!
Worse, they’ll use his vote to make more junior Senators “fall into line” in supporting gun control.
So get out there and talk with him TODAY.
Also, please consider a contribution to help Iowa Gun Owners keep the pressure up on Senator Grassley. Mail, emails, postcards, and robo calls are great at getting the word out but all these programs costs money.