Thanks to your calls and emails, support for Constitutional Carry is growing at the Capitol in Des Moines.
But we still have a lot of lawmakers who simply won’t commit, who took your votes and donations when they ran for office last fall, but now don’t want to fight for you.
Many of you are hearing from lawmakers who say that they don’t want to fight for Constitutional Carry, because they are more interested in the Constitutional Amendment.
If you are new to the fight for gun rights here in Iowa, you may be confused about the difference between the two bills.
Allow us to break down the two and I’m sure you will understand why lawmakers like the amendment but are trying to run from Constitutional Carry.
The Constitutional Amendment is a great idea on paper.
The assumption is that we are going to pass an amendment to the Iowa Constitution that guarantees the right to keep and bear arms, and that will restrict future lawmakers and courts from chipping away at it.
Pretty neat, huh?
Well, it would be, if it actually worked.
But here’s the rub — 44 other states already have these ‘protections’ in their state constitution, and they have done virtually nothing to stop gun control in those states!
Consider these examples:
Neighboring Illinois enacted their Constitutional Amendment in 1889, and it said:
Subject only to the police power, the right of the individual citizen to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
Yet as most every gun owner in Iowa knows, Illinois has some of the worst laws in the country with guns bans, the dreaded FOID card, and ‘Red Flag Gun Seizures’ which were passed just last year.
How can the state have so much gun control when it is in direct violation of the State Constitution?
It’s simple: lawmakers and the courts don’t care what the Constitution says and they never have.
Take a look at Colorado.
They enacted their Constitutional Amendment in 1876, and it reads as follows:
The right of no person to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person and property, or in aid of the civil power when thereto legally summoned, shall be called in question.
Pretty clear, right?
Yet that didn’t stop lawmakers from passing a statewide gun registry and banning magazines that hold over 10 rounds of ammo in 2013.
Nor has it stopped the city of Boulder from implementing a ban on the popular AR15 unless you have a permit from the city council.
Or consider Connecticut, which has had a Constitutional Amendment protecting gun owners since 1818 which says:
Every citizen has a right to bear arms in defense of himself and the state.
Did these ‘guarantees’ stop lawmakers from passing a total ban on the AR15, implementing a statewide gun registry, and banning other accessories from 2013-2018?
No, of course not.
And lest some lawmaker tries to tell you that these are ‘blue states,’ that we’re not comparing apples to apples, consider some of the following examples.
Florida, long known as the ‘gun-shine state,’ passed their Constitutional Amendment in 1868, and it says:
The people shall have the right to bear arms in defence of themselves and of the lawful authority of the State.
But every gun owner knows that Florida passed the largest gun control bill in state history just last year, including ‘Red Flag Gun Seizures,’ a 3-day waiting period to buy a firearm, raising the age limit on when someone can buy a firearm, and more!
Our neighbors in ‘red’ Nebraska have had a Constitutional Amendment in effect since 1988. They have one of the most comprehensive versions around. It says:
All persons are by nature free and independent, and have certain inherent and inalienable rights; among these are life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the right to keep and bear arms for security or defense of self, family, home, and others, and for lawful common defense, hunting, recreational use, and all other lawful purposes, and such rights shall not be denied or infringed by the state or any subdivision thereof.
Yet Omaha has a total and complete handgun registry in effect, and has for years, in direct violation of this language.
More, there are efforts underway to pass ‘Red Flag Gun Seizures’ in Nebraska, too!
I could go on with page after page of examples from across the country, and that would only be state level attacks on the Second Amendment.
As gun owners, we all know and are eager to defend the Second Amendment of the US Constitution, our federal right to keep and bear arms guarantee.
Ask yourself this, did the 2nd Amendment ever stop a single attack that President Obama waged against our gun rights? Did it stop President Clinton from passing a federal ‘assault weapons ban in 1994?’
More recently, will the 2ND Amendment invalidate the Feinstein-backed ‘assault weapons’ ban, should she be able to pass it into law?
Of course not!
Again, how can all of this gun control exist if it directly contradicts the respective states’ Constitutional Amendment language and the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution?
The answer is simple.
Anti-gun lawmakers and the courts alike couldn’t care less about case law, current law, or Constitutional protections when they work to advance gun control.
They completely ignore it.
That’s because our rights, freedoms, and our very Constitution are only safe as long as good people are willing to fight to protect it.
What’s more, it’s always been this way in our Republic.
When Benjamin Franklin was asked by curious onlookers what form of government the Founding Fathers created when they drafted the US Constitution in 1787 he answered, “A Republic, sir, if you can keep it.”
You see, our Founding Fathers knew that the Constitution would never restrain odious lawmakers — at any level of government — from trying to destroy this country.
They knew that it would be up to the generations that followed to fight to defend the Constitution, and the rights that it was designed to enumerate.
And the same thing is true today.
So if lawmakers in Des Moines know that passage of this amendment is a mostly meaningless gesture that would never stop committed gun grabbers from passing gun control — why are they even bothering?
Well, the answer to that is straightforward, too.
It’s great political cover for lawmakers in Des Moines who refuse to pass Constitutional Carry, but need a gun bill to campaign on for their next re-election campaign!
And, as you no doubt are aware, the recent incompetency on the part of lawmakers, the Iowa Firearms Coalition, and the Secretary of State’s office means that this effort needs to start all over again.
Best case scenario, this issue will not go before the people of Iowa until 2022, which means that lawmakers hope to hide behind this issue through the 2020 and 2022 election cycle — while hoping to kill Constitutional Carry!
To summarize: a state level Constitutional Amendment can’t be voted on until at least 2022. It’s never stopped gun control in any state, ever. But it is phenomenal at giving politicians political cover at election time.
On the other hand, Constitutional Carry can take effect in July of this year!
Law in over a dozen states already, Constitutional Carry simply allows law abiding gun owners the option to seek a concealed carry permit or not.
If you want a permit to carry with, using our current laws, that’s fine.
But if you don’t want a permit, and don’t want to pay the government a fee to carry, and don’t want to have to be forced to add your name to a government database to exercise your God-given right of self-defense — you wouldn’t have to.
Sure, the media hates it. But the media hates the Second Amendment, gun owners, and anyone who dares to fight for it.
And yes, Bloomberg-backed lawmakers in Des Moines are outraged over the idea that the government can’t be in control over every aspect of our lives, but what else is new?
The only question now is whether or not lawmakers will be able to get away with the scam of hiding behind an impotent Constitutional Amendment or not.
This is where you come in.
Over 25% of the nation already has this law on the books!
Gun owners delivered in 2018, again, for lawmakers who say that they are pro-gun.
It’s time that these lawmakers give gun owners what they want, and that is clearly Constitutional Carry!
Please send your email now, using the link above.
When you’re done, please help us get the word out about this bait and switch game being perpetrated on gun owners in Iowa, by forwarding this email!
RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP IN IOWA GUN OWNERS FOR 2019 HERE.
For Freedom,
Aaron Dorr
Executive Director
Iowa Gun Owners
P.S. Lawmakers in Des Moines are hoping to dupe Iowans into believing that another 4-6 year fight to pass the Constitutional Amendment is what’s best for Iowans.
It’s not. A state Constitutional Amendment hasn’t stopped gun control at the state level in any state in the country. But it’s great fodder for a politician’s reelection campaign!
RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP FOR 2019 HERE!
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Iowa Gun Owners is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, single-purpose organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms through an aggressive grassroots program designed to mobilize public opposition to anti-gun legislation. The address for Iowa Gun Owners is PO Box 3585, Des Moines, IA 50323. You can call us at 515-309-7858. Our website can be located at www.IowaGunOwners.org.
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