Things are heating up all over the state right now as the June 3rd primary is getting closer and most every candidate is trying to claim the most aggressive stance on the 2nd Amendment.
We’ve recently reported on the results of our survey program in the 1st and 2nd Congressional Districts and if you missed it you can read it here.
For our coverage on the 3rd Congressional District, follow this link. This information is up to date as of this writing.
In the US Senate GOP Primary we have developments to share with you as Matt Whitaker becomes the 3rd Republican candidate to answer the Iowa Gun Owners 2014 candidate survey with 100% pro-gun responses.
Currently Sam Clovis, Scott Schaben, and now Matt Whitaker are all on the record as being 100% pro-gun!
More, Sam Clovis and Matt Whitaker have signed their “Legislative Leadership Pledge” too – meaning that we can count on Clovis and Whitaker to LEAD on the gun rights fight if elected, by sponsoring pro-gun legislation.
After all, now more than ever, gun owners need to be on the offense. Last year we saw the most ferocious attack on our gun rights that we’ve seen in nearly a generation.
Like many of you, I watched in anger as key Republicans, like Senator Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania, worked day and night to partner with Diane Feinstein and Harry Reid to draft gun control proposals that were eventually moved to the Senate floor where they were narrowly defeated.
These bills would not have moved forward without Republican support, as the Democrats did not forget what happened to them after they advanced gun control under Bill Clinton’s presidency.
And so it was vital to find Republicans that they could “work with.”
This brings us back to the survey program in the first place.
Because as you’re seeing right now, virtually EVERY Republican candidate seeking your vote is trying to claim the 2nd Amendment high ground – because they want your volunteer time, your money, and your vote.
But I don’t want to see another Republican “make a deal” with Feinstein and Reid.
I know you don’t either.
And that’s why we NEED to have candidates who will put their views on paper – so that you and I have the ability to hold them accountable should they even think about betraying our gun rights.
After all, the survey takes about ten minutes to complete – far less time than these candidates have spent trying to convince you on the phone that they are really pro-gun even though they haven’t signed a survey.
That’s why I hope you’ll take a few minutes today to thank Sam Clovis, Scott Schaben, and Matt Whitaker for their 100% pro-gun surveys – and especially for Clovis and Whitakers’ pledge to SPONSOR pro-gun bills.
All three of them are on the record for:
- Opposition to a Universal Registration law – which would make you a criminal for simply passing on your firearms to your children or grandchildren without first being added to a government list;
- Opposition to anti-gun mental health expansion – over 140,000 military vets have already lost their gun rights simply by being declared defective by a ‘mental health professional’ without due process in a court of law;
- Support of repealing the federal “gun free zones” law – the only people stopped by these insane laws are the law abiding parents, teachers, and school staff who may be able to save lives if given the option of going armed.
Sadly, Joni Ernst and Mark Jacobs are still REFUSING to tell gun owners where they stand.
Since our last email about Mark Jacobs, thousands of you have emailed and called him demanding to know what he is hiding. Of course, as all candidates do when they want to deflect heat, Jacobs is saying whatever it takes to get away from the heat.
He’s told some of you that he’s too busy to sign a 10 question survey – but that’s certainly false as he and his campaign manager have spent WAY more time calling you back than the survey would have taken him.
More, despite their busy schedules, Clovis, Schaben, and Whitaker found time to survey.
Some of you have been told that Jacobs won’t sign a survey because he’s done surveys for other organizations. But that’s not the answer that his campaign manager gave us when we stood in his office just last week.
They made it clear that they would not be surveying because they know Iowa Gun Owners, and they didn’t want to be held accountable.
After all, the establishment gun lobby has a miserable track record of holding incumbents accountable for their votes against gun rights.
Just ask gun owners who have Senators like Lindsey Graham, John McCain, and Pat Toomey – all three of whom are Republican Senators who voted FOR gun control during last year’s gun control fight!
(Thankfully, Iowa’s Charles Grassley helped shut down this gun control threat last year on the Senate floor – in part due to all of your calls, emails, and postcards at that time.)
With regards to Senator Ernst, certainly we’ve seen the TV ads that you’ve all seen.
More, we’ve worked personally in the Iowa Senate with Ernst on multiple occasions on 2nd Amendment related issues.
That’s why we’re so confused about her refusal to survey – especially after she asked for the survey earlier this campaign cycle.
Insiders report that the Ernst campaign is refusing to sign the survey of multiple conservative organizations – likely due, we’re told, to out-of-state campaign consultants who are giving terrible advice to this candidate.
We wouldn’t be surprised – we’ve dealt with these types of folks before.
In fact, some of these same consultants who are running the Ernst campaign worked overtime with candidates who were running to be the GOP nominee for the presidential election back in 2011 here in Iowa trying to keep them from surveying.
Sadly, it appears that Senator Ernst is allowing these out of state consultants to dictate her policy decisions. One can only speculate about the kind of staff she’d have if elected and whether or not she’d follow the same bad advice as a US Senator.
That’s why I hope you’ll appeal to Senator Ernst directly – bypassing her handlers and consultants. She needs to understand that its grassroots gun owners, grass roots Iowans that she needs to be listening too – not slick consultants from out of state with bad advice.
Tell her that she needs to sign the IGO survey so that we know where she really stands and so that – if needed – we can hold her accountable should she “go bad” on the 2nd Amendment if elected.
To contact Joni Ernst, call her at 712-621-4931.
Of course, please help us keep the heat on Mark Jacobs as well by contacting him at 515-829-7707.
Let them know in no uncertain terms that you’ll never be able to support a candidate who doesn’t support your gun rights.
In addition, we’ve included a copy of the IGO survey at the bottom of this email since many of you have asked for it. Please take a copy of this survey to events where Mark Jacobs and Joni Ernst are at and ask them to sign it!
What’s more – we’re offering a bounty to the first Iowan who walks into our office with a signed copy of the IGO survey from either Mark Jacobs or Joni Ernst. A free 1 year membership to IGO, a free IGO T-Shirt, a free IGO hat, and A FREE GLOCK 19!
(All the winner needs to do is present a signed copy of the survey, a picture of them with the candidate as they sign the survey to document its authenticity, and meet all the normal legal requirements necessary to own and possess a firearm. Not valid for the candidates or their families. Void where prohibited. Two firearms total may be given away. Firearm to be given away after the June 3rd primary via The 2nd Amendment Shop in Lohrville, IA.)
For the handful of folks who’ve called and insisted that Jacobs and Ernst are pro-gun – now is your chance to step up and prove it, while getting a free Glock 19 in the process.
In the meantime, be sure to thank Sam Clovis, Scott Schaben, and Matt Whitaker for their strong commitment to the 2nd Amendment!
And if you can, I’d really appreciate it if I could count on your generous support for the Iowa Gun Owners Candidate Survey Program.
Whether you can give $250, $100, $50 or $35, every dollar you can give will be a tremendous help.
IGO is busy pouring direct mail, emails, targeted internet advertisements and more into specific districts to let the voters know which candidates are pro-gun and which ones are not.
Your money will be put to good use!
But whether or not you can give, please contact these candidates IMMEDIATELY.
For Freedom,
Aaron Dorr
Executive Director
P.S. Matt Whitaker becomes the third candidate seeking the GOP nomination in the US Senate race to sign his Iowa Gun Owners candidate survey with 100% pro-gun answers.
More – he joins Sam Clovis in signing his “Legislative Leadership Pledge” wherein he has promised to lead in the gun rights fight by sponsoring pro-gun legislation as a US Senator.
Mark Jacobs still refuses to tell Iowans where he stands, desperately shelling out one lame excuse after another trying to spin you into thinking that he’s pro-gun.
Joni Ernst continues to refuse to survey as well, likely being led astray by out of state campaign consultants who have a history of trying to moderate a candidate’s position.
That’s why IGO is offering a bounty to the first person who brings a verified copy of a signed survey from either Mark Jacobs or Joni Ernst of a 1 year IGO membership, a free IGO T-Shirt, a free IGO hat, and a FREE GLOCK 19. Details are above.
Simply print off the survey below, go to the nearest event featuring Jacobs or Ernst, get them to sign with pictures to verify it, and get to our office! Sadly, we don’t think we’ll have to pay out.
Iowa Gun Owners 2014 Federal Candidate Survey
This 2014 Federal Candidate Survey is prepared for _______________________ running in Iowa for US Senate as a member of the Republican Party.
Please return your completed and signed survey no later than April 18, 2014.
- Do you believe the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights is an individual right, protected by the Constitution of the United States of America, and it is the duty of the United States Congress to protect that right?
Yes____ No____ - If elected, would you oppose legislation to limit the sale, manufacture, importation, or possession of rifles, shotguns or handguns (including semi-automatic firearms); or magazines with certain arbitrary capacity limits?
Yes____ No____ - Would you support legislation to restore the Second Amendment rights of the over 140,000 military veterans who have wrongfully been denied their rights under the pretense of “mental health issues,” without proper adjudication before a court?
Yes____ No____ - Would you oppose legislation to include private mental health records of law-abiding citizens who have NOT been adjudicated mentally ill by a court in the National Instant Check System, thereby stripping them of their Second Amendment rights?
Yes____ No____ - Would you oppose legislation to expand federally mandated background checks through the National Instant Check System, including banning private firearm sales, banning private sales at gun shows, or prohibiting temporary transfer of firearms for self-defense or hunting?
Yes____ No____ - Would you support a repeal of the Lautenberg Domestic Misdemeanor Gun Ban, which suspends gun rights for offenses as slight as spanking a child or grabbing a spouse’s wrist?
Yes____ No____ - Would you support legislation to repeal the so-called Federal “gun-free school zones” ban?
Yes____ No____ - Would you use your legislative powers to abolish or significantly decrease the power, budget and authority of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to track gun owners, sellers and buyers?
Yes____ No____ - Would you support an amendment to the “USA Patriot Act” to protect firearm purchases from the warrantless “national security letter” search authority of the Federal government?
Yes____ No____ - Would you oppose legislation that would expand the definition of “gun trafficking” to treat many private firearms gifts and sales with the same penalties as criminal enterprises where large quantities of firearms are sold to drug cartels or other criminals?
Yes____ No____
* Please Note: Failure to answer a question will be graded as an anti-gun answer.
— Candidate Authorization —
My signature affirms that the answers given above accurately represent my beliefs as a candidate for US Senate in the 2014 election.
Signed:
_______________________ _________________
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