With Biden losing control of the House, the fight for gun rights is headed back where I love fighting for it the most: at the state level, right here in Des Moines!
The 2023 legislative session is going to start in just a few days, and IGO’s team has spent weeks finalizing our legislative agenda for the year, along with the budget we’ll need to flood the Capitol with grassroots pressure.
To be clear, we’ll need to keep a wary eye on Congress this year, as there are more than enough RINOs to pass a gun control bill through the GOP-controlled House.
But with such massive majorities in the House and Senate here in Des Moines, 2023 will be a rare opportunity to advance critical gun rights legislation!
From passing the Second Amendment Preservation Act, to ban the use of federal dollars to enforce ‘Red Flag’ laws, to expanding the protections to gun owners through our Stand-Your-Ground laws — there’s a lot on the line this year!
The truth is, Iowans need all of these bills to pass.
But the hard reality is that there’s a limit to how much we can spend on any one particular political fight. So, while I’d love nothing more than to go ‘all in’ on each of the bills I mentioned above, we simply don’t have the resources for that.
That’s why I am writing you today.
We need to decide where to focus the financial resources that you’ve given to us — along with our time — during this upcoming legislative session, and we need to decide quickly.
That’s why I have prepared your 2023 Iowa Gun
Owners Membership Ballot with this letter. I hope that you’ll read this update and complete your ballot IMMEDIATELY!
The 2022 election program that Iowa Gun Owners ran was a massive success! The Freedom Amendment passed with over 65% of the vote! Cindy Axne was kicked out of Congress. Kim Reynolds crushed Deidre DeJear. And we picked up seats in Des Moines!
But that success came at a cost.
All said and done, Iowa Gun Owners spent just under $100,000 on this program between a statewide radio ad campaign, digital ads, and our massive mail and email programs.
To be clear, I wouldn’t change a thing.
But as things stand today, Iowa Gun Owners has the cash on hand for one major political battle next session. We simply can’t handle three fights in Des Moines simultaneously.
So I am counting on you to tell us where to focus this session. But before you do, let me explain what these bills do and why we need them so badly, so you have all the facts.
One of the bills that deserve our utmost attention is the Second Amendment Preservation Act, known as SAPA.
Thanks to gun owners, Joe Biden has lost control of the House, which means the days of him ramming his gun control bills through that chamber at warp speed are officially over.
That’s why Biden is ALREADY talking about mandating more gun control through Executive Orders this year. But here’s the secret to that: Biden needs Iowa cops to enforce these orders here — he doesn’t have the manpower to do it on his own.
But if Iowa passes SAPA legislation this session, Iowa cops will be instructed to only enforce Iowa laws when it comes to firearms, ammunition, and accessories, not Biden’s insanity.
To be very clear: this is perfectly legal. The State of Iowa gets to decide how our cops are used since it’s taxpayers here in Iowa who pay for our law enforcement budget. This is the very definition of ‘State’s Rights’ under the 10th Amendment.
In fact, the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that when the state and federal government disagree on something, the feds may not simply force the states to comply. It’s the opposite!
So while Biden is free to send feds into Iowa to enforce his gun control laws, Iowa cops will NOT help him do it. And the fact is that without Iowa cops to aid him, Biden’s gun control edicts will simply be unenforced here in Iowa!
But SAPA doesn’t just protect gun owners, it protects cops.
You and I both know that Iowa is full of troopers, city cops, and sheriff’s deputies who love the Second Amendment. I hear from them all the time at events and in the Capitol.
The last thing these pro-gun cops want to do is enforce tyrannical gun control from the White House that wasn’t even voted on by a single member of Congress! SAPA gives them the legal protection they need against a hostile department head!
Missouri has SAPA law on the books. They passed it last year. And not only has the DOJ lost all three of their legal challenges, Missouri cops have maintained law and order just fine — without being used by Joe Biden to attack gun owners.
Clearly, Iowa can (and must) do the same thing!
But Biden has other tricks up his sleeve.
Knowing that SAPA would effectively negate his Executive Orders, Biden is turning to the oldest trick in the book for a federal government: bribing the states using taxpayer money.
Specifically, Biden is offering states like Iowa tens of millions of dollars if they agree to pass a ‘Red Flag Gun Seizure’ law at the state level!
And this isn’t a vain threat.
Last summer Biden passed a massive gun control bill in Congress that gave him $750 million to use for exactly this reason. And with state legislatures going into session all over America right now, the DOJ is actively offering these bribes!
The damage that a ‘Red Flag Gun Seizure’ law would inflict on gun owners here in Iowa is almost impossible to quantify.
You see, under ‘Red Flag’ laws, almost anyone can file a complaint with the police alleging that you’re ‘dangerous.’ The ‘evidence’ could be practically anything, and totally bogus.
And when (not if, when) the judge agrees with this complaint, they will immediately order the confiscation of every firearm and every round of ammo that you own. And they’ll send a SWAT TEAM to your door to conduct the seizure!
But notice that nowhere in this process are you required to be charged — let alone convicted — of a crime.
This is what the Radical Left has wanted for a long time: the power to seize firearms from anyone they want through a bureaucratic process, with no need to convict us of a crime or follow the ‘due process’ rights that a court would ensure.
I would like to think that ‘Red Flag’ legislation would be dead on arrival here in Des Moines. Because of the pressure of IGO members, we’ve successfully crushed this bill for years.
But you and I both know that our legislative majorities in Des Moines have more than a few RINOs in them.
And if we have a mass shooting during this legislative session, these RINOs WILL be pushing their caucus to pass ‘Red Flag Gun Seizures’ — especially with Joe Biden flashing tens of millions of dollars in their face!
That’s why we’re having legislation filed that would ban ‘Red Flag’ laws here in Iowa. More than that, our legislation would ban the use of any federal money for the purpose of enforcing gun seizures here in Iowa.
But if the last two years have taught us anything, it’s that liberal county attorneys love going after innocent gun owners who are forced to defend themselves.
We watched this play out in 2020 and 2021 as Mark McCloskey and Kyle Rittenhouse had to defend themselves twice, once from violent thugs and then again from thuggish prosecutors.
This can’t continue.
That’s why Iowa Gun Owners is having legislation filed to immediately beef up our Stand-Your-Ground law!
While our current laws have removed the need to retreat before taking defensive action, they presume that any time a gun owner defends themselves they are guilty of a crime — forcing us to prove that our actions were lawful.
That’s backwards.
This is America, where we are supposed to be ‘innocent until proven guilty.’ And in almost two dozen states, that’s exactly what happens to gun owners following a shooting.
States like Florida, Pennsylvania, and even California have upgraded their self-defense laws, granting the presumption of innocence to anyone involved in a shooting, until the government proves their guilt in a court of law.
Iowa law needs to do the same thing.
That way a gun owner who clearly used justifiable force can’t have his life upended for 12-24 months, just because a liberal county attorney wants to imprison you for political reasons!
The legislation we’ll be filing will also establish a pre-trial immunity hearing process, allowing gun owners to assert the protections of Stand-Your-Ground law BEFORE trial.
Thanks to the hatchet job done on the House floor in 2017, our current Stand-Your-Ground protections don’t apply until you invoke them on appeal — AFTER your life has been ruined!
This isn’t a hypothetical situation, only impacts gun owners in faraway states. Newly elected Polk County Attorney Kimberly Graham won her race because George Soros gave her $300,000!
Graham is exactly the kind of prosecutor who would put gun owners in prison for decades for the ‘crime’ of self-defense, unless we enhance Iowa law and prevent her from doing this.
I’m sure you can see why I’m so torn.
This isn’t an either/or situation. We need ALL THREE of these laws on the books, and we need them right away!
But I have to be realistic.
Right now, after the expensive election program that we just ran, I just don’t have the funds to run a full-scale program on all three of these bills at the same time!
That’s why I’m counting on you to please fill out your Iowa Gun Owners’ Member Ballot and tell me where to focus the resources that we have.
Of course, when you do so, you’ll notice that I have included another option on your membership ballot — an option that we haven’t talked about yet because it’s just not possible without a major influx of funds.
But I’m not going to lie, this is the option I hope you will choose. That’s OPTIONS #4: “FIGHT FOR SAPA LEGISLATION, WORK TO BAN RED-FLAG GUN SEIZURES, AND EXPAND STAND-YOUR-GROUND LAW PROTECTIONS. FIGHT EVERYWHERE!”
Please note that if you select this option, I’m hoping that you’ll include a generous donation of $100 or even $250 to make sure that we have the resources we need to fight for all of these bills.
I know that’s a lot. But 2023 is a great opportunity to secure freedoms that are badly needed while blocking Joe Biden from using our cops to enforce his tyranny.
So if $100 is just too much, won’t you please agree to $75, $50, or at least $25?
The General Assembly is convening in just days, I need to hear from you as soon as possible.
Please fill out your Membership Ballot right away and consider your most generous donation today!
With the 2023 legislative session starting in just days, I need to make some very difficult decisions about where to focus our resources and our time this session.
There are multiple issues facing gun owners this year. But after the expensive 2022 elections, IGO doesn’t have the cash we need to fight for them all at once.
I need to hear from you, right away.
Please fill out your Membership Ballot TODAY!
After you cast your vote, please consider a generous donation to help us fight for you this year!