Iowa Gun Owners Working Hard To Pass Constitutional Carry In Iowa
Colorado ––(Ammoland.com)- Last month, you and I made it happen in Wyoming.
Today, will you help me — and Iowa Gun Owners — pass Constitutional Carry in Iowa?
Iowa Gun Owners, our boots-on-the-ground allies in Iowa, have been battling for Constitutional Carry since 2008.
This year, Iowa Gun Owners has worked closely with State Senator Kent Sorenson (R-Indianola,) who introduced the Sorenson-Pearson Constitutional Carry Act.
With historic gains made by ostensibly pro-gun Republicans in the November election, the state legislature should be a fertile ground for pro-freedom legislation like Constitutional Carry.
While many in Republican leadership claim the mantle of “pro-gun” they’ve fallen short of backing up their election year rhetoric with legislative action.
Iowa Gun Owners has been pushing — hard — to get a Constitutional Carry through the State House and into the State Senate.
I’ve been on the phone with Aaron Dorr, director of Iowa Gun Owners, nearly every day discussing strategy for getting a vote.
While Republican leadership continues to promise a full floor vote on Constitutional Carry, they have yet to deliver. To many, that comes as no surprise, but it will spell defeat for any real concealed carry reform in Iowa.
Why would I write every gun owner in America for help on this issue?
First, Iowa is truly a pivotal state. Its early Straw Poll and Caucuses make it our nation’s most watched political barometer.
Second, rarely does the chance come to pass historic legislation like this. Every freedom lover in America should be excited about the possibility.
It’s not just about one more “Constitutional Carry” state, but rather it’s about Iowa becoming a bellwether for liberty in the very heart of our nation.
I often hear “the Second Amendment is my permit to carry”, and I couldn’t agree more. What, after all, is the right to “bear arms”, in a modern context, if it is not to carry concealed?
But those are just empty words if the law makes a mockery of the Constitution.
With that in mind, I encourage everyone who truly embraces the Second Amendment’s right to “bear arms” without infringement to jump on board and help out Iowa Gun Owners.
Seriously, it’s that important.
To carry the tools of self-defense in Alaska, Arizona, Vermont or Wyoming, you don’t have to undergo a background enema, be fingerprinted like a common criminal, pay for state-mandated firearms training or have your name and address end up on some list.
You don’t have to beg for your God-given rights. That’s what the Second Amendment REALLY means!
Unfortunately, some of the elitist gun owners in America — the head-honchos of the institutional gun lobby — have trouble understanding that. In many states, they even directly oppose Constitutional Carry.
Their opposition to freedom is nothing but a self-serving “I’ve got mine” attitude, seasoned with a dash of “not EVERYONE should be able to carry a gun.” That’s elitist to the core.
But let’s examine that attitude: it means they don’t really oppose gun control.
They just oppose gun control when it’s imposed on them. Give them their own little tin-pot dictatorship, and they’re happy to limit your freedom.
As you know, Constitutional Carry is a simple, straight forward idea. If passed, it simply permits anyone who is eligible to own a firearm to carry a firearm concealed without a permit.
This legislation would not get rid of the current permit system, but it would merely give gun owners another option for exercising their right to bear arms. For reciprocity between states, citizens might still want a permit, but that’s their choice under the Constitutional Carry system.
Constitutional Carry is currently law in Alaska, Arizona, Vermont and now Wyoming.
I like to say we’re simply abolishing the “coat tax.” In states where open carry is legal, you put your coat on, and you have to pay the permit “tax.”
Constitutional Carry would make that permit “tax” voluntary, since you could carry a concealed weapon without acquiring a permit.
Iowa Gun Owners is an organization I fully endorse — in fact, I believe it’s so important to help Iowa Gun Owners that I’ve donated directly to them myself.
For liberty,
Dudley BrownExecutive Director
National Association for Gun Rights P.S. Please join me and help Iowa Gun Owners fight for Constitutional Carry.
About:
The National Association for Gun Rights was founded in 2001 to serve as a grassroots gun rights group focusing on building state-level gun rights groups and lobbying for pro-gun federal legislation. Brown has been a gun lobbyist for more than 17 years. Visit: www.nationalgunrights.org