Contact your Senator TODAY and encourage support for Senate File 425!
Anti-gun groups are working to halt progress on Senate File 425 by spreading false information and using scare tactics in the legislature. SF425 is a collaborative effort between several law enforcement groups, NRA and the Iowa Firearms Coalition, and contains much-needed improvements and updates to Iowa firearm laws (reported on here). This legislation has received strong bipartisan support in the legislature with the House version, House File 527, garnering an overwhelming 75-24 vote approval in the state House, without a word of opposition spoken on the floor last week. On the heels of this victory for Iowans, anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg-affiliated groups, Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action, have panicked and launched a campaign that falsely claims SF 425 would “arm felons and domestic abusers in Iowa.”
Bloomberg’s groups want to halt any progress on restoring and improving recognition of your rights in Iowa so badly that they have resorted to misinformation to bring down legislation that has the strong support of not only pro-gun advocacy groups, but public safety officers and law enforcement. Everytown for Gun Safety has done a disservice to all Iowans by their commitment to using their vast resources to propagate falsehoods and exploit misconceptions regarding Iowa firearms laws in order to serve their own extremist anti-gun agenda.
Under current Iowa law, it is illegal to sell a firearm to a prohibited person (including felons and domestic abusers). Senate File 425 does NOT change this -- it will still be a crime to sell a firearm to a prohibited person under Iowa law, as it is under federal law. Iowa law is and will continue to be in full compliance with federal law in regard to firearms transfers. In fact, this legislation INCREASES penalties for those who knowingly make an illegal transfer to a prohibited person with the inclusion of strong “straw purchase” prevention language.
The National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action is dedicated to advancing sound policy and legislation that respects and safeguards the rights and freedoms of Iowans and firearm owners throughout the country. SF 425 and HF 527 reflect this dedication by containing provisions such as permit privacy -- language that shields firearms owners from becoming a target of Bloomberg-affiliated groups or misguided anti-gun members of the media who think firearms owners deserve to be on a special public list, like sex offenders, with their identifying information revealed to the entire world. Their only “crime” is having the audacity to protect themselves and their loved ones by choosing to undergo a legal process established by the state to obtain a permit to carry.
Instead of being concerned that a published list of firearms owners could be abused by criminals, anti-gun groups seek to protect their ability to jeopardize anyone who exercises their right to carry and have vehemently opposed any and all permit privacy provisions in SF 425 and HF 527. Instead of supporting the increased penalties for criminals involved in “straw purchase” schemes in HF 527 and SF 425, Everytown and Moms Demand Action chose to spread falsehoods about a strong pro-gun bill in a blatant attempt to halt any and all progress on legislation that would vastly improve the safety of Iowans by bringing much-needed clarity to Iowa firearms code.
For the first time in years, strong pro-gun legislation has been moving in the Iowa Senate. SF 425 needs your strong support to overcome the misinformation campaign launched by anti-gun groups! Please contact your state Senator and request that the Senate take up SF 425 for a vote and the language as passed by the House in HF527 is re-incorporated into the bill.
Even if you have contacted your state Senator in the past, follow up and email them again or call the capitol switchboard at 515-281-3221!