Iowa Firearms Coalition named
NRA's Jay M. Littlefield NRA-ILA Memorial Volunteer Organization of the Year Award

I am proud to announce that the Iowa Firearms Coalition has been awarded the NRA's Jay M. Littlefield NRA-ILA Memorial Volunteer Organization of the Year Award! Our President will be traveling to the NRA's Fall Board of Directors Meeting on September 11 to accept the award on behalf of all of the members and leadership that came together this year to bring Shall Issue to Iowa in 2011.

This is an award that all of us should be proud of.  With your continued support, we will keep up the fight to protect the firearms freedoms that we have in place, work to defeat attacks on our rights as they appear, and not stop until "Shall Not Be Infringed" is fully understood and is the law of the land across Iowa.

We made a lot of progress this year, but our work is cut out for us in 2011. We've told you about West Burlington's ordinance, Chapter 30, which is in direct violation of Iowa Code Section 724.28 (“preemption”). West Burlington's Mayor and City Council continue to ignore communications from us and the NRA regarding this matter, so it's possible that this will end up in court.

You may recall that Hancock County considered doing something similar earlier this summer, but the County Board of Supervisors wisely decided to let those plans go by the wayside. They did not, however, rule out the possibility that they would try to pass the ordinance at a later date after more investigation or a redraft of the proposed change.

We recently received word that Shelby County, along with the concurrence and recommendation of Shelby County Sheriff Mark Hervey, is considering a local ordinance that would ban firearms in the Courthouse and county parks. Just as with West Burlington and Hancock County, ANY legislation such as what is being considered by Shelby County would be illegal under 724.28.

Unfortunately, it is likely that we can expect to see other jurisdictions test the waters like this. It is up to all of us to pay attention to what our local governments are doing and put them on notice that we will not give them an inch in this matter. We need all of you to let us know as soon as you see any jurisdiction that has an ordinance in place which violates local preemption – or attempts to pass one. If local jurisdictions have heartburn over where firearms can or cannot be carried, their course of action must be the same as anyone else in the state: work with the legislature, in Des Moines, to change the law as it is currently written that covers the entire state. Until that happens, a locality that makes a decision to simply ignore what section 724.28 says is picking and choosing what laws to follow.