IGO trying to tank the omnibus bill this year is nothing new. They have a habit of trying to kill NRA/IFC bills.
In 2011, IFC and NRA were pushing something called
the NIAA bill, or NICS Improvement Amendments Act, SF456.
This was a carefully crafted piece of legislation designed to restore gun rights to folks who had lost them for mental health reasons but had gotten better, chief among whom are veterans with PTSD issues.
You'll note the bill number was SF456 short for Senate File 456 - the bill originated in the senate. At the time, the GOP had taken over the house in Iowa just after the 2010 midterms, but the senate remained under Democratic control. That situation remains the same today. So it's vitally important that any bill be able to get past the senate.
SF456 passed the senate 50-0 thanks to the hard work of IFC and NRA educating everyone about why the bill was a no-brainer.
When it came time to vote on the bill in the House, along comes IGO's stooge Rep. Tom Shaw with
an amendment to tack on constitutional carry.
Any amendments to the bill would have to be approved by the senate. The senate had already passed the bill, and if it passed the house unchanged it would go to the governor's desk.
Now, knowing that the senate was under democratic control, adding constitutional carry language would have killed a good bill even though constitutional carry would pass the house. A perfect example of a poison pill amendment.
But good bills don't matter to IGO, they want to force votes so they can tell you that all of the republicans are anti-gun. The amendment was ruled non-germane, and Rep. Shaw moved to suspend the rules to consider the amendment.
The motion to suspend the rules failed 91-6, thankfully.
IGO then turned around and used that vote to decry many solid pro-2A Republicans like Rep. Matt Windschitl, who is THE 2A legislator in Iowa. Bar none. You can read all of Aaron Dorr's whinging
here. A small sample:
Yesterday we informed you that dozens and dozens of House Republicans voted against
Constitutional Carry.
For many, this was in direct violation of their signed 2010 Gun Rights Candidate Survey.
For all of them this was in direct violation of the Republican Party of Iowa platform
wherein it says, “We demand full restoration of 2nd Amendment rights and call for a state
law authorizing law-abiding citizens to carry firearms, open or concealed, without a permit.” (7.15)
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Starting to get the picture? Rep. Windschitl was quoted on the topic by
a MN blog covering Aaron Dorr's brother Chris:
I called Representative Windschitl yesterday. We talked for about a half hour. The keystone of the conversation was an incident in the Iowa legislature in 2011. As Windschitl relates, the GOP caucus was pushing a bill in both chambers to allow combat veterans who’d suffered from PTSD, and had that notification put into the national NICS databases (disqualifying them from gun purchases) an avenue to get their rights restored.
There had been, earlier in the session, a debate about introducing “Alaska Carry” – legalizing carry without a permit, as in Alaska, Vermont and Arizona – and/or “Constitutional Carry” (making carry laws a part of the Constitution) in Iowa. The bill had died…
…but the measure to restore veterans’ rights was alive and well, and had passed the Senate. All it needed was to pass the House.
Said Windschitl, “we took months to get everyone in on it. The NRA, Aaron Dorr (leader of Iowa Gun Owners) – we were going to write some bridge language [to make the bill mesh with the Senate version for easy passage].
Then, says Windschitl, “an hour before the final debate on the bill [to restore veterans' rights], a [junior GOP rep and IGO supporter] intorduced a “kill all” amendment reintroducing “Constitutional Carry”.
The Speaker and the legislator spent hours on procedural maneuvering – attempts to suspend the rules and other parliamentary shenanigans, all of which failed.
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These miserable fucks can't manage to get any of their own bills out of subcommittee, so they have to play tricks and try to tank other bills. If they'd actually try working with the WHOLE legislature like NRA and IFC do, they might get somewhere. But instead they have one or two legislators doing their bidding, and they get nowhere because they're the type of people who couldn't make friends with a puppy.
It's a good thing the amendment failed, because the underlying bill was a great thing. From IFC's 2011
2011 year in review:
NIAA – Gun Rights Restoration
Signed into law by Governor Terry Branstad on April 19, this new law improves the language under last session's "shall-issue" carry reform law and updates Iowa state law to meet the requirements set forth in the federal NICS Improvement Amendments Act (NIAA).
Individuals who have been placed under certain types of mental health-related orders are prohibited by federal law from possessing firearms. The NIAA establishes clear standards for states to use in crafting laws to provide persons subject to these prohibitions a means of relief. The new law, under the guidelines established by the NIAA, will now allow a court to grant relief from the federal prohibition upon a finding that the petitioner will not be likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety and that the granting of the relief would not be contrary to the public interest.
Additionally, for the first time in Iowa history the new law provides Iowans - including military service members and veterans - the ability to have their gun rights restored. Also of note, this legislation was unanimously passed in both the state House and Senate.
To date, 8 Iowans have applied for their rights to be restored and 6 have been restored. The remaining 2 were not denied, but rather had errors in their filing and needed to be resubmitted.
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And a bit more from IFC about the IGO shenanigans in 2011:
NIAA Bill and "Permitless Carry"
The NIAA legislation was a "must-pass" bill that created a gun rights restoration process while improving the reporting of federally disqualified individuals - due to mental health or substance abuse orders - to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). This important legislation ultimately passed both chambers unanimously. Unfortunately, one organization thought it wise to play politics with the NIAA bill. Because broad bipartisan commitments had been made not to amend this important bill, no other amendments were considered.
While the IFC was working with state legislators and the NRA to perfect a suitable alternative and ultimately forward progress on permitless carry, one supposed "gun-rights" organization decided to take the NRA's unreleased permitless carry language and attempt to force a House floor vote during debate on the NIAA bill.
A major reason for the failure of the permitless carry amendment—on a procedural vote—was the underlying legislation was deemed of immediate importance and adding the permitless carry amendment would have effectively "killed" the legislation. Despite the state House's near unanimous vote against the permitless carry amendment, it in no way depicts the lack of support for gun issues or the permitless carry issue. In fact, many strongly pro-gun legislators, including state Representative Matt Windschitl (R-56), voted against the amendment to preserve the underlying bill. Nobody would doubt his support for firearm rights, as this session alone, he sponsored a number of pro-gun bills including IFC/NRA's HF 573, "Stand Your Ground."
We believe that the fundamental right to keep and bear arms should be protected and restored. Twenty-five years ago, fewer than ten states made it possible for average, honest citizens to carry firearms for self-defense. Today, as a result of the NRA's efforts, more than forty states respect that right – including Iowa.
IFC supports the NRA on permitless carry legislation and they have successfully helped enact such statutes in Alaska, Arizona and Wyoming, and sought this year to pass similar laws in Colorado, Montana, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and even the Hawkeye state.
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It all boils down to this: if IGO can't have everything, he/they/it would have nothing at all.
Even if it means screwing veterans.