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The battle over permitless carry has raged for weeks at the Iowa Capitol. Iowa Gun Owners, a Second Amendment advocacy organization that prides itself on being a no-compromise gun lobby, has singled out Republican Senators Amy Sinclair, Dan Dawson and Zach Nunn for killing the bill.

But on Thursday evening, Sen. Jason Schultz said it was his idea to pull the bill off the committee’s agenda last week. And Schultz singled out Iowa Gun Owners for its tactics.

“Senate File 165 has been an ongoing deal here for the last week, two, month,” he said. “Senate File 165 will not be run and it is because as the manager of the bill I asked to have it pulled off the agenda. I did this because I finally realized that this is an Aaron Dorr scam. Every time I planned to move the bill to the next level, he would attack a pro-gun legislator and lie about them in order to create drama and raise more money from good Iowans who don’t know the truth.”

Schultz said the truth is Dorr mocked the chairs of both the House Judiciary and Public Safety committees.

“These are the committees I need in order to handle the bill in the House,” Schultz said. “He belittled one of the greatest Americans I have the honor of knowing personally, and that would be Rep. Steve Holt, the 20-year Marine Corp veteran and retired First Sergeant.”

Despite that, Schultz asked to have the bill put on the Judiciary agenda. Before the meeting, though, Dorr attacked a pro-gun senator, he said.

“Why would you do that if your intentions are to move the bill,” Schultz said. “I decided at that time I was done supporting any bill related to Dorr. I am the last legislator to see this I believe. I kept trying to put policy over personality and I kept getting disappointed and betrayed. I was naive enough to believe he was just a lousy lobbyist. I finally see that he is only working to energize the good law-abiding Iowans who want their freedoms back in order to take their money.”

Schultz said Dorr doesn’t attack anti-freedom office holders, but pro-gun legislators who have proven their commitment to Second Amendment supporters. Dawson, Nunn and Sinclair all support the bill, Schultz said.

“They are not the reason that this did not advance, I am,” Schultz said. “I am done with anything involving Dorr because I now see that he is not working to pass legislation. He is playing supporters against each other in order to make money. He is a fraud and a bully. And since bullies only respond to strength, I will be much stronger.”

Schultz went off script after that and said he tries to be a decent Christian. One tenet, he said, is that the ends do not justify the means.

“You are not authorized to do whatever it takes to reach your goal even if the goal is proper, righteous and just,” Schultz said. “If we did that we would be living under the rule of man and we would have chaos. I try to submit to the rule of God. I will not go home believing that I supported the financial gain of somebody who is only scamming people who want the best for their families.”

He apologized to Sinclair, Dawson and Nunn for getting pulled into the situation.

Senator Brad Zaun said he worked in good faith to get the legislation passed, but it had no pathway forward due to some of the activities and lies that were spread, Zaun said.

“For the record, Sen. Dawson, Sen. Sinclair and Sen. Nunn were going to vote for this, including every Republican on this committee,” Zaun said. “There was no pathway forward. I agreed with Sen. Schultz and I support Sen. Schultz.”

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