The Iowa Firearms Coalition condemns the passing of the $1.5 trillion House and Senate spending bills – legislation that if signed into law will hurt Iowa’s gun industry and gun owners alike.
Buried in the 2,741 pages voted on were anti-Second Amendment provisions completely unrelated to the funding of the federal government. If made law, the new rules would:
- Automatically open federal criminal investigations into law-abiding citizens who were erroneously denied a firearm through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). According to some estimates, NICS denials occur by mistake 99% of the time.
- Deputize local peace officers so they may conduct federal criminal investigations, which otherwise would have been done by federal agencies like the ATF or FBI, into their law-abiding neighbors.
“When prospective gun buyers, even those who have successfully purchased firearms before, risk visits from armed federal agents or their local police because of a governmental clerical error, this will undoubtedly discourage sales and hurt the bottom line of those who own businesses like mine,” said Michael Ware, owner of Iowa based Controlled Chaos Arms. “In all my years as a gun dealer I have never had a NICS check that correctly identified a criminal, this is just wrong.”
The Iowa Firearms Coalition is further concerned these provisions violate Iowans basic civil rights.
“When accused of a crime we have a presumption of innocence in this country,” said Dave Funk, President of the Iowa Firearms Coalition. “If you think cancel-culture is bad, imagine what will happen to one’s reputation after they are publicly investigated for simply following the law and exercising their Constitutional rights.”
The Iowa Firearms Coalition has been in touch with Iowa’s representatives in Congress and looks forward to working with them to fix this situation.
The Iowa Firearms Coalition, an affiliate of the NRA and NSSF, is a 501(c4) nonprofit and is Iowa’s only effective pro-Second Amendment rights organization.