Help Our Okie Friends

As most everyone knows by now, an EF5 tornado tore through several central Oklahoma counties and wreaked particular destruction on the town of Moore. The tornado was up to 1.3 miles wide at its largest point. The twister killed at least 24 people, including 9 children, and injured as many as 300 others. Early estimates put damages at up to $3 billion.

If you're wondering where you can donate to help, I suggest Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief. They're already in Oklahoma and know exactly what is needed after a tornado.

They were able to have teams in Moore the day after the tornado struck. To help all Oklahomans effected by the storms they've already deployed a mobile command center, a mobile kitchen and feeding units, chainsaw teams to help residents clear trees and debris, and chaplains to help victims with emotional trauma. Their volunteers also can provide water purification, mobile showers and laundry, mud-out, ash-out, child care, and medical assistance.

As a single-state nonprofit charity, Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief doesn't have the deep pockets of the national relief agencies that will (hopefully) begin to arrive in Oklahoma soon. They can use your help. Donations to them are fully tax deductible and 100% of your donation goes directly to helping the victims (not to salaries and bureaucracy).

You can donate online HERE or mail a check to:

BGCO
Attn: Disaster Relief
3800 N. May Ave.
Oklahoma City, OK 73112

In case anyone's wondering, I'm not advocating for these guys out of brand loyalty. I'm not a Baptist. They're just a good group.

We Don't Think So!

Herbert Stein's Law

Gold, Guns and Drones

The bills continue to flow through the legislative sausage press in Des Moines. They range from atrocious to pretty good. Here are a few more that caught my eye.

Bad Bills:

Two of the bad bills, SF233 & HF 164, are "universal background check" bills. Remember: "Universal Background Checks= Gun Registration= Gun Confiscation."

Senate File 233: Iowa Gun Owners calls this Iowa's "Most Dangerous Anti-Gun Bill of 2013." Hidden among innocuous provisions of an "education" bill, this bill would mandate that virtually every firearm transfer in the state go through a licensed gun dealer so that a NICS check may be conducted. If you think the gun dealer will do that for you for free when you want to sell your old shotgun to your neighbor, I've got some beachfront property in Arizona to sell you.

Even more ominous, this bill would also require social workers, guidance counselors, physician's assistants and even nurses to report you to authorities if they think you're acting a little too weird to have Second Amendment rights. Obviously no one wants dangerous lunatics to have guns, but I don't want some busybody nurse or social worker being able to strip people of their rights.

House File 164: According to Iowa Firearms Coalition: "It would require background checks be conducted by an FFL on ALL private firearm transfers with no exceptions, and allows the dealer to collect fees in the process. HF 164 would also provide for limitless fees (taxes) for transfers in order to fuel this enormous bureaucratic process, and allow the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to create 'rules' as necessary on how to implement the system, which is just another form of universal registration."

House File 163: This would ban the sale and transfer of any ammunition feeding device that holds more than 10 rounds of ammo. This was introduced by Representative Bruce Hunter (D-34), the same guy who introduced HF164 above. What a douche!

Senate Study Bill 1165/ House Study Bill 91: These twin bills would circumvent Iowa's normal search warrant process and replace it with a phony-baloney rubberstamp process for allowing officials to plant GPS trackers on Iowans' vehicles. That is inconsistent with the constitutional requirements under the U.S. and Iowa constitutions governing searches. Click HERE to learn more and to contact the appropriate subcommittee members on this bill.

Good Bills:

House File 346: This bill would recognize gold and silver coin as legal tender in the state of Iowa. You may recognize that this is an authorized state power under the U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 10. There are lot of good economic reasons for this as well as ones dealing with federalism. Caffeinated Thoughts had a great writeup on the bill you should check out for more details.

Senate File 276: This would place a moratorium on the use of surveillance drones by all state agencies in Iowa and strictly prohibit weaponized drone systems. It would allow the use of drones under several limited circumstances such as search and rescue operations or AMBER Alert searches. Anything that can slow the growth of the surveillance state that we more and more find ourselves living in is a good thing.

SF276 is currently stalled because the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Robert Hogg (D- Cedar Rapids), is sitting on it. Please contact Hogg and ask him to give SF276 the consideration it deserves and schedule a hearing ASAP. (rob.hogg@legis.iowa.gov , 319-247-0223)

With all these bills please contact your state legislator and voice your support or opposition.

Say No To Universal Background Checks