Do Your Job: Everytown Unveils New Digital Ad Hitting Iowa Lawmakers For Pushing Dangerous Bill to Roll Back Gun Laws

In February, Everytown Announced $60 Million Electoral Program for 2020 — Double What it Spent in 2018

DES MOINES — Today, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund unveiled a new digital ad that criticizes Iowa Republicans for fast-tracking legislation that would harshly punish local elected officials for taking action on gun violence and effectively force public buildings to allow guns. The ad, “Do Your Job,” will be incorporated into Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund’s $250,000 digital advertising effort in Iowa to put  legislators “on notice” and pressure them to pass gun safety legislation this session. The digital ad will target voters statewide, with a focus on suburban women. 

“Iowans are demanding our leaders support stronger gun laws – but instead, Iowa lawmakers are taking us backwards and rolling back our current protections,” ​said Traci Kennedy, a volunteer with the Iowa Chapter of Moms Demand Action and gun owner​. “Instead of acting on common-sense solutions to end gun violence, Republican leadership is fast-tracking extreme legislation that would punish local officials for acting on gun safety in their own communities and effectively force public buildings to allow guns inside. We’re telling our lawmakers to do their jobs and vote for gun safety, and if they don’t, we’re going to vote them out of office.”

In a matter of weeks, HF 2502 has passed the state House and the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill now heads to the Senate floor for consideration. HF 2502 is dangerous legislation that would significantly broaden the state’s existing firearms preemption law, including by subjecting local officials who enact gun safety policies to the possibility of paying damages and attorneys fees; effectively forcing public buildings to allow people to carry loaded handguns inside; and preventing localities from enacting ordinances requiring Iowans to store their firearms responsibly.

In the meantime, the Iowa House allowed a key deadline to pass without giving HF 2367, a potentially life-saving extreme risk bill, a committee hearing this session. Extreme risk laws are one of the most powerful tools for preventing mass shootings, school shootings, and especially gun suicides by creating a way to act before warning signs escalate into tragedies. In Iowa, there are an average of 264 gun deaths every year – 80 percent of these deaths are by gun suicide. 

The new ad is Everytown’s second digital ad in Iowa pressuring state legislators to pass common-sense gun laws in 2020 or be voted out of office. In February, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and Victory Fund announced it would spend at least $60 million on the 2020 elections and unveiled the first ad campaign targeting Republican lawmakers. 

VIEW THE AD, “DO YOUR JOB” HERE.

The ad text reads:

Iowans Demanded Action on Gun Safety 

So Why Are Iowa Lawmakers Trying to Weaken our Gun Laws?

Tell Iowa Lawmakers: Do Your Job. Stop Blocking Gun Safety! 

Nearly 300 Iowans are killed by gun violence every year and new state polling shows that 75 percent of Iowans support extreme risk laws and showed Iowa voters generally support stronger gun safety laws by a 3:1 margin. To date, 18 states, including neighboring Illinois, and the District of Columbia have enacted extreme risk laws.