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Iowa House passes bill allowing guns in school, college parking lots
Weapons must be out of sight; driver must have permit to carry
DES MOINES — Iowans could have a gun in their car — if the gun is out of sight and the car is locked — on school and college grounds in limited situations under a bill House lawmakers approved Wednesday.
Among other provisions, the bill would allow a person to carry a handgun in a car if they are dropping off or picking up a student, staff member or other person involved with a public or non-public school.
The person would need a permit to carry a gun; the handgun would have to remain inside the vehicle; and the vehicle would be required to be locked if unattended.
The bill, House File 654, passed the House, 62-37. Republicans Chad Ingels of Randalia and Gary Mohr of Bettendorf joined all Democrats in opposition. A companion bill in the Senate advanced out of a committee in March but has not been considered by the chamber.
Rep. Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison and the bill’s floor manager, said the bill would protect Second Amendment rights and allow more freedom for responsible gun owners.
Kids have ‘begged us’
Democrats criticized Republicans for passing a bill that allows guns directly outside schools just weeks after a shooting at a private school in Nashville, Tenn., took the lives of three 9-year-old students and three staff members.
Democrats said the bill would make schools less safe and result in more guns around children. They also said lawmakers were missing an opportunity to pass gun control measures, like requiring background checks for private sales.
“Today my thoughts are with … the kids across the state and across this country who have literally begged us — begged us — to do something about gun violence,” said Rep. Heather Matson, D-Ankeny. “They’ve begged us to listen, and they’ve begged us for the right to be safe at schools.”
One person was killed and two injured in a drive-by shooting outside East High School in Des Moines last year, and two people were killed at a shooting at Starts Right Here, an education program in Des Moines, earlier this year.
The bill would allow schools to authorize a person to carry a firearm in a vehicle transporting students.
The bill also would allow guns and other weapons like knives and tasers to be kept in cars at Iowa’s public universities and community colleges, provided the car is locked and the weapon is not visible.
Safer with guns
Holt said the bill will protect the rights of law-abiding gun owners while maintaining strict restrictions around the weapons in or near schools. He rebuffed Democrats’ claims that allowing guns in more areas would increase violence.
He said perpetrators of mass shootings at schools are generally not parents or spouses who are picking up or dropping off people at the school.
“I do feel more comfortable when law-abiding citizens are allowed to carry a firearm,” he said. “I feel very, very vulnerable in a gun-free zone because I know that mentally ill individuals who have decided to commit violence against other human beings don’t care what the law is.”
Debate on the bill became charged and emotional at times when lawmakers spoke about friends or constituents that were involved in gun violence incidents. After the bill's passage, Democratic lawmakers read a list of every school shooting since the 1999 Columbine High School shooting.
Other points
The bill would lift restrictions on guns in other areas, including:
- Guns could be brought, out of sight in a locked vehicle, onto any publicly accessible parking lot operated by the state, counties or cities — including at jails and prisons.
- Drivers would be allowed to have a loaded gun in their cars on a public highway.
- Iowans would be allowed to carry a loaded gun on a snowmobile or ATV, but it would still be a crime to shoot a gun from the vehicles in most cases.
Iowa voters approved a constitutional amendment in the November 2022 election that enshrines the right to bear arms in Iowa’s Constitution and subjects any restrictions on that right to the highest legal review standard.
Gun safety training
Lawmakers added a provision on the floor, with some bipartisan support, that would require schools to offer gun safety classes in grades seven through 12. Schools would be encouraged to implement gun safety instruction in kindergarten through grade six.
The programming would be developed by the Department of Education and based on training programs from the National Rifle Association.
Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad, D-Des Moines, said the training would help students learn what to do if they see a gun at school or outside the home.
“At some point we have to take a stand and say, ‘Hey, how do we educate our children?’ ” he said.
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