Culver signs bill barring guns for domestic abusers

DES MOINES -- Laurie Schipper said it was “uncomfortable” Monday to culminate a decade-long effort to get legislation signed that will take guns away from domestic abusers because so many women died in the process of getting it enacted.

However, as executive director of the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Schipper said Monday marked a “sea change” in the effort to end domestic violence. Not because it would end the violence, but because it will shift attitudes and priorities in dealing with one of the highest-risk situations in the criminal justice system. 

“This is real progress in making victims' safer,” she said shortly before watching Gov. Chet Culver sign Senate File 2357 into law during a ceremony in the Capitol rotunda. Iowans who are subject to a protective order or have been convicted of domestic abuse will be barred from possession firearms beginning July 1 under the legislation Culver signed. 

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said S.F. 2357 “will help prevent women, men and children from being terrorized, maimed and killed by violent abusers.” Culver predicted the bill would have immediate positive impacts when it takes effect. 

Backers noted that 205 Iowans have been killed in domestic-abuse murders in the 15 years since a similar federal law was enacted, with 114 of those deaths involving guns. 

“Victims often recount horror stories about how the batterer terrorizes them with firearms that are in the home, the garage, the barn and truck -- forcing her to play games of Russian roulette, killing family pets in front of children as punishment, threatening to kill her and the children if he doesn't do exactly as she asks,” Schipper said. 

“She lives with the constant terror that he has weapons and he has the ability to carry out his threats any time he chooses. She knows that she doesn't stand a chance,” Schipper added. “This bill gives her a chance – a chance to flee, a chance to survive these attacks, a chance to fight back, a chance to live.” 

Opponents argued that many of the issues the law attempted to address were the focus of contested court cases that should be resolved before lawmakers consider heading down the “slippery slope” of taking away citizens' Second Amendment rights. 

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, responded to that argument by saying “If you want to keep your guns, don't beat up your spouses.” 

The legislation calls for people who are the subject of a protective order or have been convicted of domestic abuse to relinquish firearms by selling them, transferring them to a qualified party, such as a family member, or turning them over to law enforcement to hold for the length of the protective order. 

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