Guns prompt biggest stir at Iowa Statehouse

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - This year's legislative session was supposed to be focused on taxes, education and job creation, but it was the issue of guns that caused what likely will be the biggest stir at the Statehouse this year.

Two measures in the House last Wednesday prompted a walkout by Democrats, claims about a "wild west" mentality and a lawmaker near tears on the House floor.

Given Iowa's rural heritage, Department of Natural Resources spokesman Mick Klemsrud said guns always have sparked passions in the state.

"Hunting is a tradition in Iowa," Klemsrud said.

He notes the state sold deer tags to about 170,000 hunters last year.

But some lawmakers said the gun measures prompted such an uproar because they weren't about hunting, a practice that Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly support.

Instead, lawmakers like House Democratic Leader Kevin McCarthy, while touting his lifetime membership in the National Rifle Association, said the gun bill was extreme. McCarthy charged the measures would turn "Iowa into the Wild, Wild West."

"It would eliminate all gun laws," McCarthy said. "This issue is very, very extreme. This proposal is not a mainstream proposal."

One measure would allow people to use deadly force if they are threatened.

The second was a resolution that would call for writing gun rights into the Iowa Constitution. The proposed constitutional amendment would mandate that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms as herein expressed shall not be infringed."

Some said that could lead courts to strike down all gun laws on the books, but supporters responded it's impossible to predict how courts would rule.

It's a distrust with the courts, however, that fueled much of the support for the constitutional amendment.

"For far too long, we've seen judicial abuse of our Second Amendment rights," said Rep. Matt Windschitl, R-Missouri Valley.

Rep. Lance Horbach, R-Tama, was near tears during the debate as he argued passionately for gun rights.

"This was a big one, and it's whole different level than arguing about funding of an agency," said Horbach. "The debate was about freedom more than it was about guns, and that's why both sides were very emotional on it."

After Democrats returned from a roughly six-hour walkout, the Republican-controlled House approved both measures, largely along party lines. The measures are expected to get a tough reception in the Senate, where Democrats hold a majority.

The gun measures divided law enforcement, with a group representing police chiefs opposed to the constitutional change and a sheriff's group neutral. Two retired Highway State Patrol troopers who are now legislators voted for the amendment.

Most law enforcement groups lobbied against the measure allowing the use of force when threatened.

"They are all over the map," said Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield, one of the two former troopers. "Their chief concern will always be public safety."