Iowa House approves expansion of gun rights

DES MOINES - A bill that advances Iowans' 'individual, fundamental, constitutional rights” by expanding when and how they can use guns won House approval Tuesday, setting up further expansion of gun rights in the future, according to its sponsor.

The 58-39 House vote to approve House File 517 was a triumph for rights Iowans 'need, deserve and have not been acknowledged for many, many years,” sponsor Rep. Matt Windschitl, R-Missouri Valley, said on the House floor.

Two Democrats - Reps. Bruce Bearinger of Oelwein and Scott Ourth of Ackworth - voted with majority Republican for the bill. On the other hand, Republican Reps. Michael Bergan of Dorchester and David Heaton of Mount Pleasant voted against it.

The bill now goes to the Senate, where Judiciary Committee Chairman Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, predicted it would be approved.

'It looks very promising. I've read the bill. It's a good bill,” Zaun said. 'I think the prognosis looks very good.”

Windschitl, who first introduced a stand-your-ground measure in 2007 - his first year in the House - called HF 517 a 'balance for both those Iowans that choose to carry weapons and those Iowans who choose to not carry weapons.”

But there was disagreement, especially with those provisions.

Under the bill, a person may use reasonable force, including deadly force, if he or she has a reasonable belief that such force is necessary to avoid injury or death to themselves or others. There is no duty to retreat. And a person may be wrong in the estimation that force is necessary, as long as there is a reasonable basis for it.

Rep. Mary Wolfe, D-Clinton, reminded colleagues she has supported many of the provisions in HF 517 that were voted on as separate measures in the past. But the overall bill included provisions lawmakers hadn't had a chance to thoroughly vet.

Current state law allows Iowans to stand their ground in certain circumstances if they have a reasonable belief that force is necessary to avoid injury or death to themselves or others, she said. There is no duty to retreat if doing so presents a danger.

'We all believe in allowing law-abiding citizens to use whatever amount of force necessary to protect themselves or protect their loved ones,” Wolfe said.

A defense lawyer, Wolfe offered an amendment she said would clarify when reasonable force could be used to defend property, as well as lay out justification for using deadly force against an aggressor.

'My amendment makes it clear that you cannot, it is not legally justified, to use deadly force when all you are seeking to protect is property,” she said.

Others spoke of the danger of a provision allowing children under 14 to shoot a handgun under the supervision of a parent or guardian.

'I cannot support handing out handguns to children of any age, especially young children who do not possess the judgment necessary to handle a handgun safely,” said Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City. 'Allowing a child of any age to handle a firearm makes us all unsafe.”

She predicted the law would result in more accidents and deaths.

Recalling threats and racial slurs he has heard, Rep. Ras Smith, D-Waterloo, said he might be justified to 'treat every white male as a threat” based on his experience.

'Maybe I should teach those young men the mantra of ‘Hands up, don't shoot,'” he said after donning a hoodie and headphones.

Rep. David Heaton, R-Mount Pleasant, opposed the bill because it would deny local governments the ability to ban weapons in their facilities. He recalled the Dec. 11, 1986, shooting at a City Council meeting that killed the mayor and wounded two council members.

'The problem I have with this bill is that afterwards we banned weapons from our council chamber,” he said. 'And this bill challenges the right of that City Council to ban weapons from the City Council chambers.”

'My town will never forget what happened,” Heaton said. 'They are my constituents. I cannot support this bill.”

A revision to the bill, however, would allow the Board of Regents to continue restricting guns from state campuses.

HF 517 doesn't go as far to expand and protect Second Amendment rights as Windschitl would like. However, its passage 'sets us up for future successes, to come back next year to get our freedoms back that have been encroached upon for generations.”

The big prize for him would be constitutional carry, sometimes called permitless carry, which allows the legal carrying - open or concealed - of weapons without a government permit. Typically, it applies only to handguns.

'I'd love to have constitutional carry,” Windschitl told about 75 Iowa Firearms Coalition members at the Capitol before the floor debate.

l Comments (319) 398-8375; James.Lynch@TheGazette.com