Iowa House OKs bill lowering age to buy handguns to 18

DES MOINES — Eighteen, 19 and 20-year-olds in Iowa would be allowed to buy and carry handguns in the state under legislation passed Tuesday by Iowa House lawmakers.

House File 924 would lower Iowa's minimum age to purchase and carry a pistol or revolver from 21 to 18. Those 18 and over already are allowed to purchase rifles or shotguns in Iowa.

Due to federal restrictions, 18- to 20-year-olds still would be prohibited from buying a handgun from a federally licensed firearm dealer, but would be allowed to purchase pistols and revolvers through a private sale.

The bill also makes the following changes in Iowa Code to state:

Proponents, including the Iowa Firearms Coalition, say Iowa's law infringes on Second Amendment rights by restricting younger adults, and cite federal court decisions that have struck down age-based firearm restrictions.

A federal appeals court in January ruled a decades-long federal ban on handgun sales to people between 18 and 20 violates the Second Amendment.

The appeals court previously had upheld that same ban in 2012, before a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2022 that established a new test for assessing modern firearms laws, Reuters reported. In New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, the Supreme Court held that modern gun restrictions were required to be "consistent with this nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation."

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans this year concluded that the Constitution “includes 18- to 20-year-old individuals among ‘the people’ whose right to keep and bear arms is protected,” rejecting the government’s argument that firearm sales had been restricted in similar ways in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Opponents to the Iowa bill, including the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, have argued lowering the age would increase gun violence and suicides by putting more guns into the hands of young people, whose brains still are developing.

Firearm-related deaths among children and teenagers in the United States have risen sharply in recent years. And national statistics show firearm homicides and violent crimes disproportionately involve individuals under 21, both as perpetrators and as victims.

Firearm homicide rates are highest among teens and young adults ages 15-34, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Rep. Lindsay James, D-Dubuque, in voicing opposition to the bill during debate, noted the second-leading cause of death among children and teens in the United States is firearm-related injuries.

“We are going to continue to have conversations in this body about how we can better protect our kids and our teens,” James said.

Currently, Iowans must be at least 21 to purchase a handgun or obtain a non-professional permit to carry a weapon. However, there are some exceptions for people between 18 and 20 who work in certain occupations.

Rep. Steve Holt, a Republican from Denison and the bill’s sponsor, cited the federal court decisions that have challenged age-based firearm restrictions, and emphasized that the Second Amendment applies to all Americans, including 18-20-year-olds, who have the right to own a firearm to protect themselves and their families.

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“The idea that young adults age 18 to 20 are not mature enough to own a handgun has been rejected by the courts,” Holt said on the House floor. “ … It is not about the gun, it is about the character of the person holding the gun. And I cannot help but think of the young woman living alone in an apartment in Des Moines, Davenport or Sioux City. She now has a right to keep and bear arms and protect herself, or the young husband and wife blessed with their first child.

“Should they not have the right to protect what they hold dear, by possessing a handgun?”

Iowa Republicans in 2021 passed a law eliminating the requirement for Iowans to obtain a permit from a county sheriff to purchase or carry handguns. Purchasing from a federally licensed handgun dealer in Iowa, however, still requires a permit indicating passage of a background check through the FBI’s national system.

The National Instant Criminal Background Check System, however, does not allow 18-20-year-olds to purchase handguns due to the decades-long federal ban that’s been successfully challenged in courts across the country.

“The federal system has just not caught up yet with all these court rulings going on all across the country,” including in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Iowa, Holt said.

As a result, the bill was amended to clarify that those under 21 could not get a permit to acquire a handgun from a federally licensed dealer. It also clarifies what while those 18-20 years of age could get a permit to carry a handgun, the permit to carry is not valid for the transfer of a handgun from a federally licensed firearm dealer.

While Iowans are no longer required to obtain a permit, many still do anyway to expedite gun purchases and to carry handguns legally in other states, as well as to clarify questions regarding their eligibility to carry or possess firearms.

“Like most people that turn 18, the first firearm I ever got was given to me by my parents,” Holt told reporters following passage of the bill. “They could get a handgun from their parents, or grandfather or they could do it in a private sale.”

The bill passed the House on a bipartisan 79-18 vote, with 14 Democrats joining all Republicans voting in favor. It now moves to the Iowa Senate for consideration

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com