Lawmakers, advocates celebrate Iowa gun rights amendment

DES MOINES — Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate and gun rights advocates celebrated the newest amendment to the Iowa Constitution in a Friday ceremony at the Iowa State Capitol.

The amendment, passed by voters in November’s election, enshrines the right to gun ownership in Iowa’s constitution and provides strict legal protections for that right.

The measure passed with 65 percent of the vote and became law Dec. 1 when the state canvass board certified the results of the November election, Pate said.

“Iowans voted overwhelmingly to amend the constitution, enshrining in it the right to bear arms,” Pate, a Republican, said at the ceremony, surrounded by Republican lawmakers and gun rights advocates.

Richard Rogers, a board member of the Iowa Firearms Coalition, said the group is a “civil rights organization” and the amendment was an achievement after a yearslong fight to loosen gun regulations in the state.

“Iowans have finally corrected a too-long neglected flaw in our constitution,” he said. “Now only five states remain … that fail to recognize and protect the right to keep and bear arms.”

Those five states are California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Minnesota.

“It’s not a club in which Iowa should have remained so long,” Rogers added.

In a statement after the amendment passed Nov. 8, Iowans for Responsible Gun Laws, a coalition opposing the measure, said the amendment had the potential to impact the safety of Iowans and trigger expensive lawsuits.

“Iowans value safety, and the majority of Iowans see common-sense gun laws as an important way to keep our communities safe,” the group said. “Unfortunately, the reckless gun amendment that passed today is now part of the Iowa Constitution and will only serve to put Iowans in harm’s way.”

The amendment marks the latest loosening of Iowa gun laws in the past decade.

In 2011, Iowa became a “shall issue” state, giving county sheriffs less discretion over issuing concealed carry permits. In 2021, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a law allowing Iowans to buy and carry handguns without a permit.

The amendment doesn’t immediately change any of Iowa’s gun laws, but it makes it more difficult for future legislatures to pass gun control measures by subjecting such laws to “strict scrutiny,” the highest legal standard.

More to come

Iowa House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl, R-Missouri Valley, said Republicans were looking at changing laws further in the future related to gun rights after the amendment’s passage but did not detail what those measures would be.

“There are multiple different things we’ve been trying to get done to restore freedoms in Iowa, and we’ve not been able to get across the finish line on some of those things,” he said.

“I’m not at the point right now where I’m going to discuss publicly what all those items are, but you can expect us after this victory to come back, revisit some of those issues and restore freedoms to Iowans that never should have been taken away.”

Comments: CMcCullough@qctimes.com