Nation's mass shootings prompt safety proposal in Iowa Senate

A group of Democratic senators have proposed a multi-pronged bill aimed at addressing safety concerns raised by recent mass shootings at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., and a theater in Aurora, Colo.

Senate File 233, co-sponsored by Sens. Jack Hatch of Des Moines, Bill Dotzler of Waterloo, Liz Mathis of Cedar Rapids, Steve Sodders of State Center and Daryl Beall of Fort Dodge, addresses concerns related to school safety, mental health, gun rights and violence aimed by emergency first responders.

The bill places a mandatory reporting requirement on mental health professionals who, during the course of providing mental health treatment to a patient, determine that the person is likely to engage in conduct that would result in serious harm to the person's self or others. S.F. 233 requires the mental health professional to report, “as soon as practicable,” to the Department of Public Safety and provides immunity from “civil or criminal penalties, claims of actions of any kind” for disclosing the information.

“I think the practitioners should be protected if they call law enforcement and say there's an issue here,” Sodders said.

The bill also requires each board of directors in Iowa's 348 school districts to develop and implement a comprehensive emergency management plan that addresses school safety, security procedures, and emergency guidelines relating to school shootings, assaults, and other incidences that threaten the safety and security of school students and school employees.

The emergency management plan shall include training procedures for teachers, other school employees and students, and it shall also include a plan to develop and implement school-community partnerships in the local community -- including mental health service partnerships.

Hatch said the plans would focus on “whatever they need to do to protect the students,” but he added that the training envisions at schools “would not include any kind of gun training.”

Senate File 233 also seeks to create a mandatory life prison term for the murder of first responders.

Language in the bill provides that anyone who kills a state or local law enforcement officer, a professional or volunteer firefighter, a reserve peace officer, a volunteer ambulance driver or an emergency medical care provider acting in the course of official duties is guilty of a class A felony punishable by confinement for life without possibility of parole.

Sodders expressed concern that the language regarding the mandatory life prison term for killing a first responder is fairly broadly written and “probably should be tightened up.” He also conceded that provisions of the bill “need work” which could pose a challenge to move the measure through committee before the March 8 “funnel” deadline for non-money bills to clear at least one standing committee to remain eligible for consideration this session.

Another provision of the wide-ranging measure prohibits a person from selling or transferring a firearm to someone else without verifying via a background check from a federally licensed firearms dealer that the prospective buyer or transferee is not barred from possessing a firearm under state or federal law. Violation would be an aggravated misdemeanor punishable by confinement for no more than two years and a fine of at least $625 but not more than $6,250.

The provision – which would take effect upon the bill's enactment -- would not apply to the sale or transfer of a firearm between immediate family members or to a person who possesses a permit to carry weapons or a permit to acquire a pistol or revolver.