Giffords Denounces Iowa House Vote to Dangerously Weaken Gun Safety Laws by Changing State’s Constitution

March 20, 2018 – The Iowa House just passed a dangerous, irresponsible proposal to amend Iowa’s Constitution and jeopardize the state’s current gun safety laws. Giffords, the gun violence prevention group founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and Captain Mark Kelly, recently launched a digital campaign warning Iowans of the dangers of this bill will pose to Iowa families and communities. Watch the ad here.

“Only days before hundreds of thousands of students take to the streets to march in communities across the country, demanding lawmakers strengthen our gun laws, the Iowa State House did the opposite and passed this extreme and dangerous bill,” said Peter Ambler, Giffords Executive Director. “This legislation threatens current gun laws and puts Iowa schools and communities in danger from gun violence. Today, Iowa legislators chose to cave in to the corporate gun lobby instead of working to protect our kids. We are going to work to remind Iowans how their lawmakers chose profits over public safety.”

An amendment to the Constitution must be approved by two consecutive general assemblies before going to Iowa voters to consider.

DANGERS OF PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES

• The amendment threatens to dangerously weaken Iowa’s gun laws by making it much easier to challenge those laws in court. The amendment requires courts to apply “strict scrutiny” to “any and all” restrictions on individuals’ right to possess and carry firearms. This is a dangerous and radical policy that would constrain the discretion of Iowa’s legislature to regulate guns and force state judges to apply a technical and confusing legal standard, “strict scrutiny,” under which laws evaluated are more frequently struck down than when any other standard is applied. As a result, the amendment could result in courts striking down the important existing laws that keep Iowans safe from gun violence, like handgun licensing and background check laws. The amendment would also encourage much more litigation over Iowa’s laws, even laws that are clearly constitutional, like laws banning firearm possession by criminals, violent domestic abusers, or the dangerously mentally ill.
• The amendment would make it difficult or impossible to pass important gun safety regulations in the future. By requiring that “any and all restrictions” on firearms by subjected to the strict scrutiny standard described above, the amendment could threaten the future viability of a variety of gun safety measures in Iowa, like firearm dealer regulations, or state taxes or fees that cover the cost of administering any of Iowa’s existing gun laws. Regulations like these are critically important in ensuring that Iowa’s existing firearm laws are enforced, but because they fall within the scope of the amendment’s description of “any and all restrictions,” important regulations like this would be harder to adopt because they would potentially be subjected to litigation in the future.

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