Giffords Launches Digital Campaign Urging Iowans to Tell Legislators to Reject Bills to Weaken Gun Safety Laws by Changing State’s Constitution

January 21, 2019

Despite bureaucratic oversight, the Iowa legislature is renewing dangerous push to put Iowa’s current gun laws at risk

January 21, 2019 — In a repeat of last year’s dangerous and irresponsible efforts, the Iowa legislature is again considering legislation to weaken the state’s gun laws through a proposed constitutional amendment. To remind voters of what’s at stake if the state approves the measure, Giffords, the gun violence prevention group founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and Captain Mark Kelly, launched a digital campaign urging Iowans to stand against the proposal by pointing out to their local legislators how this puts Iowa’s current gun laws at risk.

Watch the ad here.

“While the effort to pass this amendment hit a roadblock, state lawmakers are more determined than ever to put Iowa public safety at risk,” said Nico Bocour, State Legislative Director of Giffords. “We’ve watched dozens of states take tremendous strides in improving their gun laws over the past year, but in Iowa, the legislature is instead choosing to take two steps back by pursuing this reckless agenda to radically change their constitution and erode the state’s gun laws. We want to make sure Iowans are aware of their lawmakers’ desires to put profit over people. It’s time to reach out and tell lawmakers to keep Iowa’s Constitution as is and focus on better protecting Iowa families from gun violence.”

An amendment to the Constitution must be approved by two consecutive general assemblies before going to Iowa voters to consider. Despite last year’s effort, the process to approve the amendment must start over due to a bureaucratic oversight by Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate. After the general assembly passed the amendment in 2018, Secretary Pate failed to publish in Iowa newspapers notifications that the general assembly had begun the process of amending the constitution, as is required by law.

Dangers of Proposed Constitutional Amendment

The amendment would make it much easier to challenge Iowa’s gun laws in court. The amendment requires courts to apply “strict scrutiny” to all permissible 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 legal standard under which laws evaluated are more frequently struck down.
The proposed constitutional amendment could result in frivolous litigation. The “strict scrutiny” provision would encourage much more litigation over Iowa’s laws, even lifesaving gun regulations that are clearly constitutional, such as restrictions on the possession of firearms by domestic abusers or laws regulating gun sales to minors.

The proposed constitutional amendment is dangerously vague. It doesn’t define “arms” and therefore it could make it impossible to regulate extremely dangerous weapons such as bump stocks and machine guns.

Only three US states have adopted the extreme policy of mandating in their constitutions that courts apply “strict scrutiny” to firearm regulations:Alabama, Louisiana, and Missouri. All three of those states passed their laws recently (in 2014 for Alabama and Missouri, and 2012 for Louisiana). The rest of the US states that address the right to bear arms in their state constitutions do so with provisions that are similar to the Second Amendment — they do not have any “strict scrutiny” language that would lead to more litigation and reasonable gun safety laws being struck down in court.
These “strict scrutiny” provisions have absolutely no historical basis in state constitutions. Iowa should reject the proposal to join the minority of states that have dangerously decided to mandate that courts employ a legal standard that will constrain the state’s ability to pass and defend reasonable gun safety regulations.

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