LOCAL
IOWA CONSIDERS RIGHT TO FIREARMS AMENDMENT
Iowa is one of only six states in the nation that lacks the affirmed right to keep and bear arms in its state constitution. A new amendment could change that. WORDS BY GRACE LONG | ILLUSTRATION BY AMANDA O’BRIEN
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irearm policy has risen to the forefront on the national political stage during the first few months of 2021. Two high profile mass shootings in Atlanta, GA and Boulder, CO have driven renewed national attention to the issue, even leading President Biden to announce a series of executive actions aimed at reducing gun violence. He has also committed to push for extensive changes to federal gun laws, saying, “Gun violence in this country is an epidemic, and it’s an international embarrassment,” in a press conference on April 8, 2021. While these recent events and pushes for shifts in gun control policy have mainly taken place at the federal level, gun policy has also recently been in the spotlight at the state level here in Iowa. The attention on Iowa’s gun legislation will only continue to grow in the next year due in large part to a proposed amendment to the state’s constitution called the Iowa Right to Firearms Amendment.
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SPRING 2021
The Amendment The midterm elections in 2022 will mark the first time in 12 years that Iowa voters will see potential amendments to the state constitution on their ballots. Because of legislation passed by the Iowa Legislature in early 2021, two potential amendments to the state constitution will come before voters, one of which is the Iowa Right to Firearms Amendment. If approved by voters, this pro-gun amendment would add language to Iowa’s constituion about citizens’ rights to keep and bear arms. The proposed amendment states, “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. The sovereign state of Iowa affirms and recognizes this right to be a fundamental individual right. Any and all restrictions of this right shall be subject to strict scrutiny.” This language sounds strikingly similar to the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which reads, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
