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

Firearm 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. 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.”

Divided Along Party Lines

That similarity is no accident. Iowa is one of only six states in the nation that lacks the affirmed right to keep and bear arms in its state constitution, so this has been something Iowa Republicans have pursued for years. To many of them, the urgency of the amendment’s passage has only been heightened due to the Biden administration’s firearm policy. Every Republican present in both the House and the Senate chambers during the multiple hours of debate on January 28 voted in favor of the amendment.

Richard S. Rogers, a board member and volunteer lobbyist for the Iowa Firearms Coalition (Iowa’s official state association of the National Rifle Association), explains his organization views the amendment as a protective measure.

“Iowa is one of only a few states that does not have a constitution provision for this fundamental individual right,” Rogers said. “It’s our right. It isn’t granted by the state or the federal constitution. It’s our right and this is designed to protect it.”

On the other side of the aisle, Iowa Democrats voted unanimously against the amendment, pointing out that the new language went beyond just the Second Amendment to include something called strict scrutiny. Those two seemingly small words have big implications. If the amendment passes, the inclusion of strict scrutiny means that all current and future firearms legislation will be held to the highest possible legal standard, making the process of passing new gun policy more rigorous and potentially changing the interpretation and enforcement of laws already on the books.

“I have no objection to the Second Amendment. If we had just taken the Second Amendment and put that in our constitution, I would be totally fine with it,” said state Rep. Sharon Steckman, D-Mason City. She is working on numerous firearm control bills during this year’s legislative session aiming to reduce gun violence. “But they used the Second Amendment and added ‘with strict scrutiny,’ which is the highest legal standard there is. You have to really prove that there’s been something egregious. Strict scrutiny would probably do away with many of the gun laws we have now. That was my main objection, those two words: strict scrutiny.”

If the amendment is approved by Iowa voters, it would only be the fourth state in the nation to include strict scrutiny language concerning firearms in its state constitution along with Alabama, Louisiana, and Missouri. However, proponents of the amendment contend that the basis for strict scrutiny lies in the role of bearing arms as a fundamental right.

“If a new law or regulation is alleged to have a restriction on a basic fundamental individual right, then they have to exercise strict scrutiny, which is the highest level of judicial review, the one that is most often applied to other individual rights: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of association,” Rogers said.

Because of the high-stakes nature of the amendment and the decisive split of legislators down party lines, a great deal of media coverage from gun lobbying groups and gun violence advocacy groups will be likely leading up to the midterm elections.

“It will go before the voters and we will see. But that will also depend on all the media campaigns that different groups do,” Steckman said. “I’m sure you’ll have Giffords people, the NRA, the gun coalition. We’re going to be inundated with it. It will be a huge campaign.”

As an activist group, the IFC understands the impact these “ campaigns may have on voters. “We expect millions of dollars to come into the state to fight this,” WE ARE GOING TO ORGANIZE NOW TO AGGRESSIVELY Rogers said. “We’re not going to be able ADVOCATE FOR THE to raise millions ADOPTION OF THIS of dollars locally AMENDMENT with our grassroots RICHARD S. ROGERS, VOLUNTEER LOBBYIST FOR IOWA FIREARMS COALITION organization. But we are going to organize now to aggressively advocate for the adoption of this amendment.”

Iowa’s Constitutional Amendment Process

Although this amendment will meet the public at the ballot box at a time when gun policy has taken on a higher profile on the national level, the policy here in Iowa has been in the works for a long time, mostly due to Iowa’s constitutional amendment process. Iowa’s Constitution states that, “An amendment to the Iowa Constitution may be proposed by either the Senate or House of Representatives and must be agreed to by two successive General Assemblies and ratified by a majority of the electors voting at an election designated by the General Assembly.”

To put it simply, proposed amendments must be passed by a majority of both chambers of the Iowa Legislature, not just once but twice—the amendment must be approved by two different, separately elected General Assemblies. Only then can it be placed on the ballot for voters to decide on. From a legislative perspective, this is a demanding, time consuming task.

“There’s a reason it’s such a hard process. It needs to be a very thoughtful process,” Steckman said. “I really think amending the constitution should be a bipartisan agreement and effort.”

Although the Iowa Right to Firearms Amendment has made waves within the Iowa Legislature, come November 2022, voters will decide what they would like to see in their state constitution when they cast their votes.