By Paul Lathrop | Contributing Editor
Iowans have the opportunity to join 44 other states in having a right to keep and bear arms in their constitution in the 2022 general election.
The Iowa Legislature passed a constitutional amendment Thursday evening that would place the following language in their Constitution. “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.”
The measure passed through both the Iowa Senate and House on strictly party-line votes, with every Republican voting for the amendment and every Democrat voting against it. Since Republicans control both houses, the measure easily passed.
Opponents of the amendment to the Iowa Constitution say that it could strike down laws already in place, such as prohibiting felons from possessing firearms. Democrats tried to change the Iowa amendment to exactly match the Second Amendment of the US Constitution to no avail.
The Des Moines Register reported that Sen. Tony Bisignano, D-Des Moines said, “This could be a noncontroversial bill in a bipartisan fashion to do something that has been overlooked for over a century. But no, the majority party chooses division. They choose extremism,”
Proponents of the proposed amendment stated that one of the reasons it was needed was to guard against anti-gun judges. “We have found that liberal judges are willing to just take away your right to keep and bear arms, the individual right. This is an attempt to do everything we can to make that harder to do,” said Sen. Julian Garrett, R-Indianola.
This sets up a campaign for the November 2022 elections, with groups like Michael Bloomberg’s Moms Demand Action likely to dump a lot of money in advertising, looking to convince the people of Iowa not to vote for the amendment.
