It was just a couple of years ago that voters in Iowa approved an amendment to the state constitution explicitly declaring the right to keep and bear arms "fundamental", as well as mandating that any gun laws that are challenged in court be treated by judges with "strict scrutiny"; essentially the highest form of judicial review.
Given that full-throated support for the Second Amendment (the 2022 referendum was approved by almost 2/3rds of voters), it's surprising that a relatively modest measure aimed at protecting gun-owning parents went down in flames this week in a state House committee.
House lawmakers will not advance a bill that would have allowed Iowans with a permit to carry firearms to bring their loaded guns with them in their vehicles when picking up or dropping off students or staff at schools.
The bill would also have allowed school districts to authorize people, including bus drivers, to carry firearms while driving or riding with students in a school vehicle.
A three-member House subcommittee voted 2-1 on Wednesday morning to advance the bill, but the full House Education Committee did not take up the bill Wednesday afternoon.
That means the bill will fail to clear Friday's legislative "funnel" deadline, which requires most bills to pass a full committee by the end of the week in order to remain eligible for consideration this year.
... Current law generally bans people from having firearms on school property, with the exception of law enforcement officers. Schools are also allowed to designate staff members to be armed on campus, although no public schools currently do so.
The bill would have allowed anyone with a permit to carry to bring their concealed handgun with them in school driveways and parking lots, as long as the weapon remained in the vehicle.
The bill would have applied "while the person is dropping off or picking up from a school a student, staff member or other person having business at the school, or while the person is making a delivery or pickup at the school."
If the person with the gun left their vehicle, the bill would have required the car to remain locked.
As things stand, parents or guardians who possess a valid concealed carry permit are supposed to stop off at home or work and disarm themselves before picking up or dropping off their kids. From a practical perspective that means that many lawful gun owners will simply choose not to exercise their right to carry because of the inconvenience caused by the status quo.
The bill wouldn't have allowed concealed carry holders to actually bear arms inside a school building or even on campus, but that didn't stop a host of anti-gun organizations from rallying opposition to the measure.
Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, D-Ames, read a list of groups who have registered in opposition to the bill, including the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church, Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, Iowa State Education Association, Urban Education Network and League of Women Voters of Iowa.
"I think the general consensus is students would be safer if there were no guns in school, and I concur with that," she said. "I think the more guns you have, the more violence you’re going to have and the more deaths you’re going to have."
With all due respect to Rep. Wessel-Kroeschell, if her theory were true then violent crime would increase each and every day, given the millions of firearms that are sold on an annual basis. More guns does not equate to more crime, and more concealed carry doesn't equate to more acts of violence or more deaths.
So what led to the bill's untimely demise? Was it a matter of gun control activists successfully lobbying lawmakers to keep the bill bottled up in committee, a lack of time (and urgency) to move the bill forward, or the GOP majorities deciding to prioritize other 2A issues? No one's saying anything officially, but keep your eye on what Republicans do with House Study Bill 262, which would lower the age to purchase and possess handguns in the state from 21 to 18. If GOP lawmakers are getting cold feet about standing up for the right to bear arms, that legislation will also likely die on the vine before Friday's deadline for bills to pass out of full committee.
No matter the rationale behind keeping the status quo in place when it comes to concealed carry holders and their ability to drop off their kids without disarming themselves, it was a mistake and misfire on the part of the House Education Committee. This was a common sense change that would have been a big improvement over current law... as well in being firmly in line with our Second Amendment rights.
