Second Amendment advocates hope to build on recent Iowa successes by ensuring rights <\/p>\n
DES MOINES \u2014 Matt Windschitl turned a half-swivel in his chair and stuck his right hand out, palm up, stopping National Rifle Association lobbyist Chris Rager from walking out the door. <\/p>\n
Windschitl, 28, a member of the House Republican leadership team from Missouri Valley, had just watched his \u201cstand your ground\u201d bill sail through a legislative committee. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis,\u201d Windschitl said as Rager shook his hand, \u201cis just the start.\u201d <\/p>\n
The bill would allow Iowans to respond with deadly force if they feel threatened and would protect them from liability in some cases. <\/p>\n
This session Windschitl also has proposed legislation that makes it a crime for local governments to ban firearms from public buildings, lifts the firearm prohibition on the State Fairgrounds and adds wording to the Iowa Constitution that makes it harder to place restrictions on firearm ownership, transportation and use. <\/p>\n
Republicans hold a 60-40 majority in the House, but in the Senate, Democrats rule 26-24. <\/p>\n
Key senators say that the firearms legislation being pushed now in the House won\u2019t ever make it to a vote in committee in the Senate. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur position is we are not doing any of those bills. We don\u2019t think they\u2019re good policy,\u201d said Sen. Robert Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, vice chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. <\/p>\n
\u201cSenate Democrats have a consistent, unrelenting focus on jobs, the economy, education and training, and that\u2019s where we\u2019re focused on, and we\u2019re not going to get into a gun-rights sideshow.\u201d <\/p>\n
But legislation can be moved to the floor without going through the committee if a majority of senators votes to do so. That\u2019s where Windschitl sees an opening. <\/p>\n
Gun issues play reasonably well across party lines in Iowa. Take, for example, the \u201cshall issue\u201d bill that took discretion away from county sheriffs in issuing gun permits in 2010. <\/p>\n
The House voted 81-16 and the Senate 44-4 in favor, and they both had Democratic majorities at the time. <\/p>\n
Plus, it\u2019s an election year. And because of census redistricting every legislator will have at least some new constituents to which they may want to show their pro-Second Amendment bona fides. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had some conversations with some pro-Second Amendment Democrats,\u201d Windschitl said. \u201cThe Judiciary Committee is one committee.\u201d <\/p>\n
The legislation that\u2019s caught a lot of attention this session is the pre-emption bill that says the state has the sole authority to regulate firearms, so ordinances by cities, counties and school districts are illegal. <\/p>\n
Critics say pre-emption is an overreach by the state. They say public safety and weapons bans are a local control issue, but proponents say a local ordinance doesn\u2019t trump the Constitution. <\/p>\n
\u201cI agree with people\u2019s rights to bear arms with certain restrictions to maintain the safety of our public,\u201d said Iowa City Mayor Pro Tempore Susan Mims, who was in Des Moines last week for a presentation on the economic impact of the state\u2019s largest cities. <\/p>\n
Waterloo passed a ban on weapons in city buildings after concealed carry passed, Mayor Buck Clark said. He said there haven\u2019t been any problems with weapons being brought places where they are banned, but, he noted, most people can\u2019t get into the Capitol with a firearm. <\/p>\n
Craig Robinson, editor of the influential Iowa Republican website, said moving this wide-reaching legislation in an election year is a shrewd political move. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe gun lobby in Iowa is very strong,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are a lot of Democrats, especially those in rural areas, who want to be seen as pro-gun.\u201d <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Chris Larimer, an associate professor of political science at the University of Northern Iowa, said the gun lobby might not be all it\u2019s cracked up to be in the state. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you think about states with powerful gun lobbies, they tend to be those in which the electorate has a strong or has had a strong anti-government bent,\u201d he wrote in an email. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe political culture of Iowa, at least recently, has never really been anti-government.\u201d <\/p>\n
Windschitl, meanwhile, said he\u2019ll continue to push greater access to firearms for law-abiding Iowans against people who are willing to accept less. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople don\u2019t understand why our founding fathers recognized that the Second Amendment is a fundamental right. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are people who are out there that believe the Second Amendment was written to protect our hunting rights or to have a militia,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI believe our Second Amendment right was written to protect us from a tyrannical government, to give us the opportunity to protect ourselves and our homes.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
View post: Second Amendment advocates hope to build on recent Iowa successes by ensuring rights DES MOINES \u2014 Matt Windschitl turned a half-swivel in his chair and stuck his right hand out, palm up, stopping National Rifle Association lobbyist Chris Rager from walking out the door. Windschitl, 28, a member of the House Republican leadership team from Missouri Valley, had just watched his \u201cstand your ground\u201d bill sail through a legislative committee. \u201cThis,\u201d Windschitl said as Rager shook his hand, \u201cis just the start.\u201d The bill would allow Iowans to respond with deadly force if they feel threatened and would protect them from liability in some cases Continue reading
\nThe politics of gunplay<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"