March 28, 2024

Iowa Senate opts for limited change to state’s gun laws

DES MOINES — Legislation that would have made sweeping changes to Iowa’s gun laws appears to be dead this session, after the Senate argued back and forth Tuesday over a separate, more limited gun bill and lawmakers used procedural moves that took away any chance for it to be more comprehensive.

The Senate voted 46-4 for a bill that would allow the use of suppressors to silence weapons. It now heads to the House, where lawmakers have a small window to advance it before a procedural deadline Friday.

The bill on suppressors was separate from legislation that the House passed earlier in March and the Senate debated in committee. That legislation would have made several changes to Iowa’s gun laws, including a proposal to allow children under 14 years old to use a handgun under a parent’s supervision. It also would have made it optional for a person to get a permit to acquire a handgun, a move that would have removed a de facto three-day waiting period to access the handgun and changed some requirements for a background check.

The gun legislation in the House had the support of law enforcement groups and the National Rifle Association.

Sen. Steven Sodders, D-State Center, led the suppressors bill in the Senate and attempted to add changes Tuesday to align it closer to the House bill. Those amendments did not include the age limit on children or the optional permit and background check language. His changes focused on other aspects of the House bill, including efforts to streamline permit registrations and renewals.

But Sodders’ attempt was stalled after Sen. Charles Schneider, R-West Des Moines, used a procedural move and asked the Senate president whether the additions were relevant to the bill. That led to the end of any proposed additions to the bill that would have dramatically changed its purpose, and forced lawmakers to vote on the suppressors bill in its original form.

Senate Minority Leader Bill Dix, R-Shell Rock, said Schneider’s procedural move was made to see how serious Democrats were about making changes to the bill. Republicans had planned to introduce changes that would have aligned it even more with the House bill.

“It really was an opportunity to just see what in fact were the intentions, and once it became very clear that the intentions were to play politics, the rest of the afternoon played out the way that it did,” Dix said, referencing additional procedural moves and several breaks that spanned hours.

Other Republicans in the Senate criticized Democrats for not taking up the House bill. But Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, said Democrats worked in good faith to find compromise. He said the House bill in its current form “overreached,” and he indicated that Tuesday’s vote was the end of more comprehensive gun legislation this session.

“I don’t see much alternative at this point,” he said.