DES MOINES — Iowa’s ban on owning vintage machine guns would be ended under legislation introduced by a lawmaker and supported by a firearms group. Sen. Jason Schultz, a Republican from Schleswig in northwest Iowa, says his bill would allow possession of machine guns as well as short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns. Residents would only be able to buy machine guns built before 1986.
Richard Rogers, legislative liaison for the Iowa Firearms Coalition, says his group supports the legislation in concept.
A spokesman for Gov. Terry Branstad says the governor will reserve judgment until seeing a final bill.
Democratic Sen. Pam Jochum, of Dubuque, questioned the bill, saying “I think that this goes way beyond anything that even the founders recognized when they wrote the Second Amendment.”