IFC Legislative Agenda for the Great State of Iowa includes the following and more to come:
Safer Families Act (provisions of HF654 – passed by the House on April 12, 2023)
- Intended to eliminate most of the few remaining “No Guns Zones” in Iowa law
- Repeals ban on firearms and ammunition in
- Vehicles on the grounds of correctional facilities
- Vehicles in publicly accessible parking lots operated by state or local government
- Vehicles transporting foster children
- School vehicles transporting pupils (authorized armed staff only)
- Allows for permit holders to have a concealed handgun in their vehicle when dropping off or picking up at a school
- Prohibits state universities and community colleges from banning lawfully possessed weapons in vehicles on their grounds
- Repeals the ban on firearms in state-licensed gambling facilities
- Repeals the statutes on “manner of conveyance” of long guns in vehicles
- Provides for firearm safety Instruction in schools
- Provides necessary clean-up of some language in Iowa Code 724 in the wake of the 2021 adoption of permitless carry of weapons
- Repeals ban on firearms and ammunition in
Full 2A Rights for Young Adults
IFC will again seek to remove statutory restrictions on handguns affecting young adults aged 18-20.
2A/4A Protection in Private Parking Lots
IFC will again seek to pass legislation prohibiting employers from disciplining or firing employees who lawfully possess weapons or ammunition in their vehicles on employer-provided parking areas.
Gadsden Flag License Plate to Fund 2A Education and Training
IFC will seek to create an Iowa Gadsden Flag license plate, with funds devoted to 2A education and training, with first priority to IFC or similar groups
Require Iowa Government Agencies to Auction Seized Firearms
IFC will seek to require public disposition of seized firearms, rather than have them all go to the state’s crime lab or be destroyed.
Remove Conservation Officers’ Authority for Warrantless Searches
Investigations on private property must honor Fourth Amendment rights by requiring probable cause, permission or a warrant.
Additionally, there are items in the code that need to be removed and the code streamlined. Things like “724.29 Firearm devices. A person who sells or offers for sale a manual or power-driven trigger activating device constructed and designed so that when attached to a firearm increases the rate of fire of the firearm is guilty of an aggravated misdemeanor. 90 Acts, ch 1147, §1” aren’t relevant, weren’t well constructed at the time, and should cease being in code. To quote my dear friend, Richard Rogers:
“The state has no constitutional or moral authority to regulate the weapons that the people may possess or carry. The law’s proper purpose is to restrain or punish actual bad (criminal) behavior. The Supreme Court has now repeatedly affirmed that Second Amendment rights are fundamental, not second class, rights. A new resolve to strike down government overreach is spreading across the nation and the world. Iowa’s legislators need to take this opportunity and amend or repeal our state’s laws accordingly.”
-Richard Rogers – Iowa Firearms Coalition Board Member, Chief Lobbyist, and NRA Distinguished Advocate Award Winner
We thank you.
In Libertatem,
Michael Ware
Could you please explain the Repeals the statutes on manner of convenience of long guns in vechiles.
There is a “manner of conveyance” snippet in code that serves as a restriction and associated fine that currently require long guns to be unloaded and broken down or cased in a vehicle on a public highway. An exemption to that was the Iowa Permit to Carry. The spirit of the law when permitless carry was enacted covered this. However, some of the text remained behind in code and created a problem. The DNR has threatened routinely to cite people carrying loaded weapons (long guns) in the act of hunting on roadways saying that carrying on a Constitutional basis doesn’t meet the exemption. (Gasp, someone carried a loaded gun in a vehicle.) While there could be a long conversation on the motivation for the DNR to harass Iowans over arguably STUPID things, it is best for all if this confusion was eliminated. Repealing unnecessary language will streamline code and the Iowa DNR will have a clear cut understanding of the code section, which ultimately benefits everyone.
Does this help?
By the way… If the Iowa DNR has cited ANYONE with a manner of conveyance violation IFC wants to know about it.
The DNR regs. book still has this in it also , which needs to be changed. I could see where some DNR guys could try to push this. Yes, there are some of them out there that think they are above everyone else.
Well, it is non-problem in search of an overzealous officer. The DNR needs to ask itself why this little snippet in code is something worth deliberately preying on hunters over… When you get to the obvious answer, you’ll have some insight into why Iowa’s DNR needs some fundamental recalibration. The DNR knows the very spirit of the law in question here, they know what the legislators spoke about in committee and floor debate, and they know this was going to be repaired. In DNR’s defense, the code fix didn’t happen, yet, and it must. But, taking this posture is to ignore what “ought” to be done, and I wish this Department didn’t do such things…
Maybe DNR shouldn’t have so much latitude. Maybe they need to start getting warrants like all other law enforcement officers in Iowa. Oh wait.. IFC is planning on pushing that EXACT legislation this session. 😉