Taking Aim At Understanding Proposed Gun Laws Pt. 1
Steve Hensyel of Hawkeye Firearms Instruction took some time to talk about proposed changes to Iowa Gun Laws (photo taken with remote operated camera)
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Iowa Legislature is well past the mid point in their legislative year and most of the sparks are yet to come. Two of the bills passed by the Iowa House have created some of the most drama seen, so far, this year.
When the House took up two separate pieces of gun related legislation on Wednesday, February 29, the democrats in the Iowa House walked out, citing they had been blindsided by republican leadership in the House.
To learn more about these bills, I turned to Hawkeye Firearms Instruction owner Steve Hensyel. Hensyel has been an NRA certified instructor for 15 years and is also a founding member of the Iowa Firearms Coalition. The Iowa Firearms Coalition was one of the groups that worked to bring the “Shall Issue” law to Iowa.
I caught up with Hensyel one afternoon at a local shooting range to talk with him about several pieces of legislation working their way through the Iowa Legislature this year.
Recently, the Iowa House passed Iowa Joint Resolution 2009, an amendment to the Iowa Constitution that, according to it’s supporters, would help preserve Iowans right to keep and bear arms.
House Joint Resolution 2009 H-8032 Amend House Joint Resolution 2009 would be the amendment to the Iowa Constitution. It first has to pass both houses of the Iowa Legislature twice and then is brought before the people for a vote. 5 Article I of the Constitution of the State of Iowa 6 is amended by adding the following new section: 7 Right to acquire, keep, possess, transport, carry, 8 transfer, and use arms. SEC. 1A. The right of an 9 individual to acquire, keep, possess, transport, carry, 10 transfer, and use arms to defend life and liberty and 11 for all other legitimate purposes is fundamental and 12 shall not be infringed upon or denied. Mandatory 13 licensing, registration, or special taxation as a 14 condition of the exercise of this right is prohibited, 15 and any other restriction shall be subject to strict 16 scrutiny.
“Iowa is one of only 6 states that doesn’t have the right to keep and bear arms in the state constitution.” Hensyel said, “With Iowa Firearms Coalition and the NRA and some other groups, we’re lobbying to get that put into there. It takes two of the legislature to get that passed through and then a vote of the people as well.”
I posed the question to Hensyel, “What would the Iowa Constitutional Amendment do?” Hensyel answered, “So, what that would do, that would add that protection on the state level. Because the Supreme Court of the United States, last time [they voted], it was a 5 to 4 decision in the Heller Decision. We were only one vote away from the US Supreme Court deciding that the right to keep and bear arms is not an individual right. So this would give that state level protection that would supersede the constitution because it’s a states’ rights issue. ”
“Now the contentious point with the democrats was that this went too far. They wanted to mirror the United States Constitution exactly. Well, the Heller-McDonald decision concerning Washington D.C. and some of those, they declared it was an individual right in your home, but they refused to take up the right to keep and bear arms and the 2nd Amendment applied to outside the home. They wouldn’t hear the issue. So it’s not an enumerated right exactly outside the home.”
I posed the question to Hensyel then, “Will this turn Iowa into the ‘Wild West’?”
Hensyel stated, “Well, it strikes me as funny when the quote, shall issue law concerning permit to carry weapons went through, they said the same thing. In the past year and some months or its been over a year since that law went into effect, we’ve heard of zero problems. There have been a few smaller minor incidents of people having their permits revoked, but the quote ‘blood in the streets’, that they thought it was going to cause, did not come to pass. They predicted it, and it’s not happened so far.”
“So that wild west, its to spread fear and uncertainty into people that really don’t know otherwise. As far as I’m concerned, it’s more of a scare tactic, because it hasn’t happened, it hasn’t happened in any other state and it just hasn’t come to pass.”
Those in opposition to the amendment say that it gives too much freedom to carry weapons in such places as schools or the Capitol. Those working at the county level point towards concerns over court room safety.
The Iowa State Sheriffs & Deputies Association is also opposed to the change. Concerns over the permitting process are one of the groups primary concerns.
Mahaska County Sheriff Paul DeGeest gave some numbers on the permit numbers in the state of Iowa since “Shall Issue” was instituted. “In 2010, this is for the entire state, there was 39,397 permits issued in 2010. The law changed in January 2011, and for the year of 2011, there was 101, 583 gun permits issued. That’s a substantial increase of people that are carrying weapons in the state of Iowa. Here in Mahaska County last year we issued a total of 1,242 permits.”
In response to the question if there have been any problems with the increase in permits, “None that I am aware of. There have been a few glitches here an there, nothing real serious,” was DeGeest’s response.
In the next segment of this look into proposed gun law changes, I will examine the Castle Doctrine and Stand Your Ground with both Hensyel and Mahaska County Sheriff Paul DeGeest.
