Iowa Scores a Pro-Gun Victory at the Ballot Box
Jose Nino
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For residents of the Hawkeye state, the 2022 midterms offered a glimmer of hope.
Prior to November 8, Iowa was one of 6 states that didn’t feature a constitutional right that protects the right to bear arms. However, that has changed in the wake of the midterm elections, when Iowans pulled the lever for a constitutional amendment by a decisive 65% to 35% margin.
Iowans for Responsible Gun Laws lamented this vote declaring that “the potential consequences of this amendment’s passage…will be far reaching and dire.”
Tyler Durden of ZeroHedge outlined the amendment’s text:
The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. The sovereign state of Iowa affirms and recognizes this right to be a fundamental individual right. Any and all restrictions of this right shall be subject to strict scrutiny.”
This amendment makes it clear that the right to bear arms is an individual right not a collective one, which was a major point of legal contention before the DC v. Heller decision of 2008.
“This is a very high standard,” Iowa State Senator Brad Zaun said at the time when the amendment was moving through the Iowa General Assembly in 2018. “What this bill is about – let’s put the cards on the table – is judicial activism.
According to Guns & Ammo magazine’s best states for gun owners rankings, Iowa is ranked in 34th place. Obviously, the Hawkeye state still has a lot of work to do on the gun rights front. However, the passage of this amendment shows that Iowa is continuing to move in the right direction. In 2021, Iowa joined the growing ranks of red states in adopting Constitutional Carry.
Now, Iowa is beginning to solidify it as a state that’s hospitable to gun owners.
While federal election results may have been sub-optimal, there’s still promising opportunities for the Right to have an impact at the state and local levels. At the end of the day, politics is not just about what’s taking place in DC.
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