Cities banned from regulating firearm attachments, required to provide armed security under gun bill advanced by Iowa House panel

Iowa cities and counties would not be allowed to regulate firearm attachments and would be required to provide screening and armed security at government buildings where firearms are prohibited under a bill advanced by an Iowa House subcommittee Monday.

The proposed legislation, House Study Bill 615, would also limit the judicial branch's ability to ban firearms in county courthouses in places other than courtrooms and court offices.

"It is clear that a patchwork of ordinances and regulations varying from county to county, or even from city to city within a county, would make it impossible for law-abiding citizens exercising their Second Amendment rights to know if they're legal or not as they travel about the state," said Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison, one of the measure's supporters.

Opponents said the requirement to provide armed security and screenings could be a costly hurdle for smaller localities. Others said the legislation is a blow to local control.

"I think most people have more confidence in their board of supervisors or their city council than they do the state Legislature," Scott Peterson, interim executive director of Iowans for Gun Safety, said. "And it's consistent and ongoing. Increasing usurpation of local control is a concern for us, as well, in terms of keeping local communities safe."

If it became law, Iowa would prohibit political subdivisions from banning or regulating not only firearm attachments, but also from regulating the storage of weapons or ammunition, as well banning “other weapons,” a term that is not defined in the bill.

Iowa Firearms Coalition lobbyist Richard Rogers, whose group supports the legislation, said the bill addresses issues his group has been looking at for several years. Rogers pointed to when Des Moines City Council members asked staff last year to explore bans on high-capacity magazines and “trigger activators” like bump stocks. The council later voted to table the motion.

"This would prevent an erection of an unworkable patchwork of local restrictions on any weapons and accessories," he said. "This has been attempted in some other states and localities as a way around firearms laws."

Bump stocks, which were used in the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting, are add-ons that allow semi-automatic guns to fire nearly as fast as machine guns. The federal government and a number of cities and states have banned bump stocks.

Under the bill, any Supreme Court or judicial order that prohibited weapons in a county courthouse or other joint-use public facility would be unenforceable unless the order applies only to a courtroom, court office or a courthouse used only for judicial branch functions.

The legislation comes more than two years after a 2017 order from then-Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady that banned guns from all Iowa courthouses — a move that drew criticism from gun-rights activists. Cady revised the order later that year to allow guns under certain restrictions.

The proposed measure would limit the authority of cities and counties to restrict zoning requirements for shooting ranges beyond requirements outlined in state law. Lobbyists representing local governments told legislators Monday that those state requirements don't currently exist.

"Iowa Code is pretty much silent on the regulations, specifically any rules and regulations dealing with shooting ranges," said Jim Obradovich, a lobbyist for the County Zoning Officials Organization, which is also opposed to the bill.

Holt and Rep. Jarad Klein, R-Keota, said that lawmakers will work to clarify the zoning for shooting ranges.

Holt said signs prohibiting firearms in public buildings aren't enough to prevent shootings.

“How does anybody believe that a sign is going to stop a sick individual from deciding to murder people?" he said. "What it will do is stop law-abiding citizens from carrying their firearms into that situation, and it makes them a shooting gallery for sick individuals."

The panel approved the bill 2-1, with Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, D-Ames, voting against. Wessel-Kroeschell said she thinks much of the bill is "looking for a problem to solve" and that she has issues with limitations on local control and the lack of regulations for shooting ranges.

The bill will move on to the full House Public Safety Committee.

Correction: This story has been corrected to reflect that bump stocks are banned nationally.

Ian Richardson covers the Iowa Statehouse for the Register. Reach him at irichardson@registermedia.com, at 515-284-8254, or on Twitter at @DMRIanR.

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