Iowa is one of six states that do not have specific protections in their constitutions to protect 2nd Amendment rights, he said.

“What this will do is make sure that right now and our future generations have constitutional protections in our state constitution that will not be infringed so our 2nd Amendment cannot be taken away by future judicial rulings,” Windschitl said.

Rep. Mary Wolfe, D-Clinton, said every representative probably would have supported the language in the bill as it came out of the Public Safety Committee — simply restating the last 14 words of the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

“We could have passed the 2nd Amendment out of this chamber over to the Senate and they would be hard-pressed not to vote ‘yes,’ too,” Wolfe said. “We would have done something big.”

However, the “extremely radical” amendment gun rights advocates added go far beyond any other state’s 2nd Amendment protection and make it unlikely the Senate will concur, she said.

“So we’re killing this bill tonight,” Wolfe said. “With that amendment, that bill is dead.”

The Senate can take its own course, but that should not stop the House from supporting Iowans 2nd Amendment rights, Windschitl said.