HJR 2005 and HF 2114 watered down in committee(IA gun)

Des Moines Gun Rights Examiner ^ | 14 February, 2012 | Sean McClanahan

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HJR 2005 and HF 2114 were debated in the House Public Safety Committee (PSC) today. Unfortunately for gun owners in Iowa, the true intent of both of these pieces of legislation was evidently lost on the Chairman of the committee. Representative Clel Baudler sided with the Democrat members of the committee, and both bills were watered down to the point of being useless.

HJR 2005 was intended to add the right to keep and bear arms to the Iowa Constitution. Taking into account all of the challenges that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution has faced over the years, the wording of HJR 2005 was specifically crafted to remove any or all ambiguities over the right for citizens to keep and carry firearms. But members of the PSC didn't seem to understand that the founding fathers did not intend to have the Bill of Rights be applicable to the States. Each State was supposed to create their own Constitution with the rights of their citizens protected within. Representative Rick Olson offered an amendment to HJR 2005 that strikes the current language and replaces it with a near mirror image of the current US Constitution Second Amendment. Reportedly, the amendment removes any reference to a militia or having the right as a necessity of keeping a free state. HJR 2005 passed out of the committee with only one dissenting vote, with the understanding that it would be amended on the House floor, or it would be killed.

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The author goes on to point out the dangers of Republicans who act like Progressives in the legislature.