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Constitutional Provision for Right to Arms Likely for Iowa
ammoland ^ | 17 February, 2017 | Dean Weingarten

Posted on 02/21/2017 5:35:00 AM PST by marktwain

Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)-Iowa is one of only six states that does not have some sort of protection of the right to keep and bear arms in the state Constitution. The other five states are California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Minnesota. One of the reasons for this lack is the difficult process that a state constitutional amendment has to undergo to be passed in Iowa.  First, the amendment must be passed by the General Assembly. Then an election must occur. Then the amendment must be passed a second time. Finally, the amendment is to be presented to the people, who can vote it up or down in the next election.

The process is nearly identical to the one used in Wisconsin. Wisconsin residents and legislators went through the process in the 1990’s resulting in the passage of Wisconsin’s strong State Constitutional protection in 1998 with 74% of the vote.

Iowa’s senate is starting the process with JR2.  Here is the wording of the proposed amendment.

Right to acquire, keep, possess, transport, carry, transfer,  and use arms. 

SEC. 1A. The right of an individual to acquire, keep, possess, transport, carry, transfer, and use arms to defend life and liberty and for all other legitimate purposes is fundamental and shall not be infringed upon or denied. Mandatory licensing, registration, or special taxation as a condition of the exercise of this right is prohibited, and any other restriction shall be subject to strict scrutiny.

The difficult part in passing these constitutional protections is to get them past the legislative leadership. Republicans hold majorities in both houses of the Iowa legislature for the first time in 20 years.

(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; Politics/Elections; US: Iowa
KEYWORDS: banglist; constitution; guns; iowa
If the Iowa Republicans can hold legislative majorities for four years, there is a good chance they can pass this constitutional amendment.
1 posted on 02/21/2017 5:35:00 AM PST by marktwain
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To: marktwain

The Pennsylvania Constitution has even stronger right to bear arms language than the 2nd Amendment, but the liberals running the cities ignore it.


2 posted on 02/21/2017 5:48:54 AM PST by Daveinyork
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To: Daveinyork

That is the pattern.

There is a strong protection; then the courts figure out ways to ignore it.


3 posted on 02/21/2017 6:08:32 AM PST by marktwain (We wanted to tell our side of the story. We hope by us telling our story...)
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To: marktwain

The United States Constitution gives us the right to bear arms. Does a state Constitution override this? Since when?


4 posted on 02/21/2017 6:43:42 AM PST by oldtech
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To: oldtech

The Second Amendment protects the right to arms, it does not “give” it to us.

State constitutions provide double protection. State Constitutions can be more protective than the national Constitution.

The Federal government has specific powers. State Governments and the people have all the powers not given to the Federal government in the Federal Constitution.

State Government powers are usually defined in State Constitutions.

Rights protected by the Federal and State Constitutions are defined in both, and often differ, with considerable overlap.


5 posted on 02/21/2017 6:58:16 AM PST by marktwain (We wanted to tell our side of the story. We hope by us telling our story...)
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To: marktwain

“Shall not be infringed” is already the Law of the Land.

Why not just do one better and start prosecuting, jailing or, at the LEAST, *firing* those that violate our Rights under Color of Law?


6 posted on 02/21/2017 8:43:12 AM PST by i_robot73 ("A man chooses. A slave obeys." - Andrew Ryan)
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To: marktwain

takes tens of thousands of word to convince us that “Shall not be infringed” doesn’t mean that at all.


7 posted on 02/21/2017 9:52:41 AM PST by itsahoot (Return the power to the people, and Mexico will pay for the wall, 100%)
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To: i_robot73

“Shall not be infringed” is already the Law of the Land.

Why not just do one better and start prosecuting, jailing or, at the LEAST, *firing* those that violate our Rights under Color of Law?


Politics is the art of the possible.

If what you advocate were possible, we would not be where we are.

Perfection is the enemy of incremental improvement.

We are where we are because of decades of obfuscation, denial, institutional take over, and indoctrination in the schools. It cannot all be swept away at once.

In Arizona we have Constitutional carry. It is still not perfect. People with a permit can carry in a bar, weapon concealed. People carrying openly are not allowed to carry in bars. People without permits are not allowed to carry in bars.

We are closer to perfection than most of the country.

We got there through little increments, enacted over time. We tried getting there through court cases, well argued and represented, with superb evidence. No Go. The judges would not permit it. Then we went to the legislature with the incremental route, backed up by our state constitution and the Second Amendment.

We won, but it took time, energy, and money.


8 posted on 02/21/2017 10:15:53 AM PST by marktwain (We wanted to tell our side of the story. We hope by us telling our story...)
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To: oldtech

The right to bear arms is inherent in your person and are inalienable. The constitution merely enumerates those rights as specifically prohibited from being infringed.


9 posted on 02/21/2017 10:59:33 AM PST by reed13k
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