Posted on 01/27/2021 5:22:08 AM PST by marktwain
U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- Iowa is one of 6 states which does not have a state constitutional provision protecting the right to keep and bear arms. A constitutional amendment has been working its way through the legislature for eight years.
The amendment has passed its first hurdle in 2021, an Iowa House subcommittee, with a 2-1 margin.
Amending the Iowa Constitution is a long and difficult process. The first step is for the legislature to pass the amendment. Second, an election must occur. Third, the legislature has to pass the amendment again. Fourth, the amendment must be passed in a referendum. The referendum is at the next election.
If the people approve the amendment, it becomes part of the Iowa Constitution. Here is the amendment. From iowa.gov:
Right to keep and bear arms.
Sec. 1A. 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.
The amendment passed the Iowa legislature in November of 2018.
The amendment suffered a severe setback when the Secretary of State, Republican Paul Pate, admitted/discovered the amendment had not been published as required. This meant the amendment had to start the process again. SOS Pate’s current term ends in 2022. Pate apologized profusely for the error in 2018.
Republicans control both houses of the Iowa legislature. There are 32 Republicans and 18 Democrats in the Iowa State Senate. There are 59 Republicans and 41 Democrats
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Agreed. However, we shouldn't have to. Nor should we be advocating for more obfuscation... but should instead be fighting, literally if necessary, to restore what we have lost over the last hundred years.
“On every question of construction (of the Constitution) let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit of the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.” - Thomas Jefferson
Shall not be infringed is as un-ambigious as you can get.
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
Funny how people in power, or their apologists, will continue to argue against the plain written word.
I entirely concur in the propriety of resorting to the sense in which the Constitution was accepted and ratified by the nation. In that sense alone it is the legitimate Constitution. Madison to Henry Lee, 1824
The state constitutions and their Bills of Rights were not repealed by the Federal Constitution. It is what it is.
Besides as an added bonus. No RKBA amendment in any state BOR is contrary to the Constitution, nor is the proposed Iowa amendment. So there's no reason to bring that up.
The fact remains that all 50 states BOR must have a provision to protect RKBA. So we have more work to do.
Nowhere did I say they were.
However, the US Constitution is still the Supreme Law of the Land, the laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding, and the Right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
Any State is more than welcome to ADD to this. However, because of the above, they cannot subtract from it.
If a State Constitution says, "We recognize and protect a citizens right to keep and bear only .22 cal revolvers"... then they are in direct violation of the Federal RKBA clause and their Amendment or law is null and void.
As it should be.
Agreed. However, we shouldn’t have to.
Like Britain, our real constitution has written and unwritten bits. Like the power of SCOTUS to overturn laws. That’s nowhere in the written Constitution, but since 1803 Marbury v. Madison it is now an accepted part of our government.
The idea that five people who are pretty much immune to accountability from the people, can decide that everyone has gotten the idea of what marriage is wrong, doesn’t quite seem right to me. Or these same people can find within the enumerated powers granted to Congress the power to require Americans to purchase a product. I’ve read Article I Section 8 more times than I care to think but I obviously lack the wit to see it there.
They do subtract or infringe where necessary and they do it all the time. States have laws preventing gun ownership by felons with various stipulations, as they should. States also have laws preventing minors with various age, again as they should. And there are other infringements that I could easily find.
This is why this is handled by the states. “Shall not be infringed” is absolute, and its too far away from the people.
But keeping a gun out of the hands of a repeated armed robber is quite different from the danger of a big influx of tyrannical Californians, which is why Iowa really needs this amendment.
There are jurisdictional issues here in which case the Feds simply do not apply.
You and I have also pretty much gotten to a cultural issue which really isn’t a matter of factual issue. We simply disagree. We as Americans should not immediately run to the Federal government any time we have some little grievance. It should be state first. Again, the importance of a state BOR.
Actually, it should be municipality first. Then state is second. But we are all trained in government schools to hate the states and bow to bigger government for all of our needs. This is alien ideology to the Founding. It’s supposed to be local first.
BOOKbump
Well... If you see that as right and proper, you are wrong. History itself, much less the clear and concise language of the Constitution, bears out why.
Good luck.
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