The politics of gunplay

Second Amendment advocates hope to build on recent Iowa successes by ensuring rights

DES MOINES — Matt Windschitl turned a half-swivel in his chair and stuck his right hand out, palm up, stopping National Rifle Association lobbyist Chris Rager from walking out the door.

Windschitl, 28, a member of the House Republican leadership team from Missouri Valley, had just watched his “stand your ground” bill sail through a legislative committee.

“This,” Windschitl said as Rager shook his hand, “is just the start.”

The bill would allow Iowans to respond with deadly force if they feel threatened and would protect them from liability in some cases.

This session Windschitl also has proposed legislation that makes it a crime for local governments to ban firearms from public buildings, lifts the firearm prohibition on the State Fairgrounds and adds wording to the Iowa Constitution that makes it harder to place restrictions on firearm ownership, transportation and use.

Republicans hold a 60-40 majority in the House, but in the Senate, Democrats rule 26-24.

Key senators say that the firearms legislation being pushed now in the House won’t ever make it to a vote in committee in the Senate.

“Our position is we are not doing any of those bills. We don’t think they’re good policy,” said Sen. Robert Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, vice chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“Senate Democrats have a consistent, unrelenting focus on jobs, the economy, education and training, and that’s where we’re focused on, and we’re not going to get into a gun-rights sideshow.”

But legislation can be moved to the floor without going through the committee if a majority of senators votes to do so. That’s where Windschitl sees an opening.

Gun issues play reasonably well across party lines in Iowa. Take, for example, the “shall issue” bill that took discretion away from county sheriffs in issuing gun permits in 2010.

The House voted 81-16 and the Senate 44-4 in favor, and they both had Democratic majorities at the time.

Plus, it’s an election year. And because of census redistricting every legislator will have at least some new constituents to which they may want to show their pro-Second Amendment bona fides.

“We’ve had some conversations with some pro-Second Amendment Democrats,” Windschitl said. “The Judiciary Committee is one committee.”

The legislation that’s caught a lot of attention this session is the pre-emption bill that says the state has the sole authority to regulate firearms, so ordinances by cities, counties and school districts are illegal.

Critics say pre-emption is an overreach by the state. They say public safety and weapons bans are a local control issue, but proponents say a local ordinance doesn’t trump the Constitution.

“I agree with people’s rights to bear arms with certain restrictions to maintain the safety of our public,” said Iowa City Mayor Pro Tempore Susan Mims, who was in Des Moines last week for a presentation on the economic impact of the state’s largest cities.

Waterloo passed a ban on weapons in city buildings after concealed carry passed, Mayor Buck Clark said. He said there haven’t been any problems with weapons being brought places where they are banned, but, he noted, most people can’t get into the Capitol with a firearm.

Craig Robinson, editor of the influential Iowa Republican website, said moving this wide-reaching legislation in an election year is a shrewd political move.

“The gun lobby in Iowa is very strong,” he said. “There are a lot of Democrats, especially those in rural areas, who want to be seen as pro-gun.”

Chris Larimer, an associate professor of political science at the University of Northern Iowa, said the gun lobby might not be all it’s cracked up to be in the state.

“If you think about states with powerful gun lobbies, they tend to be those in which the electorate has a strong or has had a strong anti-government bent,” he wrote in an email.

“The political culture of Iowa, at least recently, has never really been anti-government.”

Windschitl, meanwhile, said he’ll continue to push greater access to firearms for law-abiding Iowans against people who are willing to accept less.

“People don’t understand why our founding fathers recognized that the Second Amendment is a fundamental right.

“There are people who are out there that believe the Second Amendment was written to protect our hunting rights or to have a militia,” he said.

“I believe our Second Amendment right was written to protect us from a tyrannical government, to give us the opportunity to protect ourselves and our homes.”

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The politics of gunplay