HSB17 slated for debate tomorrow - without the ability to carry - Des Moines gun rights

The Iowa House Public Safety Committee (HPSC) will be meeting at 2 PM on Thursday to discuss HSB 17. This is the bill that would put the Right to Keep and Bear Arms into the Iowa Constitution. Right now, Iowa is one of only six states in the country that does NOT have this protection in our state constitution.

This is the text of the amendment that is being proposed:

The right of an individual to acquire, keep, possess, transport, carry, and use arms to defend life and liberty and for all other legitimate purposes is fundamental and inviolable. Licensure, registration, special taxation, or any other measure that suppresses or discourages the free exercise of this right is forbidden.

So here's the rub. Some of the members of the HPSC feel that the word “carry” needs to be removed before this bill can get out of committee. It would appear that they have forgotten that the “bear” part of the “Right to Keep and Bear Arms” means “carry.” Without the word carry in the amendment, it would end up being a protection of the “Right to Keep Arms.” Which, in honesty, would be halfway there, but still short of the goal. Kind of like kissing your sister.

How silly would it be to protect our right to acquire, keep, possess, transport, and use arms to defend life – if we cannot carry those same arms?

The right to keep AND bear arms is already protected by the Second Amendment, and is a right that transcends even that protection. As noted by Justice Scalia in the 2008 Heller Decision:

“Meaning of the Operative Clause. Putting all of these textual elements together, we find that they guarantee the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation. This meaning is strongly confirmed by the historical background of the Second Amendment . We look to this because it has always been widely understood that the Second Amendment , like the First and Fourth Amendments, codified a pre-existing right. The very text of the Second Amendment implicitly recognizes the pre-existence of the right and declares only that it “shall not be infringed.” As we said in United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U. S. 542, 553 (1876) , “[t]his is not a right granted by the Constitution. Neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence. The Second amendment declares that it shall not be infringed ...”

Is there any question of what “bear” means? That was answered as well:

“At the time of the founding, as now, to “bear” meant to “carry.” See Johnson 161; Webster; T. Sheridan, A Complete Dictionary of the English Language (1796); 2 Oxford English Dictionary 20 (2d ed. 1989) (hereinafter Oxford). When used with “arms,” however, the term has a meaning that refers to carrying for a particular purpose—confrontation. In Muscarello v. United States, 524 U. S. 125 (1998) , in the course of analyzing the meaning of “carries a firearm” in a federal criminal statute, Justice Ginsburg wrote that “[s]urely a most familiar meaning is, as the Constitution’s Second Amendment … indicate[s]: ‘wear, bear, or carry … upon the person or in the clothing or in a pocket, for the purpose … of being armed and ready for offensive or defensive action in a case of conflict with another person.’ ” Id., at 143 (dissenting opinion) (quoting Black’s Law Dictionary 214 (6th ed. 1998)). We think that Justice Ginsburg accurately captured the natural meaning of “bear arms.” Although the phrase implies that the carrying of the weapon is for the purpose of “offensive or defensive action,” it in no way connotes participation in a structured military organization.”

Therefore, it is nearly impossible to understand why any of our legislators would consider dropping the word “carry” from this important piece of legislation.

If you feel the same way, there are several things you can do.

For starters, you can contact the members of the HPSC and let them know that removing the word “carry” would be a travesty, and a total slap in the face to the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Here is a list of the members of the HPSC:

Representative Clel Baudler (R-58)
clel.baudler@legis.state.ia.us
515.281.3221

Representative Tom Shaw (R-8)
Tom.Shaw@legis.state.ia.us
515.281.3221

Representative Bob Kressig (D-19)
bob.kressig@legis.state.ia.us
515.281.3221

Representative Dwayne Alons (R-4)
dwayne.alons@legis.state.ia.us
515.281.3221

Representative Mark Brandenburg (R-100)
mark.brandenburg@legis.state.ia.us
515.281.3221

Representative Joel Fry (R-95)
joel.fry@legis.state.ia.us
515.281.3221

Representative Chris Hagenow (R-59)
chris.hagenow@legis.state.ia.us
515.281.3221

Representative Jarad Klein (R-89)
jarad.klein@legis.state.ia.us
515.281.3221

Representative Steven Olson (R-83)
steven.olson@legis.state.ia.us
515.281.3221

Representative Henry Rayhons (R-11)
henry.rayhons@legis.state.ia.us
515.281.3221

Representative Thomas Sands (R-87)
thomas.sands@legis.state.ia.us
515.281.3221

Representative Kurt Swaim (D-94)
kurt.swaim@legis.state.ia.us
515.281.3221