Republican lawmakers are continuing their efforts to add gun rights language to the Iowa Constitution this legislative session.

A three-member House panel advanced a proposal last week that would add the proposed constitutional amendment which reads, “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 legislature passed this measure in 2019, and if they pass it again this or next year, the proposed constitutional amendment will go on the ballot for voters to decide in 2022. This proposal goes further than the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment, and House District 84 Representative Joe Mitchell (R) responds to whether it could be used to dismantle the state’s current gun laws, “I feel it is vitally important that we have that additional language that says ‘Strict scrutiny.’ If the courts do want to rule on various different gun laws in our state, you know I think we’ve seen across the country, certain states almost entirely ban your right to be able to keep and bear an arm and be able to protect yourself. And so here in Iowa we want to make sure that that’s never the case.”

The proposed constitutional amendment was previously on track to be put in front of Iowa voters for the 2018 election, before a bureaucratic oversight from the Secretary of State’s Office caused lawmakers to have to restart the process in 2019.