Gun legislation that was approved Thursday by a committee at the Statehouse was dropped from Iowa’s legislative agenda at the last minute.
Republican lawmakers in Iowa say they’re not advancing a bill that would have reduced gun permit requirements in the state in part because of a deadly school shooting in Florida. The Senate judiciary committee agreed Thursday not to vote on a bill that would have repealed a requirement in Iowa to have a permit to acquire a weapon. It also would have made it voluntary to have a permit to carry a weapon. Sen. Brad Zaun, an Urbandale Republican, says the bill’s provisions are not related to the circumstances surrounding Wednesday’s shooting in Parkland, Florida, where a teenager is accused of using a semi-automatic rifle to kill 17 people. But Zaun says the timing of the shooting, plus a lack of support from some other Republicans, complicated the bill’s chances. A spokeswoman for GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds says the governor supported keeping the current permit requirements. The bill will not advance because of a legislative deadline this week.
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