(Des Moines, IA) House File 2279 passed the Iowa Senate on Thursday morning by a 46 to 4 vote. The bill called the “Hearing Protection Act” will, if signed by Governor Terry Branstad, lift the ban on gun suppressors in Iowa. Currently suppressors are on Iowa’s list of “offensive weapons.”
Voting against the bill were State Senators Joe Bolkcom (D-Iowa City), Bob Dvorsky (D-Coralville), Rob Hogg (D-Cedar Rapids) and Herman Quirmbach (D-Ames).
The bill passed the Iowa House last month 74 to 24 as part of a piecemeal of several gun bills sent to the Iowa Senate. State Representative Matt Windschitl (R-Missouri Valley), one of the primary advocates of the bills in the House, told Caffeinated Thoughts Radio that the hope was the Senate would take up at least one or two of the bills.
Advocates for the bill say suppressors have been given an undue stigma because of TV and media. Suppressors are helpful when hunting and on the range because they provide hearing protection for the user. Also they are not completely silent as some critics would claim as you can see from the video below.
The bill now goes back to the Iowa House for final approval as it was amended in committee in the Senate. The amendment just cleared up a grammar issue.
The text the amendment dealt with originally read, “A person shall not possess a firearm suppressor in this state if such possession is knowingly in violation of federal law.” The bill now reads, “A person shall not knowingly possess a firearm suppressor in this state in violation of federal law.”
It’s unlikely the bill will be hung up in the Iowa House due to the change as the substance of the bill remains intact.
