The Iowa Legislature has advanced House Study Bill 262 out of committee by a vote of 17-4. The bill repeals legislative bans on the possession, acquisition, or carrying of handguns or handgun ammunition by adults aged 18-20. Several appellate court decisions have made clear young adults, 18-20 years old, are members of the people who have a right to keep and bear arms protected by the Second Amendment.
Iowa falls under the jurisdiction of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. On July 16, 2024, a three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit unanimously confirmed the rights protected by the Second Amendment apply to young adults 18-20 years old. The case is Kristin Worth v. Bob Jacobson, challenging the Minnesota law banning the carry of firearms by all people under the age of 21. On August 21, 2024, an en banc panel of the Eighth Circuit denied a petition to rehear the case. A petition appealing the case to the Supreme Court of the United States was filed on January 23, 2025.
The Minnesota law remains in effect until the end of the appeals process. It seems unlikely that the Supreme Court of the United States will both grant a cert (take the case) and rule against young adults’ right to keep and bear arms.
The Iowa legislature can read the arguments presented in Worth v Jacobsen. They are proposing changes that will bring them into conformity with the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. From HSB 262:
Current law generally prohibits a person under the age of 21 from acquiring a permit to carry weapons, acquiring pistols and revolvers, and carrying dangerous weapons. This bill lowers the minimum age to 18 and makes conforming changes, including to scope of liability provisions.
Two decades ago, Iowa was a state where infringements on rights protected by the Second Amendment were routinely accepted. As the ability to communicate and organize became easier and less expensive, gun owners in Iowa communicated more and became more organized. Iowa became a leader in restoring rights protected by the Second Amendment. On November 8, 2022, Iowa reformed its constitution to explicitly and strictly protect the right to keep and bear arms by a 2-1 margin at the polls. When voters are given a choice, they vote to preserve and protect the right to keep and bear arms.
Those who want to have the people disarmed are losing more court cases than they are winning. The inferior courts seem to be taking the Bruen decision more seriously than they did the Heller decision. Now that President Trump has won his second term, more judges who take the Constitution seriously should be appointed to the bench.
As experience with 18-year-old people carrying guns, Constitutional Carry, guns in schools, and guns in churches all grow into decades in multiple states without ill effect, judges will become more and more skeptical of the false narrative “guns are bad.” Law schools will be teaching the Second Amendment as a fundamental right instead of an embarrassing mistake. The nation has already restored more rights protected by the Second Amendment than this correspondent thought possible 50 years ago.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
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