The Iowa Senate passed a bill (SF 2263) on Tuesday that would allow people to have firearms inside their locked vehicles in parking lots operated by the state, counties and cities. It would also allow Iowans to have a loaded gun in a car used to transport a child in foster care.
Sen. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, managed the bill’s passage. He said it’ll help law-abiding Iowans to go about their day while exercising their constitutional right to carry a gun.
“They shouldn’t have to take that off, put it in the trunk, unload the thing to go to a place that they paid for in order to do their business with whatever level of government,” Schultz said.
Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, said the bill could create unsafe conditions for kids in foster care and for local government facilities like county jails.
“So I think that it is prudent for our county governments or state government, city governments, to impose some modest restrictions on where firearms can be brought,” Quirmbach said.
The Senate also passed a bill (SF 2280) allowing state lawmakers, judges and the attorney general to get a professional permit to carry a weapon.