A bipartisan bill that aims to put in more safety protections for state lawmakers and judicial officers is headed to the governor’s desk.
Under the bill (SF 2280), state lawmakers, judicial officers, the attorney general, deputy attorneys general and assistant attorneys general could carry guns with a professional permit. This would allow the officials to go armed anywhere in the state, including on school grounds.
The proposal would also make threatening judicial officers, members of the general assembly or their immediate family members a felony.
Rep. Judd Lawler, R-Oxford, said past political acts of violence, like the shootings of Minnesota lawmakers, make the bill necessary.
“Threats and violence to legislators harm Iowa for the same reason that threats to the judiciary do: they cause legislators to stop serving or to avoid taking on difficult issues,” Lawler said. “And they deter some potentially great candidates from running for office in the first place.”
If signed into law, the bill would also make doxing officials or their immediate family members a criminal offense. Doxing is sharing someone’s personal information with the intent to harm or scare them.