Iowa omnibus firearms measure including ‘stand your ground’ advances

By Chris Eger

State Rep. Matt Windschitl saw a multi-faceted gun rights expansion he backed go on to a solid win in the Iowa House this week. (Photo: John Pemble/Iowa Public Radio)
A sweeping pro-gun bill that includes striking the duty to retreat was approved by lawmakers in the Iowa House on Tuesday, sending it to the Senate.
The measure, HF 517, would introduce a “stand your ground” use of force guideline to Iowa while bringing a host of other changes to the state’s firearms laws. It passed on a Republican-heavy 58-39 vote.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Matt Windschitl, R-Missouri Valley, who in past sessions has backed a few similar efforts that fell short, felt good about the legislative push this time around.
“We have a bill that advances Iowans rights,” Windschitl said, as reported by Iowa Public Radio. “It expands their freedoms and affords them more individual responsibility to make decisions for themselves.”
The advancing measure removes the duty to retreat currently enshrined in Iowa’s self-defense statutes on the use of reasonable or deadly force. This so-called “stand your ground” model has been adopted in many conservative states with Florida passing the first of its kind in 2005.
Next, the legislation would place gun permit holder information out

Source: Guns.com