Consider what reduced gun violence would mean to Iowans.

• Fewer gun deaths and nonfatal injuries from firearms
• Lower direct medical costs to treat the victims of gun violence
• Fewer crimes committed with firearms
• Reduced costs for law enforcement agencies and the criminal justice system
• Fewer individuals sent to prison for gun crimes and a lower prison population

These are potential outcomes from reduced gun violence that all elected officials can support and run on.

Following are IPGV’s legislative proposals for the 81st Iowa General Assembly that will convene January 10, 2005.

Extend Brady Background Checks to All Firearms Sales

The Iowa Legislature should enact legislation that would regulate secondary gun markets by requiring that all firearms sales between one or more unlicensed sellers be conducted through a federally licensed firearms dealer and meet all federal and state laws. This legislation would ensure a criminal background check on all legal firearms transfers in Iowa.

Under the Brady Law, federally licensed firearms dealers are required to conduct criminal background checks on all buyers and keep records of their transactions. However, unlicensed sellers who sell firearms from a “personal collection” are not required to conduct background checks or keep records. Approximately 40 percent of all firearms transfers, an estimated 5.45 million transactions per year, occur on secondary markets not subject Brady background checks. Secondary markets include gun shows, flea markets, estate sales and garage sales, firearms sales over the Internet, and firearms sales through classified ads in newspapers.

The truth is that most guns used in crimes are obtained on secondary markets rather than from a licensed firearms dealer with a background check. A recent ATF study found that 89 percent of guns used in crimes had changed hands at least once on secondary markets before being used in a crime. Only 11 percent of crime guns could be traced to the original purchaser from a licensed firearms dealer.

Require That All Firearms Sales at Gun Shows Held on State Property Include a Criminal Background Check of the Purchaser

The Iowa Legislature should enact legislation that would require that all contracts to hold guns shows on state property, such as at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, include a requirement for a criminal background check on all firearms transfers at the gun show.

Approximately six gun shows are held each year at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Under the Brady Law, federally licensed firearms dealers who sell firearms at gun shows are required to conduct criminal background checks on all buyers. However, unlicensed sellers who sell firearms from a personal collection at gun shows are not required to conduct background checks.

This practice allows felons, domestic abusers, minors, and other persons who are prohibited by law from possessing firearms to buy guns on state property without having to undergo a criminal background check. It also allows persons to illegally engage in the business of dealing in firearms without a federal firearms license.

A gun show promoter could meet this requirement in one of two ways. The gun show promoter could either (a) provide for the services of a federally licensed firearms dealer to conduct background checks for all unlicensed vendors selling firearms at the gun show, or (b) allow only federally licensed firearms dealers to sell firearms at the gun show, i.e., no unlicensed vendors.

Either of these two options would ensure that a criminal background check would be performed on all firearms transfers at gun shows held on state property.

The only population that would be adversely affected by this proposed legislation is the population of prohibited firearms purchasers who cannot pass a criminal background check, and thus would not be able to buy guns at future gun shows held on state property.

[Note: This legislation would not be necessary if the Iowa General Assembly were to enact the legislation proposed in Item 1, above.]

Enact a State Assault Weapons Ban

The federal assault weapons ban enacted by Congress in 1994 expired on September 13, 2004 when Congress failed to renew it. [Note: The federal assault weapons ban was passed with a 10-year sunset provision.]

Because of inaction by the federal government, the Iowa Legislature should enact a state assault weapons ban modeled after California law that has proven to be more effective than the expired federal ban.

Military-style, semiautomatic assault weapons represent an unreasonable risk of death and injury to all Americans, but the risk is greatest for the nation’s law enforcement officers. A study by the Violence Policy Center found that one out of five law enforcement officers (41 out of 211) killed in the line of duty from 1998 through 2001 were killed with an assault weapon. Furthermore, of the law enforcement officers killed by rifles during this period, 38 (75%) were killed by an assault rifle. Considering that assault weapons are estimated to make up no more than 1-2 percent of all guns in the general population, this study clearly shows that assault weapons are used in a disproportionate number of cop killings.

America’s law enforcement officers and general public deserve a strong and effective assault weapons ban. While some honest, law-abiding citizens own assault weapons, the potential hazard that these weapons pose to law enforcement officers and the general public far outweighs their benefit to the relatively small number of people who enjoy shooting assault weapons for lawful recreational purposes.

Remove Firearms from Homes of Domestic Abusers

The Iowa Legislature should codify federal law that prohibits possession of firearms by anyone who is subject to a court restraining order for domestic violence or who has been convicted of a domestic assault into state law.

Between January 1, 1995 through September 18, 2003, 108 Iowans were killed in domestic murders, an average of about 12 domestic murders a year. A firearm was the most commonly used method of domestic murder. Of the 68 women who were killed by their current or former partners, 43 (63%) were shot to death. Almost three times as many women were killed with firearms than by the next most common method – beating or strangulation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that firearm assaults are 12 times more likely to result in death than are assaults using other weapons.

Unfortunately, federal law that prohibits the possession of firearms to domestic abusers is not being strictly enforced at the state level because domestic violence cases are typically prosecuted in state courts rather than federal courts.

Iowa needs better enforcement of the provisions of federal law that prohibits guns to domestic abusers. There is no excuse for Iowa district courts, county prosecutors, and local law enforcement agencies to not rigorously enforce the provisions of this federal law. This proposed legislation would increase enforcement of federal law because it would give authority to enforce the law to state and local authorities.

Establish an Office of Suicide Prevention

The Iowa Legislature should enact legislation that would establish an Office of Suicide Prevention within the Iowa Department of Public Health.

Suicide has proven to be a growing problem in the state of Iowa. From 1998-2002, there was an average of 304 suicides per year in Iowa, of which 154 were completed with the use of a gun. In 2003, suicides dramatically increased to 350; 176 of which were firearm suicides.

New research has shown that suicides now account for more that half of all firearm deaths in the United States. Rural areas are being hit the hardest. Researchers found that rural counties had over 1.5 times the firearm suicide rate that urban counties had. 2003 Iowa suicide data reinforce these conclusions. The largest increases in Iowa Suicides were in the very rural western third of Iowa, from 65 in 2002 to 86 in 2003.

Although several private agencies now address suicide, these services are frequently based in urban centers and often focus on a single age, gender, or socio-economic group. An Office of Suicide Prevention would function to coordinate state and national efforts to make sure that suicide prevention resources are available to all Iowans. This coordination would include gathering, tracking, and analysis of statistical information on Iowa suicides, and in response to this information, adjusting services and programs to meet the needs of the changing face of suicide in Iowa.