Iowa may continue to restrict gun rights for those with past mental health issues, even if they were years in the past.
That’s the judgment handed down Friday by the state Supreme Court. Justices upheld the lower court decision to deny a concealed carry permit to a man who was involuntarily committed when he was a teenager.
The man, identified as “N.S.,” was 16 when family members said he made threats to harm himself and others while abusing alcohol and drugs. By federal statute, he was barred for life from owning or possessing a firearm.
After a change in the state constitution, he petitioned to have his gun rights restored.
However, jurists determined that the Iowa Right to Keep and Bear Arms Amendment, approved by voters in 2022, does not prevent restricting gun rights to past mental health patients.
The act included the right to keep and bear arms in the state Constitution and mandates that courts be extra careful in protecting these freedoms.
Specifically, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. The sovereign state of Iowa affirms and recognizes this right to be a fundamental individual right. Any and all restrictions of this right shall be subject to strict scrutiny.”
The amendment did not sway Justice Thomas Waterman, who wrote for the slim 4-3 majority. “The State has a compelling interest in preventing gun violence and suicide.” He asserted the law is “narrowly tailored to serve that interest by keeping firearms from dangerous persons while allowing restoration of firearm rights upon a petitioner’s showing they are no longer a threat to public safety.”
This case was Iowa’s first since the gun rights amendment passed two years ago. The law demanded a “compelling government interest” for any gun control and that the action be “narrowly tailored.”
Despite this constitutional protocol, the court ruled that the state indeed had an interest in preventing former mental patients from possessing weapons.
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