ICADV
held two Webinars to explain the enforcement of the new Firearms
ban. Click
hear to view the PowerPoint and
click hear to listen to the complete audio.
Audio
from another version is also
available here.
It doesn't start at the beginning but includes questions at the end
that you may find helpful.
Full webinar links will be added as soon
as they are available.
Webinar FAQs
Question:
Am I subject to the firearms ban if I was convicted of a misdemeanor
crime of domestic violence, but received a deferred judgment?
Answer:
Under the new Iowa firearms laws a deferred judgment is not a
conviction, so you would not be subject to prosecution under Iowa
law. However, under federal law a deferred judgment issued upon a
guilty plea is a conviction for the term of the deferral.
Therefore, you would be subject to prosecution for violation of the
firearms ban under federal law if you plead guilty and have not yet
completed the term of the deferral. It is important to note that if
the term of the deferral has been completed then you would not be
subject to prosecution under either state or federal law.
Firearms
Legislation Enforcement Training Details:
Webinar:
Enforcement of
State Firearms Ban for Domestic Abusers
Presented By: Iowa Law Enforcement Academy, Iowa Attorney General,
State Court Administrators Office, Iowa Coalition Against Domestic
Violence, Crime Victim Assistance Division
Audience:
Law Enforcement, Prosecutors, Attorneys, Judges,
Advocates
Date and Time:
Tuesday June 29
(1:00-2:30) or Wednesday June 30 (10:00-11:30)
Cost:
Free of Charge
Registration:
register online
at time of meeting
CLE Credits:
1.5 CLE credits for this webinar
Technical Details:
Tuesday June 29
Wednesday June 30
Webinar call in number:
(866) 740-1260 (866) 740-1260
Access Code:
6157168 6157168
Web Login:
https://cc.readytalk.com/r/8c8exogmy6gg
https://cc.readytalk.com/r/2je62yfkcscm
Updates
03-22-10
Governor Culver
signed the bill into law on March 22nd, 2010.
Click
here
for a picture of this historic occasion.
Thank you and
congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to get this bill
passed.
03-17-10
The bill will be signed on Monday, March
22nd at 11:30 am in the Governor's Office at the Capitol.
03-16-10
The bill is scheduled to be signed on
March 22nd. We don't have the time yet. Thanks again for
everyone's hard work in getting this bill to this point!
03-11-10
Update @ 11:20 AM
It has passed the Senate! Now it goes to
the Governor! We will let you know when we have a time and
date for the signing.
9:00 AM
The bill passed in the House, 73-25!
Thank you for all your work, calling and emailing your
Representatives! Thank you to all the Representatives who
voted for this bill!
It is on the debate calendar in the
Senate today. They have to concur with the House amendments,
and the next step is for the bill to go to Governor Culver.
03-09-10
Please contact your Representative about the domestic
violence firearms bill. If you’ve already contacted your
Representative, contact two (or more) friends or family members and
ask them to call on behalf of victims of domestic violence. Contact
the Coalition if you have any questions. (515-244-8028).
The House Switchboard is 515-281-3221 or you can
contact your legislator by going to
www.legis.state.ia.us
and clicking on “legislators”. You can click on
“find your legislator” or “House email addresses”.
One important note;
there
will be several attempts at attaching amendments to this
legislation. Let your Representative know that the only
amendments which should be supported on SF 2357 are the ones which
passed out of the Public Safety Committee. The passage of any
of the other amendments would likely not find support in the Senate
and could kill the bill altogether.
We are so close!
The bill is going to be open for debate on Wednesday! We can
do this! Please call or email today!
03-03-10
After our efforts yesterday, it looks
like the bill will make it out of subcommittee after a minor
amendment (making it clear that cops are exempt from losing their
firearms if under a protection order -- which already exists under
federal law.) It should go to full committee this afternoon.
It's not too late to call or email your Representative. We are
so close! Thanks for all your hard work so far and keep it up!
03-01-10
Join ICADV tomorrow, 03-02-10, at 3pm to
talk to Representatives about this bill and how important it is to
the safety of all of Iowa's citizens. We will meet in the
Capitol cafeteria to brief before talking to the Representatives.
Call ICADV at 515-244-8028 for more information.
02-26-10
Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence
2010 Legislative Newsletter
February 26, 2010
The big news this
week dealt with the Senates passage of Senate File 2357! All of
your calls and support made this happen. The bill was on the debate
calendar for three days while leadership waivered back and forth on
even running the bill at all. Finally, late afternoon on Thursday
it was determined that there was enough support to run the bill, and
it passed the Senate.
Legislation
Firearms
Our proposed legislation Senate File 2357 would give
local law enforcement the authority and the process for taking
firearms out of the hands of a person convicted of a misdemeanor
crime of domestic abuse or a person who has a qualifying protective
order against him. Currently there is already similar federal law in
place. However, without local law enforcement involved abusers will
not, and are not, abiding by the federal firearms ban. This
legislation is of critical importance to save women’s lives because
firearms are the most commonly used method in domestic abuse related
murders. SF 2357 passed the Senate
Thursday with a vote of 36 to 11. The Senators that did not support
our legislation included Senators Bartz, Dearden, Hartsuch, Wieck,
Behn, Feenstra, McKinley, Zaun, Boettger, Hahn, and Seymour. Please
thank your Senator if they did support this legislation. A special
thanks goes out to Senator Kriemen for managing this bill on the
floor of the Senate and Senator Gronstal for his leadership in
bringing this bill up for a vote.
Amber Markham
Director of Public
Policy/Senior Staff Attorney
Iowa Coalition Against
Domestic Violence
02-25-10
Senate File 2357, the firearms bill, has
passed in the Senate! Thank you to everyone who worked hard
and made phone calls. Thank you to the 36 senators who voted for it.
On to the House of Representatives!
02-24-10
Thanks to everyone that made calls this afternoon. We have more
work to do. Amber will send out another alert tomorrow.
The vote on this bill has been pushed back to tomorrow. Please
keep calling!
Laurie
Here are the resources you need to make your calls:
This link will help you find which specific Senators
to talk to. Put in an address and it will tell you who is
representing that area. If it is a Republican Senator, that is who
you call.
http://www.legis.state.ia.us/FindLeg/
The Senate Switchboard is:
515-281-3371; Keep in mind that many people are calling,
and many of them may be against our bill, so even if you get put on
hold, stay on the line and make sure your voice is heard!
Back to Top
02-22-10
Dear Directors, Staffers, and all interested parties,
SF 2357, what we
have deemed our firearms bill unanimously passed the Senate
Judiciary Committee last week and now needs to go to a vote on the
Senate Floor. The bill likely will not go to a vote in the full
Senate until there is a show of support from the House, because the
Senate does not want to take a vote on a bill that is just going to
die in the House. Therefore, we need to pursuade both Senate
Majority Leader Gronstal and House Majority Leader McCarthy to
support this bill. Senator Gronstal has already shown support for
the bill, Represenative McCarthy is our biggest obstacle to getting
this legislation passed. If we can convince him the bill has a much
better chance of moving forward.
You can reach
your legislators at:
Senate Majority
Leader Gronstal
Senate
Switchboard- 515-281-3371
House District
50 (Pottawattamie County)
House Majority
Leader McCarthy
House
Switchboard-515-281-3221
House District
67 (Polk County)
Please only call
if you are within the legislators district. I have attached a
document with some common questions and answers to questions on the
bill along with general background information in order to help you
better understand the bill. However, your message can be as brief
as stating who you are, that you are a constituent, and that the
legislator should support SF 2357 because it would save the lives of
countless domestic violence victims.
I would like you
to place this call within the next two days.
Good luck!
Amber
Back to Top
Talking Points
Don't know what to say? Here are some potential talking points:
Protecting Domestic Abuse Victims from Gun Violence
Federal Law Already in Place
Question: If we pass this new state law will we be taking guns away
from people who currently have the legal right to possess them?
Answer: No, the proposed state law would only create a mechanism for
local law enforcement to remove firearms from abusers who under
federal law legally should not have firearms in their possession in
the first place.
Background: Federal law already prohibits firearm possession by
those convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor. It also
prohibits those subject to a protective order for a crime of
domestic violence from owning a gun for the duration of the
protective order. Only federal ATF officers have the authority to
enforce these provisions. Because there are only two ATF agents for
the entire state of Iowa, it makes any real enforcement of these
firearm provisions impossible.
No State or Local Law Enforcement
Question: Why do we need additional state law if there is already
federal law in place to ban firearms from certain abusers?
Answer: We need additional state law so that local law enforcement
officers have the legal authority help enforce the firearm ban.
Without additional state law there are only two ATF agents in the
entire state who can act to enforce the federal law, which is
woefully inadequate.
Background: There is currently no mechanism for enforcing the
federal firearms prohibition for domestic abusers under state law.
Therefore, if the abuser chooses to keep his firearms in violation
of federal law there is nothing local law enforcement officers can
do about it. This legislation would give local law enforcement the
authority and the process for taking firearms out of the hands of
abusers who already illegally possess them under federal law. Two
ATF agents cannot enforce the firearm ban provision alone. Without
local law enforcement involved abusers will not and are not abiding
by the federal firearms ban.
Due Process
Question: Isn’t it unfair to take away a person’s right to possess a
firearm without due process of law?
Answer: Yes, which is exactly why under federal law and the proposed
state law no persons right to possess a firearm will be taken away
until they are afforded the full due process of law including a full
hearing with the right to appeal.
Background: Under no circumstance, in federal law or under the new
proposed state legislation would a person lose the right to possess
a firearm unless they were given a hearing where both parties were
given notice and were allowed to make their case in front of a
judge. They also have the right to appeal a ruling if they believe
it was found in error. Therefore, no firearm rights can be removed
without full due process of law.
Why we need legislation
In the past 15 years 108 Iowans have been murdered by a firearm in a
domestic violence situation. However, firearms are not just used by
abusers to murder their victims they are used as a tool of
intimidation and control. Without this law victims of domestic
violence, their children, and our communities will continue to live
in fear and be controlled.
It is time to take control back out of the hands of the abusers and
into the hands of the state. If an abuser chooses to break the law
by not surrendering their firearms they must know that the state
will have mechanisms in place to hold them accountable to the law. A
message needs to be sent to those who choose to abuse others that
they are not above the law.
Abusers are not above the law, hold them accountable!
02-12-10
Iowa Coalition
Against Domestic Violence
2010 Legislative
Newsletter
February 12, 2010
The end of this
week marked the first funnel deadline. The funnel deadline requires
all bills to be out of their respective House or Senate committees
by February 12 or the bill is dead for the session. Because of this
looming deadline in an already shortened session legislators and
lobbyist worked long and hard this week to iron out the details of
their bills to get them passed through committee. We fared well for
this first funnel deadline with all our legislative priority bills
surviving the funnel.
Legislation
Surviving Funnel Week
Firearms
Our proposed
legislation Senate Study Bill 1033 would give local law enforcement
the authority and the process for taking firearms out of the hands
of a person convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic abuse or a
person who has a qualifying protective order against him. Currently
there is already similar federal law in place. However, without
local law enforcement involved abusers will not, and are not,
abiding by the federal firearms ban. This legislation is of
critical importance to save women’s lives because firearms are the
most commonly used method in domestic abuse related murders.
Senate Study bill 1033 passed out of Senate Judiciary Committee on
Wednesday February 10 with a unanimous vote. This bill will receive
a new number now that it has passed out of committee.
01-15-10
2010 Legislative Priorities
Back to Top
Website Disclaimer
This website is provided as a public service by the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence. All materials contained on this site, as well as links to other sites, should not be construed as legal information, legal advice, legal representation, or any form of endorsement or recommendation., nor does reading, downloading or otherwise using this site create an attorney-client relationship.
