(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa legislature has passed a bill to ensure court officials and members of the Iowa House and Senate may carry a concealed gun to defend themselves anywhere in the state. It would also make it a felony to threaten judges and top officials in the Iowa attorney general’s office as well as state lawmakers or their immediate families. The bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. Only four legislators voted against the policies. Representative Judd Lawler, a Republican from Oxford, led House debate on the bill.
“Threats and violence to legislators harm Iowa for the same reason that threats to the judiciary do,” Lawler said. “They cause legislators to stop serving or to avoid taking on difficult issues and they deter some potentially great candidates from running for office in the first place.” Lawler, who is an attorney, says threats to public officials around the country are escalating.
“In the last several years, judges or the family members have been attacked or killed by angry litigants and violence and threats against the judiciary place the rule of law at risk. We don’t want judges making decisions based on fear,” Lawler said. “…Last summer in Minnesota Melissa Hortman, a leader in the Minnesota House, and her husband Mark were shot and killed in their home and Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife were also wounded…Just a couple of months ago more than 10 Indiana state legislators were targeted by bomb threats and ‘swatting’…hoping to draw a heavily armed response to an innocent person’s home to place that person in a life-or-death confrontation with law enforcement when they answer the door.”
The bill would also make it a crime to “doxx” court officials, Iowa legislators or their immediate family members by publicly sharing a phone number or location in order to harass or threaten them.
