Iowa legislators are moving fast on two bills that would repeal the state's existing law that requires background checks on all gun sales. HF 527 has already passed out of the Iowa House, and SF 425 passed out of a Senate Committee yesterday, and is expected to get a vote on the full Senate floor soon.
Repealing background checks is extremely dangerous. How do we know? Because when Missouri repealed its law that required handgun purchasers to pass a background check, it resulted in a 23 percent increase in the firearm homicide rate throughout the state. The law's repeal correlates with an additional 55 to 63 murders a year in Missouri, controlling for changes in policing, incarceration, burglaries, unemployment, poverty, and other state laws that could affect violent crime. Nearby states saw no similar rise in firearm homicide rates.
That means there is significant evidence that if lawmakers succeed in passing these bills, dangerous people will be able to arm themselves and more Iowans will be killed with guns.
What's more, 88 percent of Iowans support background checks on all gun sales. Not only is this effort misguided and dangerous - it's wildly unpopular.
