Never too young: Iowa house passes bill to let children of all ages handle guns

A bill that allows children of all ages to handle guns passed Iowa’s house of representatives on Tuesday.

Approved by a 62-36 vote, the bill permits children under the age of 14 to have “a pistol, revolver or the ammunition” while under parental supervision. The bill will now head to the state senate.

“It’s our impression that most, and probably all, states allow minors to possess firearms with parental supervision,” Allison Anderman, staff attorney for the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said. “If there are age limitations on possession with parental supervision, they vary by state.”

State representative Kirsten Running-Marquardt, who opposes the bill, said it “allows for one-year-olds, two-year-olds, three-year-olds, four-year-olds to operate handguns”, according to CBS-affiliate KCCI. She added: “We do not need a militia of toddlers.”

Currently in Iowa, children can legally use long guns and shotguns under adult supervision but not handguns. This bill would change that, allowing the use of handguns as long as parents are 21 years old and maintain “visual and verbal contact at all times with the supervised person”. Children would still not be able to purchase firearms on their own.

State representative Jake Highfill told the Washington Post that the new law “gives the power back to parents”.

“Allowing people to learn at a young age the respect that a gun commands is one of the most important things you can do,” Highfill said.

The alternative, he added, is “turning 18 with no experience”.

But those opposing the bill were not convinced. State representative Mary Mascher argued that they “can’t legislate good parenting … but we can protect our children”. She cited seat belt, smoking and car seat laws.

“While most parents would not allow their two-year-old to wield a revolver, we pass laws for those parents who lack the parenting skills needed to protect their own children,” Mascher said.

She also referenced a case from 2014 when a nine-year-old girl in Arizona accidentally shot and killed her shooting range instructor with an Uzi. The girl said “she felt the gun was too much for her and had hurt her shoulder”, according to the Huffington Post.

But Highfill said the new bill is “something that was needed”, according to the Washington Post, and parent’s decisions regarding their children are “something the government should not be involved with”.

Twenty-seven states and DC have looked to protect children from guns by enacting safe storage or child access prevention laws, which “make it a crime to provide a child with unsupervised access to a firearm in at least some circumstances”.

According to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, only 15 states have enacted “strong” child access prevention laws, meaning it is a crime for someone to leave an unlocked gun where it is reasonably known a child could access it.