By O. Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa)

Key backers of the gun rights amendment Iowa voters have just added to Iowa’s Constitution say they’ll introduce a series of gun-related proposals in the 2023 Iowa Legislature. House Republican Leader Matt Windschitl of Missouri Valley has been involved in gun-related issues since he was elected to the House in 2006.

“There are multiple different things we’ve been trying to get done to restore freedoms in Iowa and we’ve not been able to get across the finish line on some of those things,” Windschitl said this afternoon. “I’m not at a point right now where I’m going to discuss publicly what all of those items are, but you can expect us, after this victory, and restore freedoms to Iowans that never should have been taken away.”

Windschitl and others gathered in the statehouse this  afternoon for a ceremony to mark passage of the amendment.

“Iowans now have the best protections for their fundamental right to keep and bear arms of any state in the nation,” Windschitl said.

The amendment got a majority of votes in 97 of Iowa’s 99 counties.

“Iowans have made their voice loud and clear,” Windschitl said. “Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain.”

That last sentence is the state motto, adopted in 1847, the year after Iowa was recognized as a state. Secretary of State Paul Pate said the gun rights amendment was added to the state constitution on December 1st when statewide election results were certified.

“On November 8, Iowans voted overwhelmingly to amend the Constitution, enshrining in it the right to bear arms,” Pate said. “In fact, 65% of Iowans supported the adoption. Congratulations to all of you for your hard work and the efforts to secure its passage.”

Richard Rogers of the Iowa Firearms Coalition lobbied for the amendment as well as recent state laws on the use of weapons and gun permits.

“However, each and every improvement in the law was subject to being reversed, or worse, by the next or any future legislature,” Rogers said during the ceremony. “Now, with the ratification of this freedom amendment, as we call it, such a course will be much more difficult.”

This is the 49th amendment added to Iowa’s Constitution. It goes beyond the wording of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and says Iowa courts must evaluate any lawsuits challenging Iowa gun laws by the toughest legal standard.

By Dar Danielson (Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Natural Resources Commission has approved a Department of Natural Resources proposal to create a continuous open season for raccoons.

DNR wildlife biologist Vince Evelsizer told the commission the request was not taken lightly and came after a review of various raccoon population surveys. “It starts with our annual wildlife surveys. So for example, the spring spotlight survey that our staff do statewide, that’s showing a consistent increase in the raccoon population,” Everlsizer says.

He says there’s been a steady increase in the raccoon population in roughly the last 20 years. Evelsizer says they also have consulted with the wildlife depredation staff that deal with raccoons and deer and other animals that annually eat up crops and cause other problems.

“Those depredation staff are already dealing with nuisance raccoons and crops. And all wildlife staff and law enforcement staff are dealing with raccoons and attics, raccoons and barns, raccoons and farm equipment, and things like that,” he says. Evelsizer says having a continuous raccoon season will provide some help with the issues.

“What we’re proposing here won’t fix the problem, what we’re proposing is to make adjustments that are within our means to give folks a little more freedom to deal with a population of raccoons that has increased and is high,” he says. Evelsizer says they’ve also seen an increase in distemper outbreaks around the state — which he says is typically indicative of a high density of raccoons.

“And when a raccoon gets distemper — it’s not it’s not a pretty thing — they carry it, they can spread it to others, then they will die from that usually, and it’s not a quick death either,” according to Evelsizer. “So that’s not a thing we’d like to see out there on the landscape either.”

The senior director in the Wildlife Protection department at the Humane Society of the United States, Jill Frtiz, did speak out against the issue during the public comment portion of the NRC meeting. “Instead of Iowa randomly killing more raccoons, we suggest that reports of high raccoon densities and claims of increased raccoon conflict and predation should be carefully reviewed against current human population density, and movement and development, local agriculture practices, and the effects of growth and climate change on native wildlife habitat factors,” Fritz says.

The Natural Resources Commission also approved a proposal to extend the regular trapping season for other furbearers by one month. “We did feel that was okay biologically, and as far as selling those furs can they be utilized in the fur market? Yes, they can in February. The pelts are still in good shape. Ethan and prime at that time,” he says. That extension impacts the trapping of mink, muskrat, badger, opossum, weasel, striped skunk, fox (Red and Gray), beaver, coyote, river otters, bobcats, gray (Timber) wolf and spotted skunk.

A public comment period on the proposed change will be set for sometime in January, and then there will be a public hearing on the issue in February.

DES MOINES — The Iowa Attorney General’s office and the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services warn Iowans to be on the lookout for spam text messages regarding EBT cards.