Iowa Politicians Approve “Guns In Schools” Students First Safety Act

    students first safety act

    Iowans may soon see guns in schools—legally—under the new Students First Safety Act. Iowa’s state legislature recently passed the Students First Safety Act with 61 percent of the house voting in favor of the law (which is now labeled as HF2586). Note that this does not mean the act is law at this point—it must still be approved by Iowa’s state senate.

    Laws and Regulations @ TFB:

    Under the Students First Safety Act, school employees will be legally allowed to carry firearms on school property, as long as they have been trained. However, that training will be more intensive than a simple concealed carry course.

    You can read the House File that state senators will be dealing with here, but the basics are this: School staff will have qualified immunity if they’re carrying under the terms of the act, and must attend a course that lays out the basics of those legalities. They must attend regular firearms training, including “live scenario” training, which will be overseen by the Iowa Department of Public Safety. In other words, they’re not just doing a written-word test on how to hide their pistols without printing. In order to legally carry a firearm on school property, they must know how to operate it safely.

    Students First Safety Act

    Under the current wording of the Students First Safety Act, school staff carrying firearms on-site would be required to partake in regular firearms training that would be overseen by Iowa’s Department of Public Safety.

    Iowa has considered similar rules before, and school districts actually approved the idea of staff carrying firearms, but ran into issues when insurers didn’t want to cover the schools if staff were armed. Politicians tried to pass a bill that banned insurers from saying “No” over this issue, but the Senate nixed that law change. That’s why the qualified immunity was added to the Students First Safety Act—it’s intended to make insurers less cagey.

    The act also requires school boards to have armed security guards or school resource workers in large high schools, unless the board votes against it, and private schools colleges or universities are also allowed to arm staff under the Students First Safety Act.

    Stay tuned on this one—since similar legislation has run into trouble in Iowa’s senate before, there’s no guarantee of this one passing. But it does seem that the legislature is determined to keep working to make this bill happen, following years of other anti-gun control laws.

    Zac K

    Professional hoser with fudd-ish leanings.


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