Voters in Iowa Tuesday overwhelmingly voted to adopt a constitutional amendment allowing people to keep and bear firearms. The final vote was 745,118 in favor to 398,881 against. This will make Iowa the 45th state to include the right to keep and bear firearms in its state constitution.

The amendment as ratified reads:

Right to keep and bear arms. Sec. 1A. The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. The sovereign state of Iowa affirms and recognizes this right to be a fundamental individual right. Any and all restrictions of this right shall be subject to strict scrutiny.

The amendment ratifies the US Constitution’s Second Amendment into the state constitution with the added protection of the state’s highest judicial review. Any future laws that infringe the right will have to withstand the highest judicial scrutiny to prevail.

The Iowa Firearms Coalition, a proponent of the amendment, said the process was not easy, and “[t]he course was long and there are many hurdles and pitfalls along the way. But the ‘Freedom Amendment’ is now Section 1A of Iowa’s Constitution.”

On the other hand, Iowans For Gun Safety, opponents of the amendment, criticized the amendment’s use of strict scrutiny as too extreme and not allowing for passage of “common-sense gun laws.” They said “[w]e find it unacceptable that pro-gun groups have centered on the ‘rights’ of gun-owning citizens over and against the safety of the general public. We think Iowans have the right not to get shot.”

Iowa became a constitutional-carry state in 2021, meaning citizens can carry handguns openly or concealed without a permit as long as they are lawfully eligible to possess a firearm. This amendment is expected to further the state’s policy of being gun-friendly and affording broad Second Amendment protections.