Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed Knife Rights supported HF 2556 which provides penalties for the violation of Iowa’s long-existing weapons preemption law that includes knives. This will allow individuals to collect monetary damages in any lawsuit seeking enforcement of the state’s weapons preemption statute.
Knife Rights applauds Representative Bill Gustoff and Senator Scott Webster for sponsoring HF 2556 and the Governor for signing the bill into law.
Please note that the new law doesn't take effect until January 1, 2025.
While Knife Law Preemption is one of Knife Rights’ key criminal justice reform efforts that assures consistency of knife law throughout the state, in some instances jurisdictions ignore preemption and enact restrictions that contravene state law. The possibility of monetary damages when these jurisdictions do so both discourages them from doing so and at least covers all or part of the cost of suing to have them declared illegal.