In 2025, Iowa enacted several significant changes to its gun laws, reshaping firearm prohibitions and regulations across the state. Two of the most notable developments lowered the minimum age for handgun acquisition and broadened the rules governing how firearms may be transported in vehicles and off-road equipment. Along with lightening these restrictions, another bill was passed to harshen penalties for felons in possession of firearms. These laws reflect a continued shift toward expanding individual gun rights for law-abiding citizens, while simultaneously cracking down on dangerous individuals in possession of weapons. Understanding what the law required before these changes, what specific statutory language was amended or repealed, and where the new limits begin and end is essential for anyone navigating Iowa’s updated firearm regulations.
HF 924 – Lowering Minimum Age to Carry a Handgun
In April 2025, the Iowa legislature passed House File 924 (HF 924), lowering the minimum age at which someone may legally acquire or carry a handgun in the state. The bill was signed by the governor on April 18, 2025, and the changes took effect on July 1, 2025. Under the new law, an individual age 18 or older becomes eligible for a “nonprofessional permit to carry weapons,” and may legally acquire (through private sale, loan, gift, or transfer), possess, or carry a pistol or revolver.
Prior to HF 924, the statutes in Iowa Code §724.8 and related sections set the minimum age for acquiring or carrying handguns at 21. Under those rules, persons under 21 generally could not obtain a permit to carry or legally be sold a handgun via a licensed dealer. HF 924 amended §724.8 and other relevant statutory provisions to lower that age threshold, and also adjusted sections of the law governing the sale, loan, gift, or transfer of pistols or revolvers to persons under 21.
What changed is fairly straightforward: the statutory age restrictions for eligibility to acquire handgun-related permits and for firearms transfers were lowered. The law now permits 18- to 20-year-olds to legally possess and carry handguns under state law. That said, a significant limitation remains: although state law now allows 18-year-olds to acquire or carry handguns, federal law still generally prohibits licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns to anyone under 21 years old. Thus, while young adults in Iowa may legally own or carry a handgun under state law, they may still face restrictions when buying from federally licensed dealers.
The rationale behind this law change is that young people should have just as much of a right to defend themselves as individuals over 21. Multiple analyses show that women ages 18 – 24 experience some of the highest rates of sexual violence in the United States, with college-age women at several times the risk of women overall. State-level evidence of widespread abuse and non-consensual sexual activity, plus national data on the particular vulnerability of women in their late teens and early twenties, suggest that young women in Iowa live at a point in the life course where their risk of violence is comparatively high. Reworking Iowa’s gun laws, allowing younger people to carry firearms, hopes to mitigate this problem by allowing them to have a powerful way to defend themselves from dangerous individuals attempting to cause them harm.
SF 106 – Lightening Restrictions for Firearms in Vehicles
The second important change in 2025 comes from Senate File 106 (SF 106), which concerns the conveyance of firearms in vehicles, including off-road vehicles such as ATVs and snowmobiles. This bill was signed into law on May 6, 2025, and also takes effect on July 1, 2025.
Before SF 106, the relevant statutes, including Iowa Code §483A.36 and parts of §§321G.13, 321I.14, and 805.8B, prohibited a person from operating or riding a snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle (ATV) while carrying a loaded firearm, unless the land was owned, possessed, or rented by the person and the conduct was otherwise lawful. On public highways, the law generally forbade carrying a gun in or on a vehicle unless the firearm was dismantled or unloaded and totally contained in a securely fastened case; transporting a loaded gun carried a scheduled fine.
What SF 106 does is strip out the prohibitions and repeal §483A.36 altogether. It amends the relevant code sections to remove the language forbidding loaded firearms on snowmobiles or ATVs, and to repeal the rules requiring guns transported on public roads to be unloaded, disassembled or cased. In practical terms, after July 1, 2025, an individual in Iowa may legally carry a loaded firearm, whether a pistol, revolver, or long gun, while operating or riding a snowmobile or ATV, or convey a firearm in or on a vehicle on a public highway, without needing to unload or case it (subject to any other applicable laws).
But the law does not remove all restrictions. Notably, SF 106 keeps intact prohibitions on discharging a firearm from a moving snowmobile or ATV; hunting or firing from a moving vehicle remains disallowed. The only exception preserved is for non-ambulatory (disabled) hunters who may discharge a firearm from a stationary snowmobile or ATV while lawfully hunting.
SF 105 – Penalties for Firearm Possession by a Felon
Despite passing various bills to lighten restrictions on firearms, Iowa also passed a bill that increases penalties for firearm offenses. The Iowa legislature recently passed Senate File 105, a law that revises the penalty structure for a felon’s control, possession, receipt, or transportation of a firearm or offensive weapon. Under the new law, the offense remains a felony, but now carries mandatory minimum prison sentences that escalate with repeat offenses.
The statutory change occurs in Iowa Code § 724.26(1). Under prior law, a felon who knowingly possessed, received, or transported a firearm or offensive weapon was guilty of a Class D felony. The sentencing range for a Class D felony under Iowa law allowed up to five years in prison and a fine between roughly $1,025 and $10,245. The law left sentencing largely to judicial discretion; there was no mandatory minimum sentence, and courts could defer judgment, suspend sentences, or otherwise reduce actual time served via parole or other credits.
What SF 105 does is restructure § 724.26(1) so that first, second, third, and fourth (or subsequent) offenses carry increasing minimum sentences, and in some cases elevated felony classes. Specifically, a first offense remains a Class D felony but with a mandatory minimum of 2 years imprisonment. A second offense remains Class D but with a mandatory minimum of 4 years. A third offense becomes a Class C felony with a mandatory minimum of 7 years, and a fourth (or further) offense is also a Class C felony with a minimum of 10 years. The bill also prohibits courts from deferring judgment or suspending execution of the mandatory minimum sentence, and disallows reducing the mandatory minimum via “earned time” or early release credits.
This change took effect on July 1, 2025, along with other criminal-law adjustments passed in the 2025 session.
The effect of this law is to impose significantly tougher consequences for felons found in possession of firearms or offensive weapons. Where previously a first-time offense could result in something less than prison, depending on sentence suspension or probation, now a convicted felon faces at least two years behind bars. Repeat offenses escalate quickly, potentially to a decade of confinement for a fourth violation. This reflects a legislative intent to deter illegal firearm possession among persons already barred from lawful gun possession under state and federal law.
Hire a Firearm Defense Attorney in Des Moines, Iowa
If you or a loved one has been charged with Firearm Possession by a Felon, or any other Firearm Crime, in Des Moines, or the surrounding area, it is important to hire a criminal defense attorney immediately. McCarthy and Hamrock can provide the legal assistance you need to ensure your case is in the right hands, and you will be getting the best representation that you deserve.
Call us at (515) 279-9700 to request a free consultation.