State of Iowa v. Adam Aaron Rhodes

Summary

The court held that a .50-caliber in-line muzzleloader replica of an antique firearm is a firearm under Iowa's felon-in-possession statute because it is designed to discharge a projectile through explosive force. The statutory exclusion of antique firearms and muzzleloaders from the definition of offensive weapon does not exclude them from the separate category of firearms, and Iowa's legislature did not adopt the federal antique-firearm exception. The court also rejected Rhodes's void-for-vagueness argument because the ordinary meaning of firearm is sufficiently clear.