OTTUMWA, IOWA -- People convicted of domestic abuse could be banned from possessing firearms in Iowa, according to new legislation.

A bill passed the Iowa House on Wednesday, by a vote of 73 to 25, was sent to the Iowa Senate on Thursday. State senators approved the measure by a vote of 36 to 12.

Supporters of the measure say more than 200 people have been killed in Iowa by domestic violence since 1995. More than half of those deaths were gun-related.

Those opposed to the ban say it is an attempt to limit gun rights. They proposed several amendments to this legislation, including giving abuse victims self-defense training, but those efforts were rejected.

Advocacy groups against domestic abuse say few judges include a gun ban when they issue protective orders. Federal law already bans those convicted of abuse from being armed.

Wapello County Attorney Allen Cook told KTVO about the reasoning behind this new legislation.

"The protections that the law currently allows for victims of domestic violence, probably does not go far enough. And I think just as a general proposition that would be the driving force, as opposed to a certain case that got a lot of media attention or a certain event that would have prompted this. I think it’s just more of a general concern that our laws, as they sit on our books today, don’t go far enough," Cook said.

He discussed the differences between gun restrictions on the books now, in contrast to restrictions in this new legislation for domestic abusers.

"Typically what happens under the system now if a person receives a conviction the judge will enter an automatic ‘no contact order’ of 5 years. And pursuant to the provisions of the ‘no contact order’ that person is also going to be restricted from owning a gun during that period of time. The difference [with the new legislation] is that makes that gun restriction permanent," Cook said.

He added that state law enforcement officers could not enforce a parallel federal law due to jurisdiction, but by passing this new legislation it gives state law enforcement a method to enforce a 1994 federal mandate.

"If there is a prevailing view out there that this is overly restrictive, it’s not as if the State of Iowa is becoming much more restrictive than their neighbors as far as a person’s gun rights. This is something that the federal government has had in place since 1994," Cook said.

Iowa lawmakers gave final approval to this bill on Thursday and it now moves to Iowa Governor Chet Culver for his signature or veto.