diff --git a/src/components/item/item-reorder-gesture.ts b/src/components/item/item-reorder-gesture.ts
index a580de8183..0fb287cb24 100644
--- a/src/components/item/item-reorder-gesture.ts
+++ b/src/components/item/item-reorder-gesture.ts
@@ -155,11 +155,5 @@ export class ItemReorderGesture {
 
 function itemForPosition(x: number, y: number): HTMLElement {
   let element = <HTMLElement>document.elementFromPoint(x, y);
-  if (!element) {
-    return null;
-  }
-  if (element.nodeName !== 'ION-ITEM' && !element.hasAttribute('ion-item')) {
-    return null;
-  }
   return findReorderItem(element);
 }