Tragedy Hits Home

Commentary: Sadly, this was a matter of when, not if. Kim Reynolds is failing her oath of office to protect Iowan Citizens.

Many Iowan’s are in shock and mourning again today due to the horrendous school shooting in Perry, IA. It’s got to the point where many people don't feel safe in public, Wal Marts, grocery stores and schools.

Kim Reynolds doesn't care enough about our kids’ safety to implement any mitigation measures or common sense gun reform laws. The mantra is “Democrats will take your guns” This alone is sometimes enough for the far-right to win.

Remember, this repetition is done intentionally to brainwash the population. 2nd Amendment rights are guaranteed in the Constitution. What world do we live in where ANYONE can justify guns as being more important than children.

I call for our governor to resign if she is unable or unwilling to protect Iowa residents. She is refusing to protect our children, girls and women’s health, our senior population, and our immigrants. The list is definitely not all inclusive. I call for Governor Reynolds impeachment for violation of her oath of office. She is not protecting Iowans. Why do we allow this? We as Iowans have this within our power to stop it. We need more unity and less division to accomplish this.

This is why the far-right uses the divisive concepts that they do, trying to pit one group of people against the another. They want us fighting each other so we are too distracted to do anything about the needed policy changes ourselves.

Brad Zaun, I ask you also. Is loosening gun restrictions even further worth it for Iowa's residents?

We need to ask this of ALL Iowa politicians running for office. It’s the well worn trope where the far-right tries to terrify everyone with the ever repeated phrase, “Don’t vote for Biden, Obama, [insert democrat’s name here], or they will take your guns.” I’ve been alive long enough to observe that this NEVER happens. There is not one mainstream politician that I know of that advocates for completely eliminating guns. I implore you, don’t be gullible. Don’t fall for this.

Here’s one big difference that I see between the Democratic party, and whatever is left of the MAGA GOP. The right will use manipulation that plays on our emotions to get votes. It doesn’t matter if it’s true or accurate, or not. They simply want us to be angry at the out-groups, and they want us to be fearful that Biden is coming to take all of your guns. None of this is even remotely true.

I have a winning formula for ending this in Iowa once and for all. Stop falling for this! Stop voting for MAGA GOP state senators, state representatives, and vote Governor Reynolds out of office. Don’t vote based on emotion. Vote based on intellect, and the safety of our most vulnerable populations.

If our children mean more to us than guns, this shouldn’t really require a second thought. This is something that MUST be done for our children’s safety. The time to have fixed this was 10 years ago. Instead the GOP has used those 10 years to consistently expand access to guns in the state

Let’s look at the gun laws passed by the Iowa GOP and signed into law proudly by Governor Reynolds. According to the website gunzone.com, Iowa already has among the most lenient gun laws in the country. And yet there's not a legislative year that goes by with yet another GOP attempt to further losen the gun laws. According to Americanprogress.org, there was a 20% increase in gun homicides in Iowa from 2019-2020.

Scene of school shooting in Perry, IA on January 4, 2024

What are we doing to address this? Let’s look at the GOP controlled Iowa legislature’s recent actions with guns. This list is partial, there are many more than we have time to list here. I may continue listing them in a separate article. Here goes, from the latest first.

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2024

Upcoming legislative session, The Des Moines Register reported on December 9, 2023, while writing about the upcoming legislative session, “New gun rights bills imminent under amended Iowa Constitution,” so the state GOP doesn’t believe they have yet went far enough in loosening restrictions?

What else needs to be done? Arming babies? I’ve heard arming teachers thrown around as an idea once or twice. That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

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2023

Iowa House Votes to Legalize Guns on School and College Grounds, HF 654, and was proudly signed by the governor. HF 654 allows people to keep firearms in a grade school parking lot. The catch is they can’t be visible? It also loosened several other restrictions, allowed firearms on college campuses, on snowmobiles and in casinos were also allowed with the discretion of the particular casino. Why do our legislators thinking this is ok? These are an extremist policies that put every Iowan’s safety at risk.

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2022

Option placed on ballot to amend the state constitution to guarantee the right to keep and bear arms. We already have this right under the Federal constitution. This wasn’t needed, but it was pushed hard by the state GOP and it passed.

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2021

Open carry law passed by the GOP controlled legislature, HF 756, signed into law by the governor. This law allows the buying handguns without a permit or background check, and carrying of firearms into public places. This is when we begin seeing the ARs showing up at protests and inside Wal Mart. Whose idea was this?

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Democrats are also (slightly) imperfect, of course. We have infighting, terrible at some times, finger pointing, arguments, and there are plenty of other issues as well. But the difference? The Democratic party is the only one left that is still functioning as a traditional, real, political party. They take time to listen to constituents and voters. Most generally try to do right by the voters instead of purely seeking polical power. They are definitely not a shrine to one man like the MAGA cult.

Democrats will not take guns away, but may help keep our kids safer by keeping guns away from schools, tightening background check laws, or some other means. These are the debates we should be talking about now. With the GOP in the state house and congress, sadly, nothing will be done about this as in all the other prior years recently. Unless we take this issue on ourselves, as Iowans.

We have more power working together, in unison, than any one person can recognize by themselves. We feel powerless to change this, but we are not powerless. We need to start moving now, to make this state, and the country, a safer place for its residents.

We have major storm clouds on the horizon if we don’t start making big changes fast. The next presidential election is 11 months away, and it could be our last. The indicted ex-president Trump has already indicated he wishes to rule as a dictator if elected. Judging from past history, he won’t even concede the loss when he loses. We need an overwhelming victory, making it almost impossible to claim fraud.

I ask you to consider. Vote for the future of our Democracy. Vote for our children. And vote like our democracy depends on it. Anti-MAGA, in unison, is what must be done to end this scourge of racism, fascism and reactionary policies that have damaged our state in recent years.

Only after that, gun control is implemented, and fascism and MAGA are defeated, we can try to rebuild a common sense two party system and start honest, good-faith debates on issues once again.

With Trump and the MAGA GOP, this will never happen. I extend an olive branch to anyone interested in such a coalition. This may be what it’s going to take to effect the needed change. The good news is the NRA is shrinking, losing money and some influence. I will work with almost anyone to achieve this goal.

But obviously we still have a problem with guns that should be unacceptable to anyone who loves our children. We need to get our acts together fast. Our children depend on us, and I don’t want to fail them. They deserve better from us. It’s our duty to do right by them. We should be valuing people over guns.

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