(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
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Iowa Democrats urge state participation in federal gun violence safety initiatives [1]
['Robin Opsahl', 'More From Author', '- December']
Date: 2023-12-14
Iowa Democratic legislators plan to advocate for the state to take advantage of federal grants and programs providing support for states’ gun violence prevention efforts.
Iowa Rep. Lindsay James, D-Dubuque, was one of nearly 100 Democratic state lawmakers to participate in the Biden administration’s Safer States Initiative meeting Wednesday. The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention hosted the meeting, showing state lawmakers what tools and federal support was available to support state and local gun safety efforts.
The office was established through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in 2022 following mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York. Since the law was enacted, the United States has continued to face mass shootings, including a shooting in Lewiston, Maine, that killed 18 people and left 13 injured, as well as a Nashville, Tennessee, school shooting where three children and three teachers were killed.
According to the New England Journal of Medicine, firearms are now the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in the United States. James said Iowans are also seeing the impacts of this crisis. When legislators spoke with mental health and brain health care providers in Dubuque, the medical experts told lawmakers there was a 30% decrease in mental health services being accessed by young men and a continued increase in suicide among adult men, she said.
“I think that everyone feels deeply concerned about the safety of communities and the public is for common sense safety regulations,” James said. “People want to feel safe in their communities. And so there’s always really important things that we can do … to really move the needle on this particular issue. Something that I can tell you, as a mom with young kids, and it’s really important to me and some points in my community.”
The Safer States Initiative would help state lawmakers and gun violence prevention programs adopt measures such as establishing a state Office of Gun Violence Prevention, promoting responsible firearm ownership and storage, and investing in evidence-based gun violence prevention programs. Stefanie Feldman, director of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, told reporters these initiatives will help states prevent both mass shootings and “daily acts of gun violence,” including domestic violence and suicide by gun.
Passing legislation to encourage responsible firearm ownership will help decrease instances of gun violence, Feldman said.
“We know that safe storage saves lives,” Feldman said. “The majority of K-12 shooters are obtaining firearms from the home or the home of a friend.”
James said she plans to look at U.S. Department of Justice’s model legislation discussed in the meeting, which include measures to remove the sales tax from firearm storage purchases, in addition to pursuing legislation to establish extreme risk protection orders — also known as a “red flag” law — that would allow family members, law enforcement or others to petition courts to temporarily remove weapons from a person if they are deemed a threat to themselves or or those around them.
The Republican-controlled Iowa Legislature has not advanced Democrats’ bills on extreme risk protection orders, despite the federal government offering funding for implementation of the program. The Legislature has adopted pro-gun measures like the 2022 state constitutional amendment restricting infringement on gun ownership, and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds allocated $100 million in federal funds to create the Iowa School Safety Bureau, a state office coordinating mental health and violence prevention efforts with schools, law enforcement and families.
Though Iowa Republicans have not supported efforts by state Democrats to pass new firearm regulations, James said Iowa should pursue the legislative proposals and grants through efforts like the School Violence Program “to keep our kids safe.”
“The fact that the Biden administration can work across the aisle to actually produce something and pass something is very significant, and then the establishment of the White House Office of gun violence prevention is significant,” James said. “And that … is going to help us, I think, on a state level, move the needle when it comes to keeping our kids safe.”
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[1] Url:
https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/12/14/iowa-democrats-encourage-iowa-to-pursue-biden-administrations-gun-violence-prevention-state-initiatives/
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