Iowa Legislative Session Begins As Activists Rally For Gun Laws In Wake Of Perry Shooting | News

School safety was on the minds of Iowa legislative leaders and activists Monday as they convened the 2024 legislative session four days after a school shooting in Perry.

As the House and Senate came to order at 10 a.m. Monday, GOP leaders called for a moment of silence in honor of the victims and families of the Jan. 4 shooting at Perry High School. The 17-year-old gunman, a student, killed an 11-year-old boy Thursday and injured seven other students and staff. He was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver thanked Perry law enforcement officers, health care providers and school staff for defending students in the shooting. He commended the Perry High School principal Dan Marburger, who was critically injured after being shot multiple times while trying to protect students, for his “remarkable demonstration of courage and self-sacrifice.”

“While we cannot legislate away evil and get rid of all the bad things in the world, we will keep our thoughts and prayers with Perry as we move forward to put in place policies to help make our state better and stronger,” Whitver said.

Republican Party of Iowa leaders and elected officials also started their annual legislative breakfast with a moment of silence for the Perry school shooting victims and community.

Gov. Kim Reynolds began her remarks at the breakfast with a brief mention of the mass shooting and a general pledge of support to the community.

“You know, as you heard earlier, our hearts remain heavy with the unthinkable and senseless tragedy that unfolded last week at Perry High School. We continue every day to keep the families of the victims and the Perry community in our prayers and especially as all Iowans stand with them during this time of grieving and recovery,” she said. “… We’ll continue to work with the community to make sure that they have the whole government behind them as we work through this this heartbreaking time in our state’s history.”

Democrats also offered condolences to the Perry community and victims in their opening speeches. Senate Minority Leader Pam Jochum said Iowa lawmakers must take action to address gun violence.

“No child should go to school fearing for their lives, but today, millions do,” Jochum said. “Gun safety should not be a partisan issue. Protecting kids should not be a partisan issue. It’s time for us to come together with real solutions, including increased support for our public schools and a meaningful investment in youth mental health services.”

Hundreds demonstrate for gun laws

Hours later, a crowd of more than 300 demonstrated at the Capitol calling for gun laws aimed at preventing mass shootings. The gun violence advocacy group March For Our Lives hosted a statewide student walkout Monday alongside the Capitol protest.

Chloe Gayer, an activist with Everytown for Gun Safety, said Iowa is “going in the wrong direction” on gun safety laws. Gayer said she has been involved in gun violence prevention advocacy since 2019, when she was a freshman in high school. In the five years since she got involved in gun violence advocacy, Iowa lawmakers have loosened gun laws and put Iowans at greater risk for violence, she said.

She pointed to measures like a 2021 state law removing the permit requirements for purchasing handguns or carrying concealed weapons. Instead of just offering their sympathy to the victims, Gayer said, legislators need to take steps like reinstating previous gun regulations.

“It’s just the same thing that last year,” Gayer said, referring to lawmakers’ responses to the 2023 shooting at Starts Right Here, a Des Moines educational mentorship program, and a 2022 shooting at East High School in Des Moines. “It’s the, you know, ‘it’s our hearts and minds we care for this community.’ Well, to be frank, your thoughts and prayers don’t matter if your policies and your actions aren’t going to keep us safe.”

Students, including some high schoolers from Perry, and supporters held signs calling for an end to gun violence and chanted “no more silence, end gun violence” and “enough is enough.” Akshara Eswar, a senior at Johnston High School and co-chair of March for Our Lives Iowa, criticized Reynolds and Iowa Republicans for not taking action.

“This gun violence epidemic can be stopped,” It is preventable. Tomorrow, Governor Reynolds will give her Condition of the State speech, in this Capitol, where she will not do anything to help us and our fellow students around this state. At what point do we say enough is enough?”

House Speaker Pat Grassley said the Perry shooting is top of mind for House Republicans as the session begins. He said that means investing in school security and children’s mental heath services. He also said measures like the education law on “age appropriate” books and school materials are necessary for “keeping students safe.”

“I can’t wrap my head around how this issue of sexually explicit material in schools got so convoluted,” Grassley said. “I am still shocked that we actually have people willing to fight this hard to keep pornographic material in our schools.  What is the educational value of oral sex scenes in a school library book? Have we lost our minds?”

Senate File 496 passed during the 2023 legislative session, takes books containing depictions of sexual acts off school library shelves and prohibits material and instruction related to gender identity and sexual orientation for K-6 students. Grassley said Monday it should have been “an easy policy for schools to implement.”

“But instead, some chose to politicize this issue,” Grassley said. “And if we need to pass additional legislation this year to protect our kids from this over-sexualization, we will.”

The law is being challenged in lawsuits by the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa and Lambda Legal and by book publisher Penguin Random House and the Iowa State Education Association. Enforcement of the law was blocked by federal court in late December by a temporary injunction as court.

Republicans control a majority in the Iowa House and a supermajority in the Senate, as well as holding all statewide elected offices save for the Auditor of State. Grassley and Whitver highlighted goals like speeding up the individual income tax cuts signed into law in 2022, addressing staffing shortages at Iowa nursing homes and reviewing Iowa’s higher education system and K-12 educational standards.

Reynolds will deliver her agenda to lawmakers at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the annual Condition of the State message in the Iowa House chamber. Speaking at the Republican Party of Iowa’s legislative breakfast, Reynolds joked Monday that the winter storm forecast for the state might affect turnout for her speech.

“You know, tomorrow night in my Condition of my State — might not be anybody there. I don’t know,” Reynolds said. “It sounds like we’re finally gonna get winter in the state of Iowa.”

She said she plans to “share some ideas that I think will continue our momentum and success, continue to challenge the status quo and continue to empower Iowans and really continue to maintain, I think, the bold and decisive leadership that Iowans have truly come to expect from our good health and good leaders because we’ve shown them for the last several years we’re not just about talk. We’re about doing things and making a difference.”

The Condition of the State address will be televised live on Iowa PBS.

Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: [email protected]. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.