What a gun violence survivor wanted to hear, but didn't, from Kim Reynolds

Tuesday night was the seventh time Gov. Kim Reynolds addressed Iowa from the House chamber to report on the condition of our state.

For the seventh year in a row, the governor presented no constructive plan to address the gun violence epidemic that is killing our children.

On the first day back to school after winter break, instead of learning or catching up with friends after the holidays, our kids here in Iowa were hiding from a shooter. Four students, their principal, and two staff members were shot and wounded. A sixth-grader was shot and killed — a sixth-grader. Communities all across Iowa are filled with pain and feeling the trauma the Perry community experienced.

Reynolds could have gone up to the podium and delivered words to meet this horrific moment with meaningful action. She needed to address the fragile condition of public safety in Iowa by presenting and pushing for a comprehensive gun violence prevention plan. A plan to keep guns out of the hands of kids. A plan to get guns out of schools — not force more in. A plan to make sure children are safe in their school. She could have done this Tuesday night, and she should have been doing this for the past seven years.

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My nephew Phillip died by firearm suicide. As an Army veteran and survivor of gun violence, I and the ever-growing community of gun violence survivors across the state don’t share the governor's ambivalence to our children being shot at school and in our communities. While the governor has spent seven years cozying up to the gun lobby, Iowans like me have been battling with the trauma of gun violence, something the governor has the power to prevent but has failed to do. An average of 323 are killed by guns every year in Iowa. And, while our kids have been dodging bullets, our governor and Republican lawmakers have been cowering behind words of thoughts and prayers and reverting to inaction as a result of their political alignments.

Reynolds and the Republican lawmakers in Iowa have spent the past seven years implementing a dangerous shoot-first law and rolling back Iowa’s foundational gun safety laws, eliminating the handgun permit-to-purchase and concealed carry permitting requirements in 2021. Now, these same lawmakers are planning on pushing a dangerous omnibus package, falsely branded as school safety, that will force even more guns on and around school campuses.

Governor, we don’t want your thoughts and prayers, and we definitely don’t want your dangerous laws promoting your "guns everywhere" agenda. This year, we need to make sure our kids don’t fear for their lives. Do what you were elected to do: Prioritize measures that will keep guns out of Iowa classrooms and make Iowans safer.

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The Condition of the State address was glaringly inadequate in addressing the gun violence epidemic ravaging our communities. Here’s what you missed: Lawmakers need to reintroduce foundational gun safety bills like a requirement to securely store firearms in homes where children are present. Lawmakers should also introduce legislation to require background checks for all private gun sales in the state of Iowa. And lawmakers should prioritize an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) law, to allow loved ones and law enforcement to petition a court to temporarily restrict access to firearms by those deemed to be at risk of harming themselves or others. ERPO laws are an essential tool to keep loved ones and communities safe.

The horrific news out of Perry is the real-life consequence of lawmakers choosing the gun lobby’s "guns everywhere" agenda over protecting our children’s lives. It’s the real-life consequence of Reynolds ignoring our pleas for common-sense action on gun violence prevention, year after year.

The reality is: We are in a crisis. Gun violence is an epidemic plaguing Iowans, and we need to prioritize gun violence prevention efforts now. We need to do this before more Iowans are killed. Before another school shooting happens here.

Governor Reynolds, in order to prevent future shootings and preserve the lives of Iowans, we need action now.

Temple Hiatt is a volunteer with gun safety advocacy group Moms Demand Action.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Kim Reynolds again shared no plan to curb gun violence