Anti-gun leader says proposed gun restrictions aren’t tough enough

The leader of an anti-gun group says Governor Vilsack’s call for all guns sold in Iowa to have trigger locks doesn’t go far enough. John Johnson, president of Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence, says Vilsack needs to “quit pussyfooting around” and take a much stronger stance on firearms.Johnson supports the proposed trigger lock law, but says the effort should not stop there. He says research by his Cedar Rapids-based group finds 218 Iowans are killed by gunshot wounds every year.Of the gun deaths, 180 are suicides, 31 are homicides and seven are unintentional shootings. A trigger lock law might prevent those seven deaths, but not the 211 others. Johnson says Iowa needs to take more dramatic steps to prevent gun violence. He advocates treating guns like any other dangerous consumer product such as cars, pesticides and drugs.Johnson says he’d like to see the day when handguns are phased out, starting with a ban on new gun sales. He says research shows handguns make up only about one-third of the number of firearms in the general population but account for 80-percent of all gun deaths & 90-percent of all gun crimes.