Governor Kim Reynolds.
Republican Governor Kim Reynolds is not changing her stance on new gun laws in the wake of recent mass shootings.
“I’ve been pretty consistent in what I’ve said all along. There isn’t one single recommendation that’s going to solve these issues — that we need to look at it as a holistic perspective,” according to Reynolds. Reynolds was asked specifically about so-called Red Flag laws during an availability with reporters — and she says we have to get past looking at the gun and looking at one thing and letting people think that is the answer when it is not. She says an overall approach is needed.
“That means taking a look at some of the other states that have put extensive guns laws into place — and looking at the data and seeing what the outcome of that has been. It means making sure that we’re following the laws that are on the books. It means making sure that the communication and coordination is where it should be,”Reynolds says. “We know we have very little time when something like this happens and so we need to make sure that we are communicating with local law enforcement, state law enforcement, first responders, all of that.”
Reynolds says there are things already going on to address the issue. “Every one of our Iowa State Patrol have now participated in active shooter training. They are training the trainers, so then we are making them available. We’ve got to take a look at how we can scale this to local law enforcement and maybe this is something we can even provide to school districts, as well as maybe some of our churches,” Reynolds says, “so, we’re working on a whole bunch of things.”
Reynolds spoke with reporters following the announcement of the new leader of the Iowa National Guard.