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Prison time for man who admits he shot at cars, apartments in Iowa City

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The man responsible for shooting at cars and apartments in Iowa City last summer will do time in a federal prison.

Twenty-one-year-old Alexander Alvarado pleaded guilty in February to unlawful use of a controlled substance while in possession of a firearm. He’s been sentenced to three years in prison.

Alvarado admitted to Iowa City Police that during an eight-day period last July, he shot at several vehicles and two residences from his second-story apartment. Authorities found three guns, one of which was stolen, during a search of his apartment. They also found dozens of pills, including OxyContin and Xanax, as well as 20 grams of marijuana.

Governor says there’s no one single answer to school safety issues

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Governor Kim Reynolds (file photo)

Students in some Iowa schools walked out of classes this morning to join a national protest on the 19th anniversary of a school shooting in Colorado. Thirteen students were killed and 24 were injured by the two gunmen at Columbine High School on April 20th, 1999 — before today’s high school seniors were born.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said there is “no one single answer” to school safety.

“We’ll continue to bring all of the agencies together, school boards, administrators — people we need to have at the table to talk about how we can make sure that when we drop off our children at school that they’re safe and they’re able to learn in a safe environment,” Reynolds told reporters Thursday.

Reynolds, a Republican, said the Republican-led legislature has already passed a bill that requires all Iowa school districts to have a safety plan and conduct yearly active shooter drills. As for new gun regulations, Reynolds is opposed. She said the priority should be enforcing the laws already on the books and updating the existing federal background check system.

Senate President Charles Schneider, a Republican from West Des Moines, said the Iowa legislature is setting aside $35 million in grant money to help schools pay for safety upgrades to buildings, like lock down systems or stronger classroom doors. But Schneider, like the governor, suggested new gun regulations are not on this year’s agenda.

“We always have to take into consideration the balance of school safety and the balance of constitutional rights as well,” Schneider told reporters this morning.

Senator Janet Petersen of Des Moines, the Democratic leader in the senate, attended a local school walk-out as well as a student-led rally at the statehouse late this morning.

“I think it’s an important time in our country as we see kids getting more civically engaged, so it’s exciting to see,” Petersen said this morning. “…All Iowans want to make sure that our kids are safe in our schools and so it’s time to listen to what our kids have to say.”

Students involved in today’s protests are calling for gun law changes.

King defends what he calls ‘rebuttal’ of Parkland shooting survivor’s speech

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Congressman Steve King. (file photo)

Republican Congressman Steve King’s supporters and opponents gathered in Sioux Center last night as the “Sioux County Conservatives” hosted King at a public event. Steve Mahr helped organize a protest outside the venue, before the meeting began.

“Steve King behaves like a bully and a bully is not great representation of who this community is,” Mahr said. “…Kindness is important and I would not allow my children to speak to others than way Steve King speaks about others.”

King later responded to the assertion he doesn’t represent the views of Iowans in the fourth congressional district.

“All they need to do is look at the polling and look at the election results,” King told reporters, “and they really shouldn’t be insulting the constituents here in this district.”

During last night’s forum, King was asked to explain a comment posted on his campaign’s Facebook page that criticized one of the students who survived the Florida school shooting. It accused Emma Gonzalez of betraying her Cuban heritage by speaking in favor of gun restrictions during her speech at last week’s march in Washington. That Facebook post motivated Mahr and others to protest King last night.

“Instead of responding to the criticisms and the propositions presented by children, by teenagers, by students — he attacked their identity,” Mahr said, “which is what bullies do.”

King told reporters his campaign is using Facebook to provide “a rebuttal” to what he says are the “irrational arguments” about guns being made by Gonzalez and other high school students.

“We know what Castro did. He confiscated the guns and he told them: ‘You don’t have need of guns because we’re all here, we’re all on the side of the revolution. so you’ll never need a gun again. It’s just going to be a peaceful island,” King said. “And so, instead, he imprisoned 11 million people on that island and I only pointed out the irony of that.”

King’s supporters and opponents attended last night’s meeting in the Sioux Center library.

(Reporting by Doug Broek, KSOU, Sioux Center)

Senate endorses gun rights amendment to Iowa constitution

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Brad Zaun

Thirty-four state senators have joined 54 members of the Iowa House in voting for a resolution that ultimately could add a gun rights amendment to the Iowa Constitution.

The same proposal must pass the legislature again in 2019 or 2020 before it could be presented to voters who decide whether amendments are added to the state constitution. Senator Brad Zaun, a Republican from Urbandale, said during today’s debate that this is a “very, very important” issue to him.

“I am trying to protect, at the highest level, our Second Amendment rights,” Zaun said.

Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, said backers of the proposal are “completely tone deaf” to public opinion.

“Across America people have been dealing with the impact of a school shooting,” McCoy said. “Tonight, it’s as if we’re preparing for the zombie apocolypse.”

McCoy was among 15 senators who voted no. Critics argued the proposal’s call for courts to use “strict scrutiny” when reviewing gun laws would lead to upending reasonable gun regulations.

“We’ve gone to the extreme of our the right to bear arms. We’re having multiple murders in our schools. People have thousands of rounds of ammunition,” said Senator Tony Bisignano (biz-ihg-NAN-noh), a Democrat from Des Moines, who called the proposed amendment “simply ridiculous.”

Senator Jason Schultz, a Republican from Schleswig, said the proposal probably doesn’t go as far as “James Madison, the father of the Bill of Rights,” would go were he alive today.

“I would imagine that when he wrote ‘shall not be infringed,’ he meant higher than ‘strict scrutiny,'” Schultz said. “That he meant zero tolerance. That he said: ‘Hands off. Get away from our weapons. The law-abiding shall not be hampered in their ability to possess…arms.'”

Schultz and other Republicans in the Senate rejected the idea of putting the language of the Second Amendment from the U.S. Constitution in Iowa’s Constitution. Instead, the more expansive language approved in the Iowa House this past Monday is what won Senate approval tonight.

House backs gun rights amendment to state constitution

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Skyler Wheeler

Republicans in the Iowa House have voted to take the first step toward giving Iowans the opportunity to add a gun rights amendment to the state’s constitution.

The same proposal would have to clear the legislature in 2019 or 2020 before Iowa voters could decide whether to add the gun rights language to the state’s constitution. If adopted, it requiring courts to strictly scrutinize any gun laws.

Representative Skyler Wheeler, a Republican from Orange City, dismissed what he called “lawyer talk” criticizing that part of the proposal.

“Whether you like it or not, we do have a fundamental individual right to keep and bear arms,” Wheeler said. “…And I like having a way to ensure that I keep that freedom against those who wish to strip that from me.”

Representative Liz Bennett, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, called the proposal “extreme.”

“Making it harder to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them instead of working for gun safety,” Nelson said. “When we’re talking about life and liberty, why aren’t we talking about the life and liberty of kids who have died in the classroom?”

Representative Mary Wolfe, a Democrat from Clinton, said the proposal would open up a “Pandora’s box” of litigation.

“And (it) would, in my opinion, result in the finding that a lot of our current gun safety laws are, in fact, unconstitutional,” Wolfe said.

Representative Matt Windschitl, a Republican from Missouri Valley, said the proposal will put a halt to “government over-reach” when it comes to gun regulations.

“If you just want to think I’m some crazy, gun-loving kook, fine. Have at that, but think about this: Voting ‘no’ on this here tonight is denying Iowans an opportunity to have their voice heard in what they want to have in their state constitution,” Windschitl said.

After three hours of debate, the House passed the proposal on a 54-42 vote. All 54 “yes” votes came from Republicans. Two Republicans — Representatives Dave Heaton of Mount Vernon and Andy McKean of Anamosa — joined all the Democrats in the House in voting no.

Burlington students stage walk-out, rally for student safety

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Students rally in Burlington.

High School students around the country — and in Iowa — have been walking out of class and holding rallies in the wake of the Valentine’s Day shootings at a Florida school. About 150 Burlington High School students walked out of class Friday morning and marched to the district’s adminitrative building about a mile away.

Several students spoke once they got to the building, voicing fears and concerns. The rally remained peaceful and students returned to class once it was over. The event’s organizer, Burlington High School senior Margaret Tillotson, hopes the students combined voices can make a difference.

“I think that it turned out wonderful,” Tillotson said. “I didn’t know if one person was going to show up or 100 people were going to show up and how many people were going to take this seriously, but I’m glad it turned out the way that it did…because I think that it is going to make an impact on the community.”

Eleven students spoke on topics ranging bullying, mental health concerns and a desire to have active shooter training for students at the school. Differing viewpoints were also applauded. Some students spoke of their fears of gun violence. Burlington student Cody Lee spoke against new restrictions on gun ownership.

“We don’t want our second amendment rights being infringed whatsoever,” Lee told KBUR. “We all have one goal down here and that’s to reach proper school safety and we have different ways of getting there.”

Burlington superintendent Pat Coen said the district encourages the students to exercise their rights.

“A good process,” Coen said. “I’m proud of our students. They exercised their constitutional rights and I think we learned a lot.”

The student rally in Burlington lasted about two hours. About 300 students from a Des Moines high school staged a 20-minute protest Thursday in what district officials described as “non-academic time.”

(Reporting by David Hightower, KBUR, Burlington)

Iowa governor directs state officials to conduct school safety review

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Gov. Reynolds

Governor Kim Reynolds today said she is “pulling all state agencies together” to review school safety measures.

“We’re going to go through and look at what we’re doing, how we’re coordinating, how we’re communicating, what’s working well, what some of the shortfalls are,” Reynolds told reporters. “We’ll talk about who else we need to bring to the table.”

But Reynolds, a Republican, said the correct response to the Valentine’s Day shooting at a Florida school is “holistic” rather than solely directed toward gun-related measures.

“What happens if you get so focused on one thing, it shuts that conversation down and that should not be happening right now,” Reynolds said after an event in her capitol office. “We need to keep that conversation open and we need to look at things we can do right away and then we maybe need to take a look at things we need to do going forward.”

The governor listed things like having more “active shooter” drills in schools as well as establishing a single public entry to school buildings. She’s also open to discussing the idea of a state law that would let law enforcement seize a person’s guns for three days, if there’s credible evidence they intend to do harm others or themselves.

“We just have to make sure we have due process in place also,” Reynolds said. “I mean, that’s really important, too, because as we’ve said even with the ‘watch list’ there are names that are on there that shouldn’t have been and it’s not very easy to get them off, so we just have to make sure. I don’t think that that’s unreasonable.”

Yesterday, a Democrat in the Iowa House proposed creating “extreme risk protective orders” to give Iowa law enforcement the authority to temporarily confiscate firearms from an Iowan who is suicidal or acting erratically, but he withdrew the idea before a vote could be taken. State Representative Art Staid of Cedar Rapids said he would bring the matter up “again and again” this legislative session.

Reynolds says congress should ‘take responsibility,’ fix gun background check system

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Governor Kim Reynolds.

Governor Kim Reynolds used her weekly news conference today to highlight the “if you see something, say something” message — an event that abruptly with the drama of a statehouse evacuation that, luckily, turned out to be a false alarm.

“In light of last week’s shooting, we’re asking parents and students, school faculty and staff and members of the community to be especially vigilant for signs of potential violence,” Reynolds said to open the news conference.

Reynolds and other law enforcement officials emphasized calling lccal law enforcement to report suspicions that someone may be planning a “mass violence.” In a question-and-answer session with reporters, Reynolds did not embrace additional “gun control” measures at the state level — but did call on congress to enhance the federally-managed background check system for gun purchases.

“The federal government has a role to play in this. They need to look at what they can do, strengthening background checks. A big piece of this discussion lies with them and so they need to take the responsibility to do some things, “Reynolds said. “As a state, we’ll continue to take a look and review.”

Reynolds called herself a “proud Second Amendment supporter” but she would not say whether she supports proposals to arm educators or let anyone with a concealed weapons permit to carry a gun on school grounds. Both proposals are in bills awaiting action in the legislature.

“I’ve said to you about 101 times, it just don’t do me any good to speculate on bills,” Reynolds told reporters. “…There’s all kinds of criteria that could be involved in that, different nuances, so I’ll wait and see what it looks like in its final forma nd encourage all stakeholders to come together.”

The majority of Iowa schools have plans to deal with an “active shooter” situation, according to the governor.

“My daughter’s a teacher and so I talked to her this weekend and they actually have participated in ‘active shooter’ training,” Reynolds said. “…I asked her if she felt that it helped and she said she felt that it helped the students and the educators at least better understand what to do in the case of something, gosh forbid, in the case of something like that happening.”

Reynolds also indicated “significant mental health reform” at the state level is a good step to “help identify early warning signs.”

Twenty-four minutes after the governor took her place behind the lectern, alarms sounded within the statehouse, prompting an evacuation.

“This would be one of those things — if we don’t follow through,” Reynolds said as she walked out of the room with other officials.

Sensors were triggered in the capitol cafeteria and the all-clear was given a few minutes later.

AUDIO of Reynolds’ news conference

(This post was updated at 3:27 p.m. with additional information)

Gun bill pulled from senate committee’s agenda

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Brad Zaun

A bill that would have done away with the requirement that Iowans get a permit to carry a concealed weapon has been shelved in the Iowa Senate.

It happened about 24 hours after the mass shooting at a Florida high school. Senator Brad Zaun told reporters he pulled the bill from committee consideration this afternoon after a colleague told him Governor Kim Reynolds was opposed to it.

“It makes me sick what happened down in Florida, but with that said, I did have the votes to move this thing forward and decided after the communication from the governor…to pull it off the agenda,” Zaun said. The bill would not have removed requirements that those who buy a gun go through a background check, but it would have done away from the state law that requires those who wish to carry a concealed weapon to obtain a permit from their county sheriff’s office.

“I thought it was a very logical, first step based on our constitution. There was definitely safeguards in place that people that should not have guns would not be able to get guns,” Zaun told reporters. “I’m very disappointed.”

Legislators set this week as a deadline for policy bills to advance out of a committee. Bills, like this one, that failed to do so are no longer eligible for debate this year. However, proposals are sometimes added to other legislation brought up for debate.

A spokeswoman for Governor Kim Reynolds issued a written statement late this afternoon. “Gov. Reynolds is a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment,” Brenna Smith said, “and she supports maintaining current permitting requirements.”

(This post was updated at 5:57 p.m. with additional information.)

Senate subcommittees sign off on gun-related measures

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Two separate proposals to expand gun owners’ rights in Iowa advanced through initial review in the Iowa Senate on Thursday.

One calls for adding an amendment to the state’s constitution that calls on courts to “strictly scrutinize” any future gun regulations. The other calls for doing away with the requirement that Iowans get a government permit to carry a concealed weapon. Supporters call it “constitutional carry.”

“Certainly all human beings have the desire, the need and the right to defend themselves, their families and their communities. Their ability to do so effectively is often dependent on having tools — arms — available for that purpose,” said Richard Rogers of the Iowa Firearms Coalition. “In the past, those tools may have been a stick, a blade or a bow. In the modern era the most effective tool for this purpose is typically a defensive firearm.”

Supporters of the move say if the government has the power to issue gun permits, it might some day use that power to take those guns away.

Reverend Wendy Abrahamson, the rector at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Grinnell, said Second Amendment rights are assured by the constitution.

“As a law-abiding citizen of the United States, I don’t fear my government,” she said,”…and I trust that my right to own a weapon is not under attack.”

Abrahamson described the gun permit process as a “minimal” step.

“The right to own a gun is not something that comes simply from being alive or simply from being an Iowan,” she said. “Like other rights, it has responsibilities.”

Last year, the Republican-led legislature passed a sweeping gun rights package. This year’s gun-related proposals have the backing of key lawmakers who worked on last year’s bill.