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a28 obituario/u.s. news
Diaranson 30 Juni 2021
Gun deaths rising in Iowa as new law removes handgun permits
(AP) — Gun deaths are surging in Iowa as a
law is set to go into effect Thursday that will
allow people to more easily buy handguns and
carry them in public without training or a
“Señor ta mi wardador, mi’n tin falta
di nada
Den cunucu di yerba berde e ta
ponemi sosega.
E ta hibami na awa trankil,
Pa mi bolbe haña forsa”.
Salmo: 23
Nos ta anuncia fayecimento di:
Anoralit Angelina Roos
Mihor conoci como: “Nora”
*15-01-1948 - †25-06-2021
Acto di entiero lo wordo anuncia
despues.
violent crime and increases in gun thefts from ve-
hicles, he said.
“The direction Iowa is heading here based upon
our research to me is very concerning,” Webster
said. “It sounds like a train wreck.”
Under the law approved by the Republican-con-
trolled Legislature, people purchasing pistols or
revolvers no longer need to obtain permits to ac-
quire or carry handguns, a process that could take
days for the background check to complete.
They must still pass an instant federal background
check to buy handguns at retailers, but face no
such requirement if buying through private sell-
ers. They will not need any permit to carry guns
on themselves or in their cars in most places, in-
cluding the Iowa Capitol, and they no longer need
to take an online training course on gun safety and
self-defense.
Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the bill in April fol-
lowing pressure from conservative activists. She
previously said the permitting system was “rea-
sonable and responsible” and should remain.
Supporters say the Iowa law will prevent law-
abiding citizens from having to apply to the gov-
ernment and pay a $50 carry permit fee to exercise
their gun rights, while allowing them to quickly
permit. obtain handguns for self-defense.
A record 353 Iowa residents died from gunshot “The relationship between your state government
wounds in 2020, including 263 suicides and 85 and the citizen is going to be flipped 180 degrees,”
homicides, an Iowa Department of Public Health said state GOP Sen. Jason Schultz, who noted that
spokeswoman said Tuesday. The shooting deaths the push to loosen Iowa’s firearm rules has taken
represent a 23% increase from Iowa’s previous decades. “You can bear that firearm without per-
high of 287 in 2019, including an 80% jump in mission from the state in the form of a concealed
homicides, according to state data. weapon permit or in violation of any open-carry
laws.”
It’s the most dramatic one-year hike in an up-
ward trend that has accelerated since 2016. From He said this would not harm public safety, calling
1999 to 2001, Iowa averaged only 194 annual gun it a “blessing on the citizenry and a problem for
deaths, including just 25 homicides, according to criminals because there’s more good guys armed
federal data. out there.” But the new law is highly unpopular:
two-thirds of those surveyed this month for the
Iowa is among several Republican-led states that Des Moines Register’s Iowa Poll said they disap-
have passed laws this year allowing for the per- prove.
mitless carry of guns, including one that will take
effect Thursday in Tennessee and another in Texas Schultz spoke during a recent panel on the law
on Sept. 1. Iowa’s new law also eliminates a re- sponsored by the Iowa Firearms Coalition, whose
quirement that people pass background checks to lobbyist Richard Rogers called it “the most signifi-
obtain permits to purchase handguns, breaking cant single change in our state’s weapons laws in
with more than 20 other states that have similar living memory.” He said it was more important
policies. than the 2011 law that limited the ability of county
sheriffs to reject applications and caused the num-
A leading gun violence researcher said Iowa’s surge ber of permits issued to skyrocket.
in gun homicides in 2020 was part of a national in-
crease that experts are trying to understand. Daniel The law will have a dramatic impact on the court
Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for system. More than 600 people per year have been
Gun Violence Prevention and Policy said he ex- convicted of carrying firearms without a permit,
pects Iowa’s sweeping handgun deregulation that an aggravated misdemeanor that will be wiped off
begins Thursday to make things worse, pointing the books, according to an analysis by the Legisla-
to studies that have associated such changes else- tive Services Agency.
where with a 25% or higher increase in homicides.
Gun owners are expected to collectively save hun-
Eliminating Iowa’s permit to acquire a handgun dreds of thousands of dollars in permit fees an-
will facilitate impulsive purchases that can be as- nually, although some may still obtain permits so
sociated with suicide and homicide and remove a they can travel to other states with their firearms
deterrent against illegal gun trafficking, Webster or purchase guns without a federal check.
said.
The group Iowa Gun Owners, which pressured
The number of legally bought guns used in crimes Reynolds to sign the bill, called it “a monumental
in Missouri spiked “pretty much overnight” after advancement in Second Amendment freedom for
the state eliminated its permit to acquire in 2007, law abiding Iowans who are sick of being tracked,
he said. Research also indicates that allowing peo- traced, and registered like criminals, just to carry
ple to carry loaded guns in public leads to more a gun.”