Video: An emotional appeal from Iowa State Rep. Scholten speaking out against proposed guns on campus legislation currently being considered in the Iowa State House. Courtesy @iowastartingline April 13, 2023

Click here take action today – Guns on campus legislation has passed in the Iowa House of Representatives and is now in the Senate Judiciary Committee. We are asking folks to contact Sen. Brad Zaun, Senate Judiciary Chair and tell him that you oppose SF 543.

Key components of SF 543:

– Allows people who have valid concealed carry permits to keep guns on them on K-12 school property, but outside the school building itself, as long as the firearms are not visible in school parking lots or driveways when picking up or dropping off a child at school
– Allows schools to authorize “a person” to carry, transport, or possess a firearm or ammunition in a school vehicle
– Prohibits Iowa’s regents, universities or community colleges to implement a policy barring people from bringing dangerous weapons on campus if those weapons are stored in a locked vehicle and out of plain sight

Guns stolen from cars are a major problem across the country – flooding illegal gun markets.

– The majority of gun homicides and assaults involve illegal guns. Where do these guns come from, and how are they getting into dangerous hands?(1)
– Research from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund finds that in cities that report data to the FBI, (including 4 cities in Iowa) gun thefts from cars are now the largest source of stolen guns— one that continues rising in parallel with rising rates of gun sales and violence.(2)

Depression and suicide are leading concerns for college students – guns in dorms won’t help.

– Suicide is currently the second leading cause of death for college students,
approximately 1,100 students in institutions of higher education die by suicide yearly
(Hass, Silverman, & Koestner, 2005; Turner, Leno, & Keller, 2013).
– According to recent research, approximately 33% of college students reported that they “seriously considered attempting suicide” and 9.3% of students reported they “made a suicide attempt”
(Center for Collegiate Mental Health, 2016)
– In 2019, there were 233 firearm suicide deaths in Iowa, including 14 children and teens (ages 0-19).(https://preventfirearmsuicide.efsgv.org/states/iowa)
– Iowa’s firearm suicide rate in 2019 (6.96 per 100,000) is similar to the overall United States’ rate of 6.84 per 100,000 (as per link above)

Campus Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence – Guns on campus invites deadly outcomes
(Data Provided by Know Your IX )

– Countless studies affirm that the vast majority of campus rapes are perpetrated by the victim’s partner, friend, or close acquaintance
– The presence of a gun in a case of domestic violence makes it five times more likely that the victim will be murdered, regardless of who owns the gun
– One in five women will be sexually assaulted while in college and 32% of female students report having been abused by a dating partner
– Guns are the most common weapon used in the murders of intimate partners and students who carry weapons on campus are more likely to be perpetrators of physical and sexual violence at college than those who do not
– The widespread use of alcohol and other drugs on college campuses would compound the potential danger of gun carriers to potential victims and unwitting bystanders

Click here take action today!

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Sources
(1) Anthony Fabio et al., “Gaps Continue in Firearm Surveillance: Evidence from a Large U.S. City Bureau of Police,” Social Medicine 10, no. 1 (2016): 13–21, https://socialmedicine.info/index.php/socialmedicine/article/view/852; Daniel C. Semenza et al., “Firearm Availability, Homicide, and the Context of Structural Disadvantage,” Homicide Studies, (September 2021): 1–21, https://doi.org/10.1177/10887679211043806.
(2) https://everytownresearch.org/gun-thefts-from-cars-the-largest-source-of-stolen-guns/