John,

It was just two weeks ago when a gunman driven by racism gunned down 10 people at a shopping market in Buffalo. And this week, we had another mass shooting, when an eighteen year old went into an elementary school and murdered 19 children and 2 teachers.

There have already been 27 school shootings this year alone. 

Iowa’s elected officials should respond to these tragedies with calls for common sense gun safety measures. But instead, Iowa Republicans just passed a bill allowing Iowans to purchase AR-15s for deer hunting. Deer hunting???!

Who needs a military-style assault weapon to go deer hunting? This is a terrible policy and it’s downright dangerous. 

Iowa Republicans already eliminated background checks on gun purchases last year and now they want to make AR-15s more widely available? It’s deeply irresponsible.

Iowa Republicans are taking us backwards when we should have common sense gun safety measures in place such as universal background checks and red flag laws.

This week has been hard to process for me and I’m sure for many others. I can only imagine what the parents of those kids are going through right now. 

The number one cause of death in children in America is gun violence. We need to protect our kids. And we need to stop electing Republicans who would rather cater to the NRA than keep our communities safe. 

Standing Tall for All,

J.D. Scholten 

If you'd like to send a check to Scholten for Iowa, please mail it to: Scholten for Iowa, P.O. Box 5351, Sioux City, IA 51102.