Victims of Gun Violence, Law Enforcement, Elected Officials and Concerned Citizens Gather in Davenport, Des Moines to Urge Sen. Grassley to Support Gun Violence Prevention Legislation
Davenport/Des Moines, IA - Across Iowa, residents who are victims of gun violence, members of law enforcement who witness this violence all too often, elected officials and concerned citizens will gather outside the Davenport Police Department and outside the Federal Building to press Sen. Chuck Grassley to support gun violence prevention legislation. Sen. Grassley is a key vote on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee which will be considering this legislation, including universal background checks, this week.
DAVENPORT, MARCH 5
Who: Davenport Mayor Bill Gluba, Police Chief Frank Donchez and other concerned citizens
What: Quad City effort to reduce gun violence. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will be considering legislation to require Universal Background Checks for all gun sales, and ban hundreds of military-style assault weapons and parts on Thursday, March 7th. Sen. Chuck Grassley is on the Judiciary committee and considered a key vote and Iowans are asking him to stand with the 88% of Iowans who feel stronger background checks are necessary by voting in favor of the pending legislation.
Where: Davenport Police Department, corner of 4th and Harrison, Davenport, IA
First Floor Community Room
When: Tuesday, March 5 at 6 PM
DES MOINES, MARCH 6
Who: Former Lieutenant Governor Sally Pederson
Carmen Lampe Zeitler, Children and Families Urban Ministries
Pat Peterson, concerned grandmother
Where: 721 Federal Building, 210 Walnut Street, Des Moines, IA
When: Wednesday, March 6 at 4pm
A person is killed by guns in Iowa almost every day.
- In Iowa, a person is killed by guns every forty hours. There were over 200 people were killed in gun-related violence in 2010.
- In the last ten years (2001-2010), 1,976 people were killed by guns in Iowa. That's almost 20 percent more the number of US combat deaths during the entire war in Afghanistan.
Iowa is not immune to daily acts of gun violence and serious gun crime.
- There were almost 600 reported aggravated assaults in the state in 2011 alone, or one roughly every 15 hours.
Women and Children are regularly victims on gun violence.
- In 2010, Iowa's rate of gun homicides among women was 22nd highest in the country.
- There have been 177 children under age nineteen killed by guns in the last ten years (2001-2010).
Iowa's gun safety ratings are weak.
- Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence gave Iowa 7 out of 100 possible points on their 2011 state scorecard.
- Iowa received a 'C-' from the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which called its gun violence prevention laws "modest."
- While Iowa requires that all handgun purchasers get a background check, "long" guns like rifles and shotguns do not require similar measures. The state also does not prohibit high-capacity magazines.
- Iowa's rate of submitting mental health records to the federal database?records that are used in background checks to deny dangerous people from getting guns?is more than five and a half times lower than the national average.
Polls show that Iowans strongly support key gun violence prevention measures.
- Iowans overwhelming support universal background checks: Almost nine in ten (88 percent) support a provision to require "background checks for all gun sales, including those at gun shows and by private sellers." Only 11 percent oppose.
- By a 23-point margin (60-37), Iowans favor a ban on "military-style weapons, commonly known as assault weapons."
- By a 23-point margin (59-36), Iowans far a ban on ammunition magazine with more than 10 rounds.
- In the poll, 54 percent of Iowans also said in the poll that the "easy availability of guns" was a "major factor" in contributing to gun violence.
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