‘We can absolutely protect both’ gun rights and safety, Democrat Christina Bohannan says on Iowa gun range

BLUE GRASS — Democratic Congressional candidate Christina Bohannan tried her hand at shooting at a private gun range near Blue Grass, Iowa on Saturday with the Democratic candidate for Scott County sheriff Thomas Gibbs, a former firearms instructor.

Bohannan is running against Republican incumbent Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in southeast Iowa's 1st Congressional District, for the second time.

While at the property owned by Iowa House Democratic candidate Phil Wiese, Bohannan fired a 9 millimeter handgun, an AR-15-style rifle, and a 12-gauge shotgun at a target set up on the lawn.

Bohannan said she wanted to come out to the range because she thinks it’s important for legislators to understand more about the firearms they regulate and to show her support for gun rights for law-abiding citizens as well as for gun safety.

"I grew up with guns, I'm a gun owner myself, I support the Second Amendment, and I think it's important that we support those rights for law-abiding responsible gun owners and understand really firsthand what we're doing when we think about gun regulation," Bohannan said.

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Bohannan said it's important to recognize rights for gun owners while also pushing for expanding background checks and keeping people safe from gun violence.

Since 1994, federal law has required background checks when a gun is bought from a licensed dealer, but not unlicensed dealers such as at non-licensed sellers at gun shows or online. Legislation passed in 2022 expanded the number of non-dealers who were required to be licensed and conduct background checks.

"I think we can absolutely protect both at the same time," Bohannan said. "And I want us to get away from this more extreme argument on kind of the left and the right about it. … A lot of Democrats in Iowa are gun owners and believe that we should protect gun rights while also making sure that our kids and our communities are safe."

Bohannan said she thought legislation Congress passed in June 2022 "did some good."

That legislation closed the so-called "boyfriend loophole" in the law preventing domestic abusers from owning firearms; created funding for states to implement red-flag laws which allow a temporary removal of firearms from people deemed to be a danger to themselves or others; and added funding for school and mental health programs, among other provisions.

Iowa's House delegation split along party lines on that bill, with Iowa's then-lone Democratic representative Cindy Axne voting for it and Republicans Miller-Meeks, Randy Feenstra, and Ashley Hinson voting against. Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst voted for the bill and Sen. Chuck Grassley voted against it.

Bohannan said she supports expanding background checks, but stopped short of pledging support for bans on certain types of weapons, such as semiautomatic assault-style rifles or bump stocks.

"That's a harder issue because that's not just about who has them, it's about types of guns. … I do think that we need to try to keep those out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them," Bohannan said. "So I would like to see some tighter regulations on those. Whether we should have an outright ban, I think is a conversation we can have but I think the main thing is to make sure that people aren't just going in a moment of anger or in a situation where they might have suicidal tendencies or violent tendencies just getting those weapons immediately and being able to fire them.

"And I think we also need to really look at gun safety training because a lot of people … don't know how to handle a firearm safely. And I've been doing this for a long time. I've been shooting since I was a kid, but I still learned something today from Tom about gun safety," she added.

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Bohannan said she'd like to see more research on mental health, suicide, and deaths by gun violence at the federal level.

Asked how she differs from Miller-Meeks on her position on guns, Bohannan said Miller-Meeks "does not want to do anything at all to prevent gun violence against our kids, against people going out in the community in our schools. I think we have to take this seriously. Even responsible gun owners largely support background checks and she voted against those efforts."

At an Iowa City town hall a year ago, Miller-Meeks said she may consider supporting strengthening background checks.

She said she opposed banning semi-automatic rifles, including AR- or AK-style rifles. She said she does not condone what has happened in shootings around the country and strongly supports and advises people to lock their weapons and ammunitions and to take classes on gun safety.

Miller-Meeks introduced legislation to allow states to use unspent federal COVID-19 relief funds to be made available for school security.

At the town hall, Miller-Meeks called a federal assault weapons ban from 1994 to 2005 ineffective. Answering questions from reporters, she said Congress had failed to get enough votes for measures to reduce access to semi-automatic weapons used in mass killings nationally, according to reporting from the Cedar Rapids Gazette. Instead, she said the country must fully enforce laws on the books and toughen sentencing for people who commit a crime using a firearm.

"Background checks are already required for gun purchases and need to be properly enforced," Miller-Meeks said in an emailed statement. "However, the hypocrisy and lies of my Democrat opponent are endless. She voted against 2nd amendment protections (HF756) to the Iowa constitution and consistently supported and aligned with groups that aim to dismantle the Second Amendment, a clear violation of our constitutional rights."