Branstad not recommending any gun law changes for Iowa

DES MOINES - Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday he does not plan to offer any weapon-related proposals during the 2016 session, such as changing gun-free zones at schools to allow teachers - or other school personnel who have been issued a permit to carry a gun - to be authorized to bring the firearm into a school building as a safety precaution.

'I'm satisfied with the laws that we have in Iowa,” Branstad told his weekly news conference in response to a reporter's question if he would consider a proposal advocated by some to allow teachers, administrators or others trained to carry a weapon to bring a gun to school.

The six-term Republican called himself a strong Second Amendment supporter, but added 'I'm not advocating any changes and I just don't want to divide people on a partisan basis on an issue that people have real strong convictions on.”

Current Iowa law designates schools as gun-free zones, Branstad said, telling reporters 'I'm not recommending any change. People have strong views on both sides of that. I'm not recommending any change in Iowa law.”

The issue is not new for the Iowa Legislature. In March 2013, minority Republicans in the Iowa Senate, led by then state Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Red Oak, offered an amendment to an education budget bill seeking to allow teachers, administrators or other school personnel who have been issued a permit to carry a gun to be authorized to bring the firearm into a school building as a safety precaution. The idea was not adopted.

The presence of weapons or having armed police officers on school grounds was a front-burner topic during the 2013 session in the wake of a December 2012 fatal shooting spree in which Adam Lanza shot his mother at home, then killed 26 people (20 children and six staff) and himself at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

'That's a very controversial issue and I'm not going to wade into it because it just divides the country,” Branstad said Monday. 'Instead, we need to focus on constructive things that we can do to fight the real threat.”

The Iowa governor said he was disappointed that President Obama raised gun-control issues during a televised address to the nation Sunday evening to discuss terrorist threats at home and abroad in the wake of attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif.

'I think the president made a big mistake to get into gun control,” Branstad said. 'I think people are concerned about the safety of our country and the threat that we have from ISIS and this Islamic terrorism.”

Speaking on the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Branstad noted that President Franklin D. Roosevelt used that incident to unite the nation against a common threat, and similarly President George W. Bush called for a united effort after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on America.

'I think the president missed an opportunity last night to really bring the country together,” Branstad said by injecting 'the same old kind of rhetoric that has divided the country” about gun-control measures that divide many Americans.

'That's not what we need at this time. We need new leadership and we need to focus on the real threat that we have in the world today,” the GOP governor said. He said the United States has not provided the strong, effective leadership needed to defeat ISIS and international or domestic terrorism, 'and I didn't see that last night either.”