Gun Reform Winning Issue For 7 In Midterms; Ballot Measures Show Split

ACROSS AMERICA — Guns were on the ballot in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

The hot-button issue drove ballot measures in a couple of states, and seven gun-reform candidates were elected in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland and Minnesota, according to a report on the unofficial election results by Chip Brownlee of The Trace, the only U.S. newsroom exclusively covering gun violence.

Gun violence is a complicated issue, with people across the political spectrum holding vastly different views on expanding or limiting access to guns.

An increase in mass shootings and overall firearm violence — the leading cause of death in children in 2020 — wasn’t the bellwether issue Democrats had hoped it would be. Only 1 in 10 voters told AP VoteCast, a survey of voters every two years by The Associated Press, that gun violence was a top issue.

For the recently elected Gen Z candidates who grew up learning how to protect themselves in an active-shooter situation, gun violence was a central issue.

Young Voters Say ‘Enough’

Nabeela Syed, 23, who was elected the youngest member of the Illinois House of Representatives, grew up in Palatine, about 30 miles from Highland Park, Illinois, where a gunman opened fire at a 4th of July parade, killing seven.

“Young people in our district, in our community, in our state should not feel unsafe — to the point that we are conditioning and normalizing these drills that are simply traumatizing,” Syed told The Trace. “I had to do active shooter drills. Future generations should not have to.”

Others, according to unofficial election results, were Maxwell Frost, 25, in Florida’s 10th congressional district; Zaynab Mohamed, 25, elected to the Minnesota state Senate; Leigh Fink, 41, elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives; Ruwa Romman, 29, elected to the Georgia General Assembly; Nabilah Islam, 32, elected to the Georgia Senate; and Joe Vogel, 25, elected to the Maryland House of Delegates.

Florida’s 10th district includes much of Orlando, the site of the deadly 2015 Pulse nightclub shooting. Frost, the first organizing director of March for Our Lives, a student-led gun reform advocacy group formed after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2017, told The Trace he will push Congress to pass a federal assault weapons ban.

Vogel, the youngest person ever elected to Maryland’s House, told The Trace that gun violence is among issues that are frustrating to his generation.

“They literally call our generation the school shooting generation because of mass shooting after mass shooting after mass shooting,” he said. “I think young people are looking at these issues and saying, ‘enough.’ ”

Iowa Goes Beyond 2nd Amendment

Ballot measures in Iowa and Oregon show how deeply Americans are split on feel about the Second Amendment, individual liberties and gun violence, which saw a sharp increase in deaths from 2019 to 2020, from 38,850 to 44,286.

During the same period, violent deaths that did not involve gunfire decreased slightly, according to Centers for Disease Control in Prevention.

In Iowa, a pro-gun rights amendment that goes beyond protections in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution will be added to the state’s constitution. The measure affirming that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” was approved by voters by a landslide margin of 65 percent, according to unofficial election results.

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The amendment calls gun ownership a “fundamental individual right,” and requires “strict scrutiny” of any attempts in courts to restrict it.

With passage, Iowa became only the fourth state, joining Alabama, Louisiana and Missouri, with constitutional language limiting courts’ ability to uphold limits on gun possession, ownership or use. The amendment would thwart any future attempts to require more extensive background checks or outlaw some types of firearms.

Iowa’s Republican-controlled Legislature approved the amendment language in 2019 and 2021 under a requirement that such measures must be passed in two consecutive General Assembly sessions. Supporters argued it was necessary to ensure Second Amendment rights are protected in Iowa.

Connie Ryan, co-leader of Iowans for Responsible Guns Coalition formed to oppose the amendment, said its passage raises grave concerns.

“We’re focused on laws that should be in place to keep the public as safe as possible and to decrease gun violence,” Ryan told Iowa Public Radio. “And the constitutional amendment would put those laws, either current or future, in harm’s way.”

In Linn County, Iowa’s second-largest, law enforcement agencies urged the state’s voters to vote against the amendment.

“This amendment is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks told the public radio station. He said he’s not against the Second Amendment, but said changing the state constitution ties future lawmakers’ hands.

“This amendment is not about freedom,” he said. “It’s about more senseless violence. This amendment is not about embracing any rights. It’s about seizing power from future generations.”

Oregon Votes On Permit To Buy

Votes were still being counted Thursday on measure tightening Oregon gun laws by creating a permit-to-purchase system and banning magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. With 72 percent of vote counted, 793,015 people (50.8 percent) had voted to support Measure 114, while 767,077 (49.2 percent) had voted against it.

The measure was put on the ballot by Lift Every Voice Oregon, which said its express purpose was to protect Oregonians from mass shootings and gun violence.

“There’s more work to be done, but right now, we are going to celebrate with so much joy in our hearts, knowing that brighter and better days are ahead,” Mark Knutson, pastor of Augustana Lutheran Church in Portland and chair of Lift Every Voice Oregon, said in a statement Wednesday. “I am so proud of everyone that made this historic victory possible.”

The NRA labeled the amendment “extreme.” Opponents, who also included the Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association and Oregon Hunters Association, say it limits their ability to acquire guns to defend themselves in a crime, and would financially strain law enforcement agencies charged with administering the permit system.

Follow The Money

Oregon’s Measure 114 attracted $451,120 in contributions in support and $65,874 in opposition, according to Ballotpedia.

Opposition groups in Iowa raised $30,362 to defeat the constitutional amendment. The groups supporting the amendment did not do any fundraising, according to the most recent campaign finance reports.

Overall this year, prominent gun rights and gun reform groups have spent millions of dollars lobbying Congress, according to OpenSecrets, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying.

Gun reform groups are clearly outmatched, raising $1.2 million this year compared to $6 million raised by gun rights groups.

Gun Violence In America

The common denominator in gun violence is that it happens in towns and neighborhoods across the country to people we know. It touches our communities in multiple ways, from children who pick up their parents’ handguns and accidentally shoot themselves to adolescents who end their lives with handguns to mass shootings. In this series, Patch explores those and other ways gun violence impacts our lives, and what is being done to make our communities safer.

Do you have an idea for this series? Email beth.dalbey@patch.com.