Rekha Basu
Courtesy KCWI YouTube

One of the best results of last week’s midterms — coming out of Florida, no less — was the election to the U.S. House of 25-year-old March for Our Lives organizer Maxwell Alejandro Frost, an advocate for better gun safety-regulations.

One of the worst was the decisive passage, via what some call deceptive wording, of a statewide constitutional amendment giving Iowans an even stronger right “to keep and bear arms” than the Second Amendment already does. It was approved by 65% of Iowa voters. …

But Iowa’s passage of the gun-rights amendment is the opposite of what we need to make our state safer. The gun lobby’s cynical manipulation of elected officials through financing of political campaign has turned Iowa into a state where the ruling majority apparently won’t rest until it has stripped every reasonable restriction on owning, buying or carrying a gun. The “strict scrutiny” standard for gun rights being added to our constitution requires any restrictions on gun rights to be narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling state interest. The new passage says, “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. The sovereign state of Iowa affirms and recognizes this right to be a fundamental individual right. Any and all restrictions of this right shall be subject to strict scrutiny.” …

And our status as a “stand your ground” state means you don’t have to feel threatened before firing your weapon in public. And the state can punish a city or town for adopting its own gun safety policies.

— Rekha Basu in Rekha Basu: Iowa, Already One of the Worst States on Guns, Got Worse With Amendment Passage

86 COMMENTS

  1. “And our status as a ‘stand your ground’ state means you don’t have to feel threatened before firing your weapon in public.”

    100% false

    All ‘stand your ground’ means basically is you have no duty to retreat, and if one chooses to retreat they can. The same requirements for being in fear of loss of life or serious/great bodily harm are still there.

      • Is it malicious? Or is she just your average dum-dum repeating jibber jabber without reading the actual law?

        She is right, though, Iowa is terrible on guns. They almost had to scrap .350 Legend for deer because of their poor phrasing of the previous regulation.

        • “Is it malicious? Or is she just your average dum-dum repeating jibber jabber without reading the actual law?”

          Distinction without difference? Don’t really care the modus of the deception, only that it is what it is.

    • No kidding. How many POTG have moved to a different state to find more amenable circumstances? These petty tyrants can do the same.

      • “These petty tyrants can do the same”

        you don’t get it – you’re thinking in terms of “live and let live”. but they think in terms of “it’s all mine. all of it. and all of them.” and they act to make it so.

        you could learn something from them.

      • Don’t worry, Stop It, you do not have to move to Commiefornia. Those people have been more than happy to migrate to other states in the last 30 years. And, like locusts, destroy said new states they move to.

  2. This is America. Our constitution was written for Americans.

    Rekha Basu was born in India and raised in New York, New Delhi and Bangkok.

    It is literally none of her business what people in Iowa do and to be fair if she supports dismantling the constitution she should be deported. That statement also applies to every other foreign invader.

    • The bimbo is a radical marxist long in the employ of a radical leftist “newspaper” (Des Moines Register). DM Register= Pravda on the plains.

      • I hve often found and read stuff on Pravda what was much more fair and unbiased, accurate, and non-woke than most of what I find in the Lame Stream Meeeeeedya

    • Well, to be fair, she *is* an American, regardless of where she was born. Remember that this nation is intended to be a “melting pot”.

      https://factsbuddy.com/rekha-basu/

      It’s not her place of birth that’s the issue, as there are East Indians who were also born there but support America. It’s the mindset and sense of entitlement. After all, there are many Americans who were born and fully raised here, and still don’t support America.

      • American is a label that can be stamped on anyone that either is born here or can do the time and pass a civics test. BEING an American is a state of mind, a TRUE American embraces liberty and freedom, is independent, self-reliant, goal oriented and believes the individual is responsible for his/her own destiny, failures, and successes. The “melting pot” means that everyone who comes here should not only bring new ideas, technology and their native customs but should ALSO accept American customs and ideologies and assimilate into the American way of life NOT work to undermine them and change America into some bastardized semblance of the shithole they ran away from. Maybe Putin has the right idea the world is way overpopulated, bombing it back to the stone-age and starting over might be what is needed to save it OR how about anyone who is so vehemently against the US Constitution and American life study up on other civilizations around the world and when they find one that suits them just go there and live.

        • Agreed. Hence my choice of words, if you noticed:

          “It’s the mindset and sense of entitlement.”

      • Unlike Americans born and raised here, in order to be naturalized she was required to swear an oath of allegiance forsaking other governments, and that appears to have been false, citizenship should be revoked and her sorry self deported to the idyllic dictatorship of her choice.

    • Wreck-ya? Ooookaay. “One of the worst was the decisive passage, via what some call deceptive wording…”
      Yeah, well–that’s like, your opinion, Man.

    • “none of her business what people in Iowa do”

      to her, it’s ALL her business. all of iowa, and all of you.

    • Well, Chris, I’m sure you’re convinced that she’s a libertarian. We libertarians (only in your mind) support stringent gun-control, detest individual liberties, and actively promote tyrannical government.

      • Seriously … you’re also for open borders which is criminal and otherwise mostly run interference for the Democrat (communist) Party. Most Libertarians, anyway.

  3. Gun Control’s useful idiot reekha basu should wear a propeller cap that says, “Don’t Slap Poop Splatters.”

  4. “requires any restrictions on gun rights to be narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling state interest” – the HORROR!

  5. “And our status as a ‘stand your ground’ state means you don’t have to feel threatened before firing your weapon in public.”

    Technically true if you’re at a public range, firing at a paper target, or on public land hunting game in a lawful manner. But if you’re firing at another human being you’d better damned well feel threatened, with imminent death or grievous injury, and that feeling had better be objectively reasonable.

    • And for good reason. Taking someone’s wind is very final and will mark you for life. If it doesn’t, you really have no reason to carry.
      Killing for defense of you or yours is a responsibility, use it wisely.
      I really hate it when people think I am bloodthirsty because I own firearms for the protection of family.
      I am a very peaceful person and am ready to let a lot slide, but I will not abide anyone who wants to hurt my family.

      • Friend of mine gets REALLY upset whenever he sees my carry piece, no matter how briefly it might get uncovered. He has an irratioinal fear and loathing of firearms, except in the hands of government and law enforcement. ( I am neither, just a consciously armed citizen). He is also from India, born and raised there. He laments the way police back in India look the other way as city gangs beat and murder people of “other” ethnicity than their own.
        I write his fears off as the result of being raised in a former British Colony… which is very much like that same government (British) sought to subdue our forbears. Which he fails to take into account.
        One evening whilst sitting in his livingroom he caught a glmpise of my holster… and in a near-panicked voice asked “is that your GUNNNN??!!??” I said no, I know you are not comfortable with that thing on my hop so I leave it in the car when I am here”. “Oh’ was his only response.
        I’ve tried reasoning, quiting facts and statistics, the biblical admonidtion of Jesus telling His guys to take along a sword, and if you don’t have one sell your coat and get one”. He is unmoved.

        So I can understand how this female holds the values she does. Not that she will ever be justified in her lies and tyrannical approach, but she’s only acting out the way she was raised. Oh well.. maybe when the housebreaker has entered her home when she is there, and feels utterly helpless because she can’t even get to her phone to call the coppers, she just MIGHT have a hint of a twinge of a wish that she had a gun RIGHT NOW and knew how to use it.

  6. I’m glad that I LIVE IN IOWA, instead of that state across the Mississippi river with all the gun-hating politicians, aka ILLINOIS. Maybe someday, they will elect enough people who support the 2nd amendment, that Illinois gun owners don’t have to be envious of us in Iowa.

  7. Our gun rights ammendment rcvd SIXTYFIVE % and is only one of 3 in the nation with “strict scrutiny” in the language.

    Nov 8th the State of Iowa thru out ALL 3 of the statewide prog incumbents who were up for reelection (the auditor MIGHT survive by that is largely an irrelevant position). Thi includes the longest serving AG in the US/worthless radical leftist babyboomer POS Tom Miller. The incompetent moron was 1st elected in 1978!

    House 3rd also threw out their wackadoodle bimbett Congresschick (Axne). The other 3 house Rem reps were reelected and at least 2 of whom are strong conservatives (new 2nd and 4th).

    Conservatives retained the State House and Senate. Grassley was reelected.

    What’s the matter with all these other states? Insitutionized demtard vote fraud? Mi, PA, OR, Az, Nv.

    • Ohio and Florida are traditional bellwether states. The statewide elections there weren’t even that close. What does that tell you?

  8. Oregon Measure 114 is a long way from being a done deal. There will be a stack of lawsuits challenging it and probably killing it DRT.

  9. Iowa is not one of the worst states having a gun problem and I would like to see the stats on that to justify what is being promoted in this article.

    • the article cited is here as an example of what the whackjob gun grabbers are trying to do with their time and reasure. This does NOT represent what this outfit presenting thi article actually advocates. It is more like “lookit whut these MAW rawns are truing to foist upon the rest of us”

      It is a good reminder that there actually exist folks who think (sorry, a stretch of that term) NO ONE except government may possess or use firearms.
      The very fact that there exist people who espouse the values she holds.

  10. Maybe we should ask why Chicago just a few hours away from Iowa has all the problems they do? They have almost 1/3rd more population yet have 1/6th the murders. Chicago has way “better” gun laws according to people like her. Why don’t they work?

  11. I once was asked by a European “What in the world is wrong with your country when it comes to out of control gun deaths? Is your country being run by a bunch of violent and ignorant Hillbillies? I responded yes, you are more correct than you realize.

    Waiting periods actually save more lives than what the Right Wing will admit. Suicide deaths and homicides deaths go down dramatically when there is a cooling off period before buying a gun. Studies prove it beyond all doubt.

    Background checks weed out many criminals and homicidal maniacs.

    Restricting weapons of war that are mass destructive devices makes it harder for people like Paddock to shoot out of a high rise into a crowd of people and kill 62 and cripple over 800 in only seconds. He would not have killed nearly as many with a bolt action rifle as the crowd would have had more time to take cover and the police would have got him before he could have finished what he intended to do.

    Safe Storage laws would save thousands of children’s lives from accidental shootings and prevent thousands of smash and grab robberies of firearms because most robberies are over in seconds because the thieves know you may have a security alarm and do not know when you are coming home or how soon the cops will get there. They know they must leave quickly and they know they will not have time to try and break into a safe, even a cheap one.

    The Oregon Law makes perfect sense but unfortunately the flow of thousands of illegal guns into Oregon by ignorant Red States with lax gun laws will not be stopped because there is no Federal Law that duplicates Oregon’s Laws making their laws far less effective.

      • He’s a pathological liar. If the truth would free him and a lie give him the death penalty he would lie. He. Cannot. Help. Himself.

        He needs to be closely monitored and on meds. Some day we will hear about him and a school. It will be horrible.

    • “Suicide deaths and homicides deaths go down dramatically when there is a cooling off period”

      problems leading to homicide and suicide don’t go away in two weeks. the fact of the matter is that homicide is just a feature of certain demographic groups regardless of any gun control laws, while homicide is not a feature of other demographic groups regardless of the presence of any quantity of guns.

      • Rant 7

        History has proven your entire post wrong. Tough gun control laws were instituted long ago in Europe and Asian countries because they did indeed have a gun problem and their success with these laws proved they worked in all the countries that passed such laws.

        As a matter of fact your own post if true (which it is not) would indicate that the U.S. is long overdue for such strict European and Asian gun laws. In reality the U.S. is no more violent today than the European and Asian Countries used to be before they passed such laws.

        • “In reality the U.S. is no more violent today”

          the “u.s.” is not violent, rather it is certain demographic groups within the u.s. the are violent. if you exclude black crime then the u.s. is about as violent as switzerland or belgium. when black crime is considered within the black population then you get a crime rate equivilant to that in haiti or nigeria. when you equate “the u.s.” with blacks, you completely misunderstand the situation – in my opinion , deliberately.

    • By European, you mean a 1930’s German Officer? When you make statements about hillbillies, you show a lack of cultural enlightenment or that you know what you are even speaking about. I know hillbillies that exhibit more common sense than you do. They may not understand the theory of relativity at the level of Einstein, but they don’t disparage others for simply being different than them. Don’t forget, hillbillies are often workers in the trades, the people that make life comfortable for those who contribute nothing to society. You should thank them.

      What studies? Have you found anything legitimate?

      Vegas shooter did not use a weapon of war. Unless of course you are prepared to include weapons such as matchlocks, flintlocks and percussion in your definition of a weapon of war. Your like minded hero was just a loser moron.

      Safe storage laws? How do you legislate these? Will the penalty be worse on the owner than the actual thief? How do enforce such laws? Unannounced inspections of peoples homes?

      Oregon’s law does nothing except creating more criminals. Isn’t there enough criminals in Oregon for them to contend with? Why bother the people who are not doing anything immoral? Are you afraid of the actual criminals? What people own is none of your business if they are not infringing on others rights. Cross that line, then yes, be concerned, but until then, grow up and leave folks alone.

    • The Oregon Law makes perfect sense but unfortunately the flow of thousands of illegal guns into Oregon by ignorant Red States with lax gun laws will not be stopped because there is no Federal Law that duplicates Oregon’s Laws making their laws far less effective.

      WHAAAAAATTTT??!!?? Oregon does NOT have any issues with “thousands of illegal guns” flooding the state. No need… any law abiding citizen can purchase lawfully as many guns of common types as he wishes. Sure, eh’s got to bribe the State Police to run the background check and wait a few days to get it done.

      I am sure many guns ARE brought into the state by skanky operators, but not to bother reselling… there are plenty enough to go around.

      WHY do ou so frequently spew your lies? Get a life, dooood.

    • You state as “facts” things demonstrably false in toto, then appear to think you have fooled someone. Background checks stop nothing unless failures result in imprisonment as directed by the law but nearly never enforced. While waiting periods occasionally stop a suicide they more often delay it for a short period, and I never agreed to surrender my natural rights to prevent a suicide, I honestly don’t care. For criminal activity waiting periods will do nothing until they apply to stolen guns sold out of car trunks.

      • waiting periods will do nothing until they apply to stolen guns sold out of car trunks.

        AND unlocked cop cars…

  12. Rekha Basu

    Born in India and raised in New York, New Delhi and Bangkok, Rekha Basu completed her global, multicultural perspective with a move to the Heartland. Her columns in The Des Moines Register span politics, culture, human rights and social justice, and frequently examine the news from a gendered and minority perspective.

    Another unassimilated immigrant who is actively working to turn the United States into the sort of Third World crap hole they still owe their allegiance.

    How about this…NO…STFU and go back from where you came.

    FJB

    • It’s not just about the Second Amendment.
      These internationalist thinking immigrants are also against the First Amendment as well. They want to turn the United States into the sh+t hole they ran away from. Thank you to the open-borders Libertarians liberals and the left for making this possible.

    • She can go back to New York and live on Bloomberg handouts. But she’ll have to compete with Shannon Watts.

    • “working to turn the United States into the sort of Third World crap hole”

      only now THEY will be on top!

      seriously, in third world hell holes, if you’re on top it’s quite a ride.

  13. “ One of the best results of last week’s midterms — coming out of Florida, no less — was the election to the U.S. House of 25-year-old March for Our Lives organizer Maxwell Alejandro Frost, an advocate for better gun safety-regulations.”

    Whoever supports this communist statement is out of their minds to the extent their minds are gone forever. The American Communist Party (Democrats and other PUNK TOTALITARIANS) use nothing but deceit when advocating for gun “safety”. Their version of “gun safety” is nothing less than total disarmament and confiscation and as soon as possible. Their advocation of gun “safety” is at minimum draconian gun “control”.

    I’m not convinced yet the language of the recent gun rights passage in Iowa has bad intent. I would have worded it differently but at least the gun rights advocates got their point across.

    • “Whoever supports this communist statement is out of their minds to the extent their minds are gone forever”

      not at all. they’re highly intelligent and rational and focused. YOUR problem is you think you and they are on the same level – but they don’t think that at all. rather they see themselves as the human beings and you as an animal put here to serve them, and everything they do and say is calculated to manipulate you into submitting to and working for them. every last thing. until you grasp that then you won’t understand what they’re doing or what his happening.

    • Who’s funding lil’d’s endeavors? Uncles Mike and George? Or a Russian oligarch benefactor who has been unable to pay since March 2022?

      • I believe dacian isn’t paid. He’s very obviously mentally ill and that makes him a believer. Very dangerous, that.

        Now miner49er? Him I believe to be paid to troll here.

        • dacian is a true believer. He has swallowed the utopian visions of the greats in history, Engels, Marx, Stalin, Pol Pot, and Hitler. He blends several ideologies for some neo left idealism. He believes in dictatorships, as long as he thinks he will be part of the connected and won’t have to wait in line for bread and vodka. Makes one wonder of his home raising, were his parents conservative and told him to earn things or were they flower children and told him how glorious communes were.

          Miner, has his moments of lucidness, and sometimes presents a compelling argument. Goes off the rails too much, he is a moderate leftists that dacians kind would want re educated to fully conform.

  14. “reasonable restriction on owning, buying or carrying a gun”

    I’m all for reasonable restrictions – in a rational nationalist state. but for the ones pushing gun control who are not part of our nation, “reasonable” means “we have them all, and the cattle are disarmed and locked up.”

    iowa’s approach will prove unworkable. but if I have to chose between iowa’s approach and what our would-be rulers want, I’ll back iowa.

      • “AINT YOU THE CLOSET LEFTIST”

        you mean I’m not an isolate loner (which is what is pushed as “patriotism” and “conservatism” nowadays). nations are formed by citizens, not autistics – which is why the left pushes itself vs isolationism, to push you into making the same self-defeating choice.

  15. “And our status as a “stand your ground” state means you don’t have to feel threatened before firing your weapon in public.”

    Go out and try that, Rehka, and see how it works out for you. Go fire a gun in a populated area without a threat of imminent death or great bodily harm and then write about what happens next.

    • her complaint is not that you don’t have to feel threatened in order to shoot, it’s that YOU can shoot at all instead of just her.

    • Stand your ground means you don’t have to make an effort to retreat to defend yourself when presented with a deadly threat to your life. It’s an absolute defense to prosecution if an aggressor forces you to shoot them in defense of your life.

    • but since SHE is of the priviledged class, if she DOES pop off a few rounds she will get a pass. But, unless I mis my guess by a long contry mile, she genuinely abhores, hates, irratinally fears, despises, and generally strongly dislikes guns in any hands but those of the government SHE favours. She IS from India, you will recall….

  16. Well ReekHa sounds to me you better high tail it out of Iowa before you get hurt.
    Have you thought of moving to California or Illinois? Those states have quite restrictive gunm laws so I’m sure they are much safer then Iowa.

  17. Basu is retiring soon, after spewing Leftist and anti-gun garbage for over 30 years at The Des Moines Register.

  18. I have never understood the irrational fear of an inanimate object.
    A firearm of any type is a tool. A mechanical devise. Firearms are neither good, nor evil. They do not think nor act. Nor do they have some magical power to compel someone to do something against their will.
    Unless and until we as a society choose to deal with the human part of the violent crime problems, we will solve nothing. Find, arrest, prosecute, convict and imprison or execute those who commit the acts of non defensive violence and the firearms will be no more a problem than a wrench or fire extinguisher.

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