Reynolds: New gun laws would not have prevented Perry school shooting

No new laws restricting gun access would have prevented a recent fatal shooting at Perry High School, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said Friday.

Reynolds was asked during the recording of this weekend’s episode of “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS whether gun regulations should be a part of the discussion around how to prevent school shootings like the one on Jan. 4 in Perry, in which a sixth-grade student and the school’s principal were killed.

“No additional gun laws would have prevented what happened,” Reynolds said. “There’s just evil out there.”

Police said the 17-year-old shooter was armed with a shotgun and small handgun and had placed an explosive device, which did not detonate, in the school. Authorities have not yet said how the shooter acquired the weapons.

Reynolds said Iowans’ “thoughts, hearts and prayers” continue to go out to the Perry community.

“This is a horrible tragedy. It’s certainly nothing that any governor wants to wake up to in the morning and hear of what’s happened,” Reynolds said.

Like most Republicans, Reynolds said the focus should be on mental and behavioral health care.

She spoke about the actions she has taken as governor, including the creation of a children’s mental health care system — which advocates say is underfunded — and funding for mental health care providers, and spoke about her proposal to redesign and streamline the state’s regional delivery system for mental and behavioral health care.

Reynolds also spoke about school safety measures undertaken by her administration, including the School Safety Bureau, which received $100 million in state-assigned federal funding and provides schools with an assessment of their safety needs.

“I am proud of what we’ve done,” Reynolds said. “I have made behavioral health and mental health a key part of my priorities from the moment that I was sworn in as governor of this state.”

Reynolds also praised the response from local law enforcement and emergency responders to the Perry school shooting, which she called “incredible.”