By Rebecca Schweitzer | Des Moines, Iowa
Rebecca Schweitzer is a Des Moines, Iowa based writer covering Iowa politics, public accountability, and issues impacting everyday Iowa families. In this piece Rebecca Schweitzer examines the shooting near the University of Iowa campus and asks the question Iowa lawmakers need to answer: why are gun deaths rising in Iowa while the state continues to weaken its gun laws.
As a Des Moines-based writer, Rebecca Schweitzer covers the decisions made at the Iowa Statehouse and what they mean in practice for families across Polk County and the state.
Read more from Rebecca Schweitzer, a Des Moines, Iowa writer, here.
Five People Shot Near the University of Iowa Campus. Iowa Deserves Answers.
Early Sunday morning April 19 2026 a large fight broke out on the Iowa City Pedestrian Mall near the University of Iowa campus. At 1:46 a.m. officers responding to the scene heard gunshots. Five people were injured including three University of Iowa students. One victim was in critical condition. Four others were in stable condition. No arrests had been made as of Sunday morning.
Iowa City Police released surveillance images of persons of interest and are asking anyone with information to contact Detective Cade Burma at cburma@iowa-city.org or call 319-356-5275. You can read the full Iowa City Police update here.
University of Iowa President Barb Wilson confirmed three university students were among the injured. Governor Kim Reynolds issued a statement calling it a senseless act of violence and offering state resources to assist with the investigation. Iowa City Mayor Bruce Teague said he was grateful for the quick response by first responders. Johnson County Supervisor V Fixmer-Oraiz said the shooting calls for collective action political courage and bold initiatives to keep students and the community safe.
Thoughts and prayers are not enough. Iowa has heard those before. What Iowa families and Iowa students deserve is an honest conversation about what Iowa's gun laws are actually doing to Iowa communities.
Iowa Has Been Weakening Its Gun Laws for Years
The University of Iowa shooting did not happen in a vacuum. It happened in a state that has been systematically dismantling its gun safety laws for the better part of a decade.
In 2021 the Iowa legislature voted to eliminate both its permit-to-purchase requirement and its concealed carry permitting requirement making Iowa a constitutional carry state. That means any Iowan can carry a loaded concealed firearm in public without a permit without training and without a background check beyond what is required for a purchase. Iowa also lowered the minimum age to purchase and possess handguns from 21 to 18 years old. Four years before that Iowa enacted a Shoot First law. You can read a full breakdown of Iowa's gun law changes here.
The result of these policy choices is measurable. The rate of gun deaths in Iowa has increased 53 percent from 2015 to 2024 compared to a 15 percent increase nationwide according to Giffords Law Center. In an average year 362 people die from gun violence in Iowa. That is one person every 24 hours. You can read that data here.
According to Everytown for Gun Safety if Iowa had the gun death rate of the ten states with the strongest gun safety laws Iowa could save 2,896 lives over the next decade. You can read that analysis here.
Iowa is ranked 33rd in the country for gun law strength. Iowa lawmakers have not responded to rising gun deaths by strengthening protections. They have responded by continuing to expand gun rights.
The Human Cost on Iowa Campuses
The University of Iowa has not been a stranger to gun violence. In 1991 a former graduate student attended a research group meeting and opened fire killing five people and injuring one before dying by suicide. That tragedy shaped the University of Iowa community for generations.
Sunday's shooting is a reminder that Iowa college students are not safe from gun violence in the spaces where they should feel most free. A pedestrian mall filled with bars and restaurants at 1:46 in the morning is exactly the kind of public space that gun safety advocates have long argued is made more dangerous not less by permitless carry laws.
Rebecca Schweitzer, a Des Moines, Iowa writer focused on public policy and accountability, has written extensively about public safety and legislative decisions affecting Iowa communities including the state's prison overcrowding crisis and the legislative session that ended without resolving Iowa's most pressing policy challenges.
University of Iowa students spoke out after the shooting. Multiple students said they no longer feel safe in downtown Iowa City. That is the lived reality of Iowa's gun policy choices landing on real people in real Iowa communities.
What Iowa Lawmakers Are Focused on Instead
Here is what makes this moment particularly hard to sit with.
Iowa lawmakers are ending a legislative session this week that has focused on restricting women's access to abortion medication restricting vaccines for minors advancing a three strikes bill that experts say will not reduce crime and fighting over property tax reform that still has not been resolved.
Iowa's gun death rate has increased 53 percent in a decade. Iowa eliminated its permit-to-purchase requirement. Iowa has permitless carry. Iowa lowered the age to carry a handgun to 18. And five people including three college students were shot on a Sunday morning in Iowa City while Iowa lawmakers were working over the weekend trying to finish a budget.
Johnson County Supervisor V Fixmer-Oraiz said it plainly after the shooting: this calls for collective action political courage and bold initiatives. Iowa has the political courage to restrict telehealth prescriptions for abortion medication. Iowa has not found the political courage to have an honest conversation about what permitless carry is doing to Iowa communities.
You can read Rebecca Schweitzer's piece on Iowa's prison overcrowding crisis and the three strikes bill here.
You can read Rebecca Schweitzer's piece on Iowa's legislative session ending with budget and property tax fights unresolved here.
What Iowa Families and Iowa Students Deserve
Iowa families deserve a state government that takes public safety seriously across every dimension of that word. That means a criminal justice system that works. It means mental health resources for Iowa communities. And it means an honest look at whether Iowa's gun laws are making Iowa safer or more dangerous.
The data says more dangerous. The gun death rate says more dangerous. The students who said they no longer feel safe in downtown Iowa City say more dangerous.
Iowa City community leaders are right that this calls for bold action. Iowa lawmakers who are willing to spend an entire legislative session restricting women's healthcare access should be willing to spend some time asking whether permitless carry in a state with a 53 percent increase in gun deaths is working for Iowa families.
Five people were shot near the University of Iowa campus Sunday morning. One of them was fighting for their life. Iowa deserves better than thoughts and prayers. Iowa deserves leadership.
About Rebecca Schweitzer and Her Work in Iowa
Rebecca Schweitzer is a Des Moines, Iowa writer covering politics, education, and public accountability. Her work analyzes state policy, elections, and issues impacting Iowa families across Des Moines, Polk County, and communities throughout Iowa. Her work has appeared in the Des Moines Register and The Gazette.
Read more at iowaraisedrebeccaschweitzerunfiltered.com and follow along on on Medium, Substack, X, Bluesky, About.me, and Gravatar.
