Legislators talk gun laws, charter schools, transgender students

Two area legislators provided updates on bills currently in the Legislature, including gun laws, charter schools and transgender issues.

District 41 State Sen. Adrian Dickey (R-Packwood) and District 84 State Rep. Joe Mitchell (R-Mt. Pleasant) answered questions Saturday morning as part of an online forum put on by the Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

'Do you think it's a good idea to remove gun restrictions?” retired educator Miriam Kenning asked in reference to a bill passed by the House easing the state's gun laws.

Mitchell, who supported the bill, said he believes the measure actually strengthens current gun laws.

'If you were to sell a gun to a neighbor, and they weren't supposed to be able to purchase one, it's currently a misdemeanor,” Mitchell said. 'This bill makes that a Class D felony.

'There will probably be more background checks than there are now.”

Dickey said that there are a lot of misconceptions about the bill.

'It allows off-duty or retired law enforcement personnel to carry on school grounds,” Dickey said. 'It's not opening to everyone to carry on school grounds.

Fairfield school Superintendent Laurie Noll brought up a bill that would allow the establishment of charter schools.

'Why do we need more options when there are so many options?” Noll asked. 'Are you aware of already established innovative programs?”

Mitchell said that, while he opposed school vouchers, he sees charter schools differently.

'These are public schools with public boards,” Mitchell said. 'Some schools have completely failed their students.”

He mentioned specifically Des Moines and Davenport schools as examples.

'Des Moines didn't open when the kids needed to be in school,” he said.

Maharishi School Head of School Richard Beall said that he helped found a charter school in North Carolina in 2004.

'It's thriving,” Beall said. '(Charter schools) have public oversight, and the bill, as it's written, includes licensure.

'It does provide choice to families who are looking for something different.”

Beall brought up bills that impact transgender students.

'Before voting on something like that, I suggest having a conversation with some transgender students,” Beall said.

'I'm against biological males competing in female sports and biological females competing in male sports,” Dickey said. 'I don't want to see anyone bullied for gender identification, but there's a much larger side who feel threatened by a boy going into a girls locker room.”

Mitchell said it is important to protect everyone's rights.

'You have people concerned with boys going into a girls locker room,” Mitchell said. 'We have to make sure that kids going through transition aren't bullied or harassed, but you have to balance things out.”

Dickey said that he was opposed to allowing what he called 'gender transformation” without parental consent.

'There's no way a child should be making these kinds of decisions,” Dickey said.

Mitchell added, 'We don't let 13-year-olds make huge decisions.”

Maharishi School freshman Mika Rodriguez took issue with the legislators' use of the word 'decision.”

'For most people, it's not a decision,” Rodriguez said. 'They're having a realization more than a decision.”

Dickey thanked her for the clarification and added that he only meant it in reference to the medical process.