Senator, Joni Ernst, hosted a town hall meeting in Carroll Thursday and took multiple questions from constituents on some of the most contested issues in our nation’s capital. Amber, an educator and mother of three, questioned the status of gun control legislation. Ernst said the Senate has been wrangling with this issue for as long as she has been in office, and it was the first thing discussed when they returned from recess.
Another constituent pressed Ernst on why the Senate had not acted on expanded background check and red flag bills, which passed the House in February. Ernst agreed that loopholes for gun purchases should be closed, but she has reservations concerning red flag laws.
Focus then shifted to climate change and the measures being taken to address it. Ernst said the climate will change regardless of what humans due and suggested there were things that could be done to limit its effects. She cited Iowa’s thriving wind energy sector and suggested similar models should be implemented across the nation.
Ernst, a Republican, was elected to the Senate in 2015 and is nearing the end of her first term. She is up for reelection on the Nov. 2020 ballot.
