DES MOINES, Iowa - As rallies against stay at home orders ramp up across the country, a gun group is spearheading a protest effort in Iowa.
Iowa Gun Owners has launched "Reopen Iowa", a campaign that says politicians are on a power trip and calls for stopping "Governor Reynold's SHUTDOWN."
The group says COVID-19 is far less deadly than the flu or driving down Iowa’s interstates and highways. It's website, "Reopen Iowa For Business", has a section prompting visitors to sign an email addressed to their state senators, representatives and Governor Reynolds.
The website mentions President Trump while stating that the country needs to be opened up and praises the actions of South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem.
It also asserts that the scientific community is declaring the coronavirus will be far less deadly than previously forecast.
The Daily Mail reports Iowa Gun Owners Executive Director Aaron Dorr - along with his brothers Ben and Christopher Dorr, who represents gun groups in Minnesota and Ohio respectively - are behind at least four state anti-quarantine Facebook groups with a combined following of over 200,000 members.
The three have created Facebook groups calling for protests in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York.
A growing number of Republican Iowa state lawmakers are also calling for Governor Reynolds to lift COVID-19 restrictions. Representative Sandy Salmon of Janesville has posted a Facebook video urged people to contact Governor Reynolds and tell her to "make Iowa work again."