(Radio Iowa) – The governor of Minnesota is blasting Iowa and Florida for efforts to ban books. Democrat Governor Tim Walz is installing a Little Free Library in the anteroom of his State Capitol office and says, “For every book you ban in Iowa and Florida, we’ll put ten of them out in Minnesota.”

Walz says, “We’ve got folks that want to make it harder to get ‘Lord of the Flies’ than to get a dang AR-15.” Books with obscene or graphic sexual content would have to be removed from Iowa school libraries if a bill that cleared the Iowa House becomes law. The Iowa Senate version calls for removing books from school libraries that describe or depict sex acts. Minnesota’s governor was asked if people on the other side of the political aisle can also put their books in his Little Free Library.

“Absolutely, you can put any book you want to in here,” Walz says. “We all know what the most-banned book in history is: the Bible. Bring it! Put it on there. That’s what this is about! This is about freedom.” Members of the Iowa group “Moms for Liberty” have led efforts to remove books they consider obscene from Iowa school libraries. They also support a bill to ban materials or instruction about gender identity in kindergarten through eighth grade classrooms.

Governor Walz acknowledges his actions are a pro-active effort “to make it very clear to Americans there is a vast number of people who disagree with these policies.” “This is a state where reproductive choices are yours,” he says. “This is a place where you can bring your authentic self and be protected. This is a state where you read what you choose to read.”

Walz says, “I want to be very clear: If you’re on the side of book-banning, they have never been on the right side of history.” The press secretary for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis indicates only pornographic and inappropriate books are being removed from that state’s schools and says, “We find it kind of strange that a governor would put pornography in a library outside of his office.”

(Thanks to Bill Werner, Minnesota News Network)