yes, I HIGHLY reccomend sandblasting (they don't use sand anymore, it's glass, or plastic beads, or walnut, or pecan shells) just AVOID "soda blasting", as it adds an extra step before you can paint it,...and if your painter did NOT know that, and just shot it, your paint could start peeling FAST.

I HATE chemical strippers as you can NEVER get all the stripper off, it'll stay stuck in crevices and recesses, and then when you put paint on top of that, it starts "stripping" your brand new paint job

blast it: fast, easy (you just drop it off), no mess or work on your part, and you get clean bare metal free of rust, ready to prime and paint.