Iowa Public Radio talks about the new gun laws and gets it almost right

Iowa Public Radio released a story today about the upcoming changes in the Iowa gun laws. Highlighted in the story were several pro-gun sound bites from the leaders of the Iowa Firearms Coalition (formerly known as Iowa Carry) and Iowa Gun Owners. Also included were sound bites from two Sheriffs who are opponents of the new laws.

Unfortunately, the story has a couple of inaccuracies that need to be addressed.

At the beginning of the story, it is reported that Iowa Gun Owners worked with the NRA and other groups to bring about the change in Iowa's laws that will go into effect on January 1. That is not true. IGO attempted to bring about a change to the laws that would have allowed any law-abiding citizen to legally carry a firearm with no permit required. As opposed to “Shall Issue” this is often referred to as “Alaska Carry” since citizens in Alaska (as well as Vermont and Arizona) do not need a permit to carry a firearm. The NRA and Iowa Carry were the groups that pushed successfully for the change that is going to take place in just over five months.

The reporter incorrectly states that under the current law, it is the Iowa Department of Public Safety that prescribes the training standards statewide for those who wish to obtain an Iowa Permit to Carry weapons. In reality, each individual Sheriff set his own standards, which varies from county to county.

Sheriff Pulkrabek of Johnson County uses the now familiar “what-if” scenario of someone under investigation of criminal activity, but not yet arrested, applying for a permit. The flaws with that logic are:

1. Those under investigation typically stay under the radar and do not want to bring any more law enforcement scrutiny upon themselves
2. Those who are under investigation are typically the type of person that would probably carry a firearm anyway, regardless of the issuance of a permit or not
3. Law enforcement officers should never change their operations based on the presence or absence of a permit
4. A permit does not give the holder the right to commit a crime of any kind
5. If the person under investigation has not been convicted of a crime, then legally, that person still has his right to possess a firearm intact, and therefore, cannot be denied

Sheriff Hildebrant of Bremer County complains that with the permit going from one-year to five-years between renewals, more issues that would cause a permit to be suspended or revoked will fall through the cracks. To counter this, the new law has a provision that allows the Sheriffs to run a criminal background check every year if they desire (Section 724.13 as revised for 2011). That provision should alleviate this particular concern, but so far, it has not gained much attention from the Sheriffs or the press.

Finally, there is the assertion that the change in the law was pushed through quickly with no input by anyone except the “special interest groups.” That is also simply not true. A review of the 2010 session would show that SF-2379 was not passed until the very end of the session, and Governor Culver did not sign it into law until the very last day possible. This is not something that sounds like “quickly pushed through” but rather, sour grapes from a few Sheriffs who do not want to give up their absolute authority to deny a citizen the right to carry a weapon.

Overall, the story is not a bad one in which to spend four minutes of your time.

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