County sheriff Jack Williams and county attorney Thomas Laehn are worried that news of House File 756, the bill that allows Iowans to carry handguns openly or concealed without a permit, has created misunderstanding.
“There are a lot of parts to it, but two parts have very serious repercussions if people don’t understand them,” Williams said.
“The first, and most important to me, is carrying weapons in vehicles,” he said. “The new law still prohibits people without a concealed weapons permit to carry a loaded firearm in a vehicle. That’s the biggest misunderstanding of the law.”
Unless a person has a concealed weapons permit, a gun in a vehicle must be unloaded, with the magazine separate from the gun, and not within reach of anyone in the vehicle.
The new law allows persons to carry loaded guns on the street and in most buildings without a permit, but once a person gets into a vehicle, the gun needs to be unloaded, in a secured case, and not within reach. Shotguns and rifles must be disassembled.
“We don’t want people who are good-intentioned, acting in good faith, trying to abide by the law, (to err) because the law is confusing,” Laehn said.
The second confusion comes from a prohibition against anyone who has been convicted of any serious or aggravated assault purchasing or carrying a firearm for three years.
The confusion is that the three years is retroactive. No one is ‘grandfathered’ in. As of July 1, anyone convicted of a serious or aggravated assault since July 1, 2018, cannot carry a loaded gun.
Also, the new law doesn’t allow anyone committing an indictable offense, or under the influence of alcohol or drugs, to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. “The legislature didn’t want this new law allowing people to carry a gun without a permit to allow criminals to carry guns,” Laehn explained.
“If you go into a bar carrying a weapon, and become under the influence of alcohol, you can no longer carry the weapon,” Williams added. “If you’re in possession of drugs, you can’t be carrying a weapon.”
Williams said he’s concerned that the messaging about the new law in much of the media has been that it’s okay to carry a loaded gun anywhere. “After waiting weeks for clarification of the law, what the law actually says is not what’s been reported to the public. I’d like to get that information out so at least our citizens will be in the know,” he said.
“I don’t want to stop anybody who thought like everybody else, including myself until about a week ago, that anybody could carry a gun in a car. That’s false. I don’t want somebody who’s carrying a gun in a car, acting in good conscience, to wind up with a felony charge,” Williams continued.
Laehn said that even though many judges don’t understand the new law, ignorance of it would not be a defense for someone charged with violating it. People are supposed to know the laws, even confusing ones.
Williams said he and the Jefferson police chief have directed deputies and officers to use discretion, to use “an extreme decision-making process in charging someone or just educating them. I don’t want to be arresting people who in good faith think they’re following the law.”
Laehn said that although concealed weapons permits aren’t required in most cases in Iowa, there are still good reasons to obtain a permit. Anyone who plans to cross state lines should have a permit, since other states still require them and Iowa permits are recognized in other states.
