Supervisors: Iowa gun bill conflicts with firearm bans at county buildings

CEDAR RAPIDS - County officials say a bill in the Iowa Statehouse could open a floodgate of lawsuits against local gun bans at county courthouses and administration buildings.

House File 517, which passed the Iowa House 58-39 last week, expands when and how Iowans can use guns.

In addition, the bill gives gun owners the ability to sue local governments if they have been 'adversely affected” by a firearm ban - such as those at the Linn County Courthouse or Linn County Juvenile Justice Center.

Linn County Supervisor Brent Oleson on Monday said a decision will have to be made soon as to whether the county should plan to ease its existing gun ban to accommodate the bill or maintain the ban and prepare for potential litigation.

'I'm just here to deal with the reality, whatever it is. We need to be able to respond and have our policy and let the public know what the policy will be,” Oleson said. 'It needs to be one that accommodates to what we're supposed to accommodate to, while also balancing what we've done in the past.”

Supervisor Stacey Walker said he would prefer not to change the county's gun policy.

'I am not willing to accommodate this legislation, I'm certainly not willing to say, ‘Well, that's just it,'” said Walker. 'I'm more inclined to make sure our Sheriff's Department can continue to keep people safe and then deal with what happens afterward.”

Bill sponsor Rep. Matt Windschitl, R-Missouri Valley, has said local governments do not currently have authority to ban guns in facilities such as courthouses, boardrooms or city council chambers.

However, a 2003 opinion from the Iowa Attorney General's Office found that Iowa Code allows cities and counties to regulate firearms on city-owned or county-owned property.

Added language in Windschitl's bill would permit an individual to take the matter to court if he or she felt 'adversely affected” by a local weapon's ban. The court would award attorney's fees and costs to the prevailing plaintiff in such a case, according to the bill language.

Last year, Johnson County completed a $250,000 addition to the county courthouse that included a new public entrance with increased security, including metal detectors.

'If this bill does what it says it does, we theoretically are in violation by having a secured entrance,” Johnson County Supervisor Mike Carberry said.

Carberry said the inability to stop guns at the door to county buildings might force increased spending on security staffing.

Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner and Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said allowing guns into county courthouses has the potential to create a logistical challenge as well - judges can ban firearms in their respective courtrooms.

'Then they would have to give up their arms, that's the judge's area,” Pulkrabek said.

Neither courthouse has secured gun lockers for public use.

In addition to area courthouses, Iowa City and Johnson County in 2011 passed resolutions banning guns on city- or county-owned property.

Linn County Supervisor James Houser said gun bans were created to prevent incidents, such as the 1986 shooting in a Mount Pleasant City Council meeting that left Mayor Edd King dead and two council members wounded.

'We had incidents over the years that caused this to ramp up,” Houser said.

'I would think we would want to try to influence this legislation before it happens, rather than try to react to it after the fact,” he added. 'Maybe that should be the effort we should take, launch that effort now while there's still time.”

House File 517 is in the Senate Judiciary subcommittee.

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