Spike expected in local weapon permit issuance despite current dip

CEDAR RAPIDS — Rifles, shotguns, and artifacts from hunting expeditions adorn the walls of Sports Outfitters/Indoor Shooting Ranges on Cedar Rapids's southwest side.

A glass counter holds dozens of handguns, arranged according to caliber.

Even in the middle of a weekday, the store sees a steady stream of a customer or two checking out the merchandise. An occasional shot rings out from the downstairs shooting range.

And behind the counter, chatting up customers — some who he's known for decades — is the store's owner, Arlan Stegen.

Gone are the frenzied days of 2008 when President Barack Obama was elected, and 2012 when he was re-elected, when customers — fueled by concerns about increased gun regulations — were buying up 'three, four to a dozen' guns at a time, Stegen said.

Still, despite a dramatic decrease in permits to carry and permits to purchase issued by the Linn County Sheriff's Office, Stegen said business is fine these days.

'Our sales are not that bad,' he said. 'I'm not a big box store. I've got loyal customers.'

In January 2011, Iowa's shall-issue law went into effect, standardizing the process by which permits to carry a concealed weapon are obtained. Before that, sheriffs in each of Iowa's 99 counties exercised their own discretion in issuing permits.

But the shall-issue law removed that discretion and instead mandated that sheriff's issue permits to those who are not disqualified due to alcohol addiction or previous criminal activity, such as felony or domestic violence convictions.

With the law came a rush in permits being issued. In 2011, the Linn County Sheriff's Office gave out 5,699 non-professional carry permits and 1,681 purchase permits. In Johnson County, 2,290 carry permits were issued and 878 purchase permits.

Since then, however, the number of permits issued by those two departments have decreased considerably. Last year, only 835 carry permits were issued along with 455 permits-to-acquire in Johnson County. In Linn County, there were 1,791 carry permits and 938 purchase permits issued.

While the drop-off in permits issued is dramatic, the sheriff's in Linn and Johnson counties don't expect it to last. In fact, those numbers should rise against beginning at the end of this year when the initial permits issued in 2011 — which are good for five years — are up for renewal.

'Those numbers are going to skyrocket at the end of the year when the renewal comes up,' Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner said.

While many of Iowa's sheriffs expressed concerns about losing their discretion in issuing permits, the reality is gun violence among permit holders has not been an issue in the past four years, Gardner said. While Cedar Rapids has seen an increase in gun-related violence in recent years, Gardner said that's probably not related to the shall-issue law.

'I think you're going to find the vast majority of folks who are committing gun offenses never had a gun permit to begin with,' he said. 'The bad guys don't come knocking on my door asking for a permit.'

Still, concerns remain about the existing law.

Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said while the number of permits issued has gone down, he's seen an increase in permit revocations. Only one permit was revoked in all of 2011. But last year, there were 27 permits revoked.

And earlier this month, an Iowa City man, 33-year-old Bertran Perez, was arrested for drunken driving and threatening another man with a gun. Perez is a permit carrier in Johnson County, Pulkrabek said.

'Those are the kind of revocations we've started seeing increases in,' Pulkrabek said. 'There are people out there in large numbers that are not law-abiding citizens, including sex offenders, that are getting permits. That is what it is under the current law.'

Gardner said he's also been forced to issue weapons permits to individuals whose families have said are mentally incompetent but have not been adjudicated in court as such.

'It's important to understand, I'm not against the philosophy of shall-issue,' Gardner said. 'I'm against the philosophy of literally taking away all of the discretion I've ever had ...

We do believe that puts the public at risk.'

Even those in the gun business agree that changes should be made to the law. Stegen of Sports Outfitters, who has been in business for 45 years and estimates he's sold more than 60,000 guns, said he believes that people should not be able to obtain weapons permits after only taking an online course that doesn't require shooting a gun.

'They should have to qualify,' Stegen said.

Stegen said he's also irked that someone such as himself isn't licensed to host training classes. In addition to spending a lifetime in the gun business, Stegen has a Type 7 firearms license, which designates him as a manufacturer of firearms and ammunition.

'The law says you have to be an NRA instructor,' Stegen said. 'I have a Ph.D. in guns.'

Ernie Traugh, owner of Cedar Valley Outfitters in Marion, said the firearms industry in general had a bad year in 2014. While he sold a 'ton of guns in 2014,' those guns were sold 'at cost.'

Gun permits issued in Linn and Johnson counties

Traugh supplements his business by selling accessories, clothes and training.

Traugh said he's fine with the law as is, including allowing people to obtain their training online.

'Am I fine with it being legal? I absolutely am,' he said. 'But God forbid you have to use your firearm and it goes to court and you say you used the fastest, easiest training you found online.

'I want to go there saying, 'I tried to do everything I can to learn about this subject.' I'm a huge fan of training. I just don't like the government telling you have to do it.'

Traugh said he's also an opponent of ratcheting up the alcohol-based restrictions. The carry permit currently is not valid if the holder is legally intoxicated, but some would like to see that threshold strengthened.

'If I'm at (at a restaurant) having a beer with my meal and I have to save my life (with my firearm), I'm going to save my life,' he said.

For Gardner and Pulkrabek, the lax training requirements and being able to carry up to the point of intoxication do nothing to enhance public safety.

'I think they could take a good law and make it better by addressing those key issues,' Gardner said. 'As of yet, that has not occurred. We're at the point where you make do with what you have.'