As expected, number of gun permits surges under new state rules

The number of people licensed to carry handguns in Eastern Iowa surged, as expected, in January - the first month under the law that changed Iowa from a “may issue” to a “shall issue” state.

In Johnson County, for example, which issued 552 permits to carry in all of 2010, Sheriff's Office clerks handled 570 applications in January.

With the increased administrative workload, they managed to issue 351 permits and carried over 219 for completion this month.

In Linn County, which has operated as a shall-issue county since Brian Gardner took office as sheriff on Jan. 1, 2009, the number of applicants under the new law still almost exceeded the 2010 total.

“That does surprise me. Most of the new applicants would have been eligible under the old law,” said Gardner.

Anticipating some pent-up demand, Linn County stopped taking applications under the old law and started taking them under the law on Nov. 15.

In the first 10-1/2 months of 2010, Linn County issued 1,455 permits, Gardner said. Between Nov. 15 and Jan. 31, the county issued 1,406 permits, he said.

Nor has the demand abated in February. Through the first nine days of the month, Linn County issued another 218 permits, Gardner said.

As in Linn and Johnson counties, the number of Washington County residents licensed to carry handguns nearly doubled in January, said Sgt. William Fiordelise.

Through 2010, the county had issued about 180 carry permits and added 170 new ones last month, he said.

Washington County had been operating as a may-issue county, in which the sheriff exercises discretion in the issuance of permits, “so we were expecting a big surge,” he said.

“One guy said he came in to get it just because he could,” Fiordelise said.

Sam Knowles, the Iowa Department of Public Safety's bureau chief, said he anticipated sharp increases in applications in the counties whose sheriffs had been most restrained in issuing permits to carry.

Knowles said he was surprised to see big surges in counties such as Polk, which had operated as a shall-issue county before the law change.

Deputy Jana Rooker of the Polk County Sheriff's Office said she was, too.

In January 2010, she said, her office handled 213 applications for permits to carry. In January 2011, her office handled 1,860 such applications - about a ninefold increase.

“We were basically shall issue before. We've denied very few applications in the past - approximately 1 percent,” she said.

Knowles said the increased interest among Iowans in carrying weapons actually began in 2008, when, at the end of the year, the state had issued 29,997 permits. By the end of 2009, he said, that number had increased to 36,246, and at the end of last year it was at 37,523, according to preliminary figures.

Knowles said the increases of last month have been spurred by more than just the change in Iowa law. Knowles and Sheriff Gardner said they believe widespread publicity about the law change has created a heightened awareness among Iowans of their right to carry weapons.

Gardner said the law's relaxed training requirements and the elimination of the range qualification requirement imposed by many sheriffs also have encouraged many Iowans to acquire permits.

Sean McClanahan, president of the Iowa Firearms Coalition, which lobbied for the state's liberalized weapons carry law, said the wider range of training options now available to applicants under the law has, along with media attention to the issue, contributed to the surge.

In Cedar County, which had a total of 198 weapons permits through 2010, 67 new permits were issued in January, and the surge has continued this month, with applications for 43 new permits received in the first 10 days of February.

Delaware County issued 50 new permits in January, which compares with about five per month in previous years. Iowa County issued 140 new permits in January, which compares with a yearly total of 559 in 2010.

Large surges were also processed in Benton and Buchanan counties, which issued 132 and 68 new permits, respectively, in January.