Cedar Rapids considers allowing guns in cabs

City Council member Justin Shields wants a robust debate and some analysis from the city's legal team before the council votes to approve firearms in city-licensed taxi cabs.

Shields, chairman of the council's Public Safety Committee, brought the matter up at Tuesday night's council meeting to put his council colleagues and the public on alert that the council would be conducting a public hearing on May 24 about the guns-in-taxis matter.

Shields suggested that a proposed amendment to the current city taxi ordinance would allow drivers and passengers to carry firearms in cabs if they were legally licensed to carry a firearm.

“We need to have that discussed,” Shields said.

Shields asked City Attorney Jim Flitz to research recent changes in state law that has made it easier for people to carry firearms in public.

He noted that the proposed amendment to the city's taxi ordinance was coming in proximity to the stabbing murder of a female cabdriver in southeast Cedar Rapids.