Some communities have faced resistance to gun bans

Part 2 in a series on Iowa gun laws. Read Part 1 here.

It's been five years since Iowa became a 'shall issue” state, a change that removed a sheriff's discretion when issuing a gun permit.

In response, several city councils and county boards have passed or tried to approve weapons bans on city- or county-owned property.

In the past few months, city councils in Hubbard, Kalona and North Liberty scheduled meetings to discuss gun bans or gun-free zone requirements. In all three cities, officials say they were flooded with emails and phone calls and witnessed packed public meetings.

Officials pointed to one group in particular, Iowa Gun Owners, as the driving force behind what has been described as an overwhelming response from the public whenever the gun debate picks up.

'The number of people was far greater than we have at a regular meeting, and it was pretty much one-sided,” North Liberty council member Terry Donahue said. 'The thing at the meetings was, there was a pretty tense atmosphere going into each one. The information that was prompted by the Iowa Gun Owners association really helped stir the pot, I think, more than it needed to be. It seemed like it became a life-or-death issue for them.”

However, Aaron Dorr, Iowa Gun Owners executive director, said the massive response from gun owners merely demonstrates the size of the group.

'Everywhere this comes up, gun owners come out in droves to defend their right to keep and bear arms,” Dorr said. 'There is an overwhelming amount of support for gun rights here in Iowa, and we have an overwhelming amount of people.”

Gun bans follow ‘shall issue' change

On the heels of the 2011 change, which resulted in a more than sixfold increase in Iowa gun permits since, several Iowa communities debated local resolutions to ban guns on city- or county-owned property. Many municipalities, including Iowa City and Johnson County, ultimately passed gun bans in early 2011.

In place for almost five years, neither ban has been challenged in court and, according to a 2003 opinion from the Iowa Attorney General's Office, Iowa Code allows cities and counties to regulate firearms on city-owned or county-owned property.

Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said people seen carrying a firearm in a gun-ban zone may be asked to leave, and if they refuse a trespassing charge could be pursued.

'To my knowledge, I don't know if the county has had any complaints or problems, I'm not aware of any cases,” Pulkrabek said.

When Iowa City discussed its ban in February 2011, nine people spoke against the resolution, with only two of them Iowa City residents.

Johnson County Supervisor Pat Harney recalled little turnout from the public when the county's gun ban was discussed. Only a few emails were received in opposition.

'Other than that, we did not have a large amount of resistance,” Harney said.

North Liberty's council has had gun-ban discussions three times since Iowa became a 'shall issue” state, with the resolution never making it to a vote in 2011 and failing in 2013 with a 3-2 vote, according to city documents.

North Liberty Chief Diane Venenga said no one from the public took part in discussion in 2013.

But that drastically changed last November, when the council revived the discussion of a gun ban for the third time.

Cities renew discussion

In the past four months, at least three Iowa cities have debated and dismissed gun bans.

Following an inquiry about whether the North Liberty Community Library should be a gun-free zone, the council scheduled a public discussion in November and included a draft of the failed 2013 gun ban legislation in the meeting information packet as a reference point to a possible ban.

The city received hundreds of emails and phone calls in the day that preceded the meeting.

'Between answered calls, voice mails, Facebook messages, emails and messages that came into the city website, it was 300 in the 24 hours (before the meeting), and of course after that meeting we continued to receive them,” North Liberty Mayor Amy Nielsen recalled. 'We very rarely hear from people about things on the agenda, when we do it's maybe an email or two if it's a really big topic.”

Several with the city attributed the massive public reaction to Iowa Gun Owners and Dorr, who notified members of the upcoming meeting.

Iowa Gun Owners

The not-for-profit's Facebook page boasts more than 239,000 'likes” and while a specific number of members was not made available, Dorr said Iowa Gun Owners - which bills itself as 'Iowa's only No-Compromise Gun Rights Organization” - has thousands of members across the state from all walks of life.

Founded in 2009, Iowa Gun Owners still was growing its membership in 2011 when communities such as Iowa City proposed and passed their gun bans, Dorr said.

As has been shown at recent meetings across the state that involve gun-ban discussions, the group has built an organized and passionate following.

'I would say these are the largest crowds these city councils have ever experienced,” Dorr said.

City officials in Hubbard, Kalona and North Liberty said the turnout at gun-ban discussions is unusually large compared to other meetings. But their concern lies with the manner in which Iowa Gun Owners presents information to its members.

Last month, following an incident at the Hubbard Public Library during which an individual who required medical attention was found to be carrying two loaded 9 mm handguns, Mayor Marshall Simmerman requested city staff investigate state law for gun-free zones, which includes any public building within 1,000 feet of a school or park.

A post on Dec. 11 the Iowa Gun Owners's website read: 'Now, we need your help to stop an attack on your gun rights in tiny, little Hubbard, IA - where Mayor Marshall Simmerman is proposing to the Hubbard City Council to make all city-owned property a ‘weapons free zone.'”

Simmerman said Dorr's comments were not only inaccurate, but they fueled the group's members with misinformation.

'The Iowa Gun Owners made it an issue, it was 100 percent fabricated in mistruths,” Simmerman said.

North Liberty's Mayor Nielsen described the atmosphere at the two public discussions on her city's proposed gun ban as 'hostile.”

'They just would not listen to reason, they would not take what I was saying as the truth, which it was ...

,” Neilsen said.

Dorr, who said the number of proposed gun bans in Iowa communities ebbs and flows and the group has challenged four past year and seven in 2014, described such incidents as in Hubbard and North Liberty as victories.

'The bottom line is they were moving to restrict people's gun rights in North Liberty, and in Hubbard, and in Kalona and Winnebago County, and gun owners came out there and stopped it,” he said. 'They can whine about the details on when things are going to happen, but these are the guys who are initiating the attacks on our gun rights, our members will always be there to fight for those rights.”

It's possible cities such as North Liberty will revisit the discussion and for new communities to consider a gun ban.

When that happens, for better or worse, those elected officials likely will cross paths with Iowa Gun Owners.

'We will stand with our members anywhere in Iowa - river to river - to fight against these types of attacks,” Dorr said.