Iowa lawmakers want to make gun permits secret
DES MOINES — Two Iowa lawmakers are working behind the scenes at the Iowa Capitol in a bid to block the public from obtaining the names of people who hold permits to carry weapons and purchase handguns.
The proposed legislation is intended to make personally identifiable information on gun permits, such as names, addresses, and dates of birth, confidential. Under current Iowa law, permits to carry weapons are open records that can be requested and disclosed to the public.
Sen. Steve Sodders, a Democrat from State Center, Iowa, chairman of the Iowa Senate Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Matt Windschitl, a Republican from Missouri Valley, said they are working cooperatively to develop firearms legislation.
One of the proposal's other provisions would permit Iowans to use suppressors on their firearms. A suppressor is a device attached to a weapon's barrel to reduce the noise and muzzle flash from firing.
"Yes, we are working on legislation to do those things," said Windschitl. "It is not public yet. We hope to have a bill that we can start the process on shortly."
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Sodders said he also is working with the National Rifle Association to help develop the legislation. Although the bill would prevent the release of personal identifying data about people who have gun permits, government agencies could release general statistical information, he said.
Two years ago, the Republican-led Iowa House voted 95-3 with no debate to prevent the public from accessing the names of people who obtain gun permits. But the measure died in the Iowa Senate, which is controlled by Democrats.
Gun rights advocates say Iowa is one of just a handful of states that allow public access to gun permit records. The measure to prohibit public access was introduced two years ago after the identities of weapons permit holders had been published in the aftermath of high-profile national shootings, including the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Dec. 14, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. In that shooting, a 20-year-old man fatally shot 20 children and six adult staff members.
In the wake of the shooting, The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News, which like The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY, are owned by Gannett Co. Inc., posted an online database of local gun-permit holders. The move sparked an outcry from callers who claimed the publication of the database put their safety at risk or violated their privacy and the National Rifle Association.
Janet Hasson, president and the publisher of The Journal News, stood her ground at the time, saying in a statement, "New York residents have the right to own guns with a permit and they also have a right to access public information."
Subsequently, New York passed a law where gun owners would have to submit opt-out forms to keep their records confidential.
Critics of New York's Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act said a better option would have been to keep records private and allow people to opt-in if they wanted their information available to the public.
Scott Sundstrom, a lobbyist for the Iowa Newspaper Association and the Iowa Broadcasters Association, said his clients oppose secrecy for Iowa gun permit records.
"Knowing who has a permit to carry concealed weapons is important information for the public to know," Sundstrom said. "While Second Amendment rights are very important, I think that it is reasonable to know who has those permits so the public can know if your neighbor has weapons and if your teacher has weapons."
Sundstrom said a common argument for making the names of permit holders confidential is to keep them from being targeted by criminals wanting to steal their weapons. There is no evidence that making these records confidential would reduce criminal activity, he said. In fact, he added it's just as likely that having the names public reduces the likelihood of the permit holder being targeted by burglars, since a burglary gone bad could be more dangerous.
Sodders, who is a Marshall County deputy sheriff, said it's nobody's business if he has a gun in his house. He also suggested that knowledge of who has gun permits could lead to break-ins at the homes of people who don't hold gun permits.
"So the discussion is: What is really needed for public knowledge? That is more like the stats. How many people got them this month? Male? Female? What are the percentages? What are the ages? All of that will still be open to the public," Sodders said.
It's important to recognize that Iowans can't obtain gun permits until they have passed all the legal requirements, and they can't be felons or have a record of domestic assaults, Sodders added.
Windschitl, a professional gunsmith who assists in his family's gun shop in Missouri Valley, said average Iowans cannot currently own, sell or transport a firearms suppressor. The only people who can are licensed by the federal government, and he said they have a specific exemption.
The proposal being developed would allow Iowans who want to go through the federal regulation process to be able to obtain permission to have firearms suppressors, Windschitl said.
"It is an extensive process. It is not just where you walk in and purchase one," Windschitl said. "You have to do background checks, you have to send in fingerprint cards, you have to pay a $200 tax stamp, per suppressor, per purchase.
"So it is very regulated."
Contributing: The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News; Gannett Albany (N.Y.) bureau.