Originally Posted by
Pawildman
I've had a CCW permit here in PA for quite a few years now. It's reviewed and renewed every 5 yrs., and I think I'm up for renewal for the 3rd time this yr.
.......I can't even imagine the PITA some of you have to go thru for this ability. Good to see Iowa so close. I have a very good friend who lives outside Des Moines.... I'm gonna let him know if he doesn't already.
.......NRA Endowment Life Member.......... It does matter.....
Your friend might already have a permit. Polk county, where Des Moines is located, is basically run shall issue by the Sheriff. That's the real rub of Iowa law as it is today. The Polk cty Sheriff can issue permits to anyone who applies and meets the minimum qualifications set by current law, and his permits are valid state wide. But the liberal Dem Sheriff of Johnson County, where I live in a suburb of Iowa City, may issue no non-professional permits for any reason, which is the case currently. But your friend from Des Moines with a CCW permit can carry in Johnson County and there isn't a darn thing the Johnson County Sheriff can do about it. That's the problem with the current system in Iowa. The law gives each of the 99 county sheriffs carte blanche discretionary authority over permit issuance, and can simply choose to deny the citizens of his county the right to carry on a whim, and there is no appeals process. The Johnson County Sheriff will even go so far as to allow an applicant to go through the entire application process, which coincidentally involves a couple non-refundable fees payable to the Sheriff's office up front, knowing full well that that applicant has no hope of being granted a permit.
Mike