The recent debate over blind people in Iowa having the right to a gun permit and allowed to carry a firearm has garnered attention nationally.

State lawmakers set certain guidelines in 2010 when the new “shall issue” topic was made into law.  State Representative Chip Baltimore wasn’t a part of the legislature when the new law was created, but is in full support of it.

The law now states that a person who applies for a permit to carry a firearm shall be granted the permit unless they are ineligible for one of the following reasons:  under the age of 21, addicted to alcohol, likely to use it unlawfully, subject to a domestic violence protective order, a convicted felon, been convicted of a serious or aggravated misdemeanor within the previous three years, or is prohibited under federal law from possessing a firearm.

Baltimore states that the 2010 law was established because the legislators wanted to have a uniform way for Iowans to exercise their right to bare arms.  Previously, it was solely up to each county sheriff who received a gun permit and who did not.

According to Greene County Sheriff Steve Haupert, people were required to have ten hours of training with four hours of classroom time and six hours on the gun range.  Now, the law states that each person who wants a permit to carry only has to pass the four hours in the classroom, which he disagrees with.

“I firmly believe that we have issued permits to some people that actually have never shot a firearm before and that troubles me a little bit, but right now state law says that (a) four-hour course and we will issue the permit.”

However, both Baltimore and Haupert agree that they have no trouble with blind people carrying a firearm, in fact, Sheriff Haupert says he’s issued several permits to people who are blind and notes that if he knows the person and knows their capabilities, he has no problem issuing a permit to them.