A bill that’s being worked on in the Iowa Legislature is eliminating the need for a permit to purchase and carry a firearm.

District 24 Senator Jerry Behn says they are trying to loosen restrictions for those that follow the law and further protect their Second Amendment rights. “The very notion that you have to have a permit to carry somehow makes you a better individual to carry implies that everybody is going to conform to the code and everybody is going to follow the laws, which they do not. So the idea was if you just do away with the permit it’s not that big of a deal, it’s not going to increase crime. The current statute as provided is something that’s inconvenient for law-abiding citizens and a criminal breaks the law and gets a gun anyway and doesn’t care.”

Jefferson Police Chief Mark Clouse was surprised when the legislature previously took away the county sheriff’s ability to issue permits to carry a firearm, he thought that was a step in the wrong direction and he believes that by completely getting rid of the permits to purchase and carry is further going down the wrong path.

“My belief is when we’re young and we turn 16 we aren’t just given the car keys and we don’t jump in the car and just take off driving. We have driver’s ed to make sure that we know the laws of the road and how to drive safely. By these permits and things going away, and background searches going away-part of that may be classes going away-I don’t think that if you don’t know how to properly load your firearm and carry it safely, you probably shouldn’t have it. That aspect of it concerns me greatly.”

Behn says he’s in full support of the bill as it works its way into a Senate committee. A similar bill is being worked on in the House.