More permits with new law, and more "standards"

Who would have thought that?

Contributing to a few little falsehoods, like:

The fact that people can receive a permit without being required to have previous training or experience is one reason there have been so many applications, [Webster County Sheriff] Mickelson said.

New law requires NRA training or previous military experience. I guess that doesn't count.

Even though there hasn't been a problem with citizens mishandling firearms in his county, Sheriff Mickelson is wanting a change to fix something that isn't an issue:

Though there hasn't been an increase in gun related incidents, Mickelson said, his biggest concern is that not everyone applying for a permit has adequate weapon-handling experience.

"I think a new person that's never handled a gun before should be able to fire it and know how to handle it, but you don't have to do that," he said.

And he has the in-depth knowledge of everyone's firearm experience? I don't go out shooting with anyone in our sheriffs department. How would they know what kind of experience (or lack of ) unless they shadow each applicant.

And how about this bit:

Previously, the state Legislature had required that people applying for a gun permit had to have some prior weapons experience.

Actually it was up to the sheriffs where each county had a different standard. Some counties basically followed the current state law, others (if they would even allow permits) had a tougher standard.

Mickelson's solution to the non-problem problem?

His proposed solution? Standardized training throughout the state, as well as standardized ID cards.

"There's no standard they have to go by in the state of Iowa. That's what really needs to be done," he said. "It's just a little scary when they only have to take a written test. In fact, some of them aren't taking the test."

Make it even tougher to exercise one of your rights. Added hoplophobia bonus points for throwing in the "scary" adjective.

You can read all of the good sheriff's comments over at: Sheriff’s departments deal with more gun permit requests