SF 2095 (LSB 1756SZ (3) 88)

SENATE FILE 2095

BY  COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY

(SUCCESSOR TO SF 587)
(SUCCESSOR TO SSB 1007)

A BILL FOR

An Act allowing county attorneys and assistant county attorneys to obtain a professional permit to carry weapons. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 724.6, Code 2020, is amended to read as follows:
   724.6  Professional permit to carry weapons.
   1.  a.  A person may be issued a permit to carry weapons when the person’s employment in a private investigation business or private security business licensed under chapter 80A, or a person’s employment as a peace officer, correctional officer, county attorney, assistant county attorney, security guard, bank messenger or other person transporting property of a value requiring security, or in police work, reasonably justifies that person going armed.
   b.  The permit shall be on a form prescribed and published by the commissioner of public safety, shall identify the holder, and shall state the nature of the employment requiring the holder to go armed. A permit so issued, other than to a peace officer, shall authorize the person to whom it is issued to go armed anywhere in the state, only while engaged in the employment, and while going to and from the place of the employment.
   c.  A permit issued to a county attorney or an assistant county attorney shall authorize that county attorney or assistant county attorney to go armed anywhere in the state at all times except on the grounds of a school or beyond a security screening station at a courthouse subject to the rules, directives, and procedures of the judicial branch and the judicial district. A county attorney or an assistant county attorney seeking a professional permit to carry weapons pursuant to this section shall complete a firearm safety training course offered pursuant to section 724.9, subsection 1, paragraph “e”, and shall not be disqualified under section 724.8.
   c.  d.  A permit issued to a certified peace officer shall authorize that peace officer to go armed anywhere in the state at all times, including on the grounds of a school. 
   d.  e.  Permits shall expire twelve months after the date when issued except that permits issued to peace officers and correctional officers, county attorneys, and assistant county attorneys are valid through the officer’s person’s period of employment unless otherwise canceled. When the employment is terminated, the holder of the permit shall surrender it to the issuing officer for cancellation.
   2.  Notwithstanding subsection 1, fire fighters, as defined in section 411.1, subsection 10, airport fire fighters included under section 97B.49B, and emergency medical care providers, as defined in section 147A.1, county attorneys, as defined in section 331.751, and assistant county attorneys, as defined in section 331.757 shall not, as a condition of employment, be required to obtain a permit under this section. However, the provisions of this subsection shall not apply to a person designated as an arson investigator by the chief fire officer of a political subdivision.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   Under Code section 724.6, a person may be issued a professional permit to carry weapons when the person’s employment in a private investigation business or private security business, or a person’s employment as a peace officer, correctional officer, security guard, bank messenger or other person transporting property of a value requiring security, or in police work, reasonably justifies that person going armed. This bill amends Code section 724.6 to allow county attorneys and assistant county attorneys to obtain a professional permit to carry weapons. A professional permit to carry weapons issued to a county attorney or assistant county attorney authorizes that person to go armed anywhere in the state at all times except on the grounds of a school or beyond a security screening station at a courthouse subject to the rules, directives, and procedures of the judicial branch and the judicial district. A county attorney or an assistant county attorney seeking a professional permit to carry weapons pursuant to the bill shall complete a law enforcement agency firearm safety training course that qualifies a peace officer to carry a firearm in the normal course of the peace officer’s duties, and not be disqualified from obtaining a professional or nonprofessional permit to carry weapons. Permits issued to county attorneys and assistant county attorneys are valid through that person’s period of employment unless otherwise cancelled. The bill provides that county attorneys and assistant county attorneys, as a condition of their employment, shall not be required to obtain a professional permit to carry weapons.