More than 148,000 people in Iowa applied for a permit to carry a weapon in public in the past two years, and 99.6 percent gained approval, a Des Moines Register investigation shows.
Public records from Iowa’s 99 county sheriffs show that just 621 permit applications were denied during the first 24 months in which a state law — designed to give law enforcement officers little leeway in determining who is allowed to carry a weapon — was in effect.
The Register’s statewide analysis of hundreds of public records is the first examination of how the new law is working. Even Iowa officials had been unable to determine what percentage of permits were granted, because the state does not keep track of denied permits.
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