Muscatine Journal: "Gun law transition smooth"

Iowa's new "shall issue" law went into effect January 1st and the news media in the state have been reporting the heck out of it, often with a can you believe that they're doing this? tone.  Here's a rare news story that doesn't sensationalize the new law, found in the Muscatine Journal, that interviews an equally rare sheriff that supported passage of the new law.

The new law eliminates a sheriff’s discretion in issuing a permit to carry a weapon, except to convicted felons and people convicted of a domestic assault.

[Muscatine County Sheriff Dave] White hailed the uniformity of the new law.

“People used to be restricted by what a sheriff’s feelings were,” he said. “There were 99 counties with 99 sets of rules.”

White said he doesn’t mind giving up a little bit of his authority if it means Muscatine County’s 42,934 residents will be safer.

“We were told that if we let this happen, we will lose some of our power,” White said. “I’ve been in law enforcement since 1973, and I didn’t get into it for the power. We get into this line of work because we want to protect people and see crime rates go down.”

And it has, he said, in many of the 39 other states that have adopted “shall issue” laws.

“The likelihood that people will have to use a weapon (to defend themselves or others) is pretty slim,” he said. “But people want to have that option. They don’t want to be a victim.”

Yikes, common sense!  How did that get into print?  You can read the entire article here.