<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><div><span> This is not so black and white as our intuition would have us first think. If people that cannot think well can own a gun, why not people that cannot see well. Crooks will rob a house of a person that is blind while they are home, they did it to my cousin. I think a burglar would be less likely to enter a person's home or rob a blind person if they believed or knew they were armed. Also, how does an attacker know if a blind person is completely blind when pointing a gun at them? A pet dog could easily bark in the direction a trespasser. If a blind woman was being assaulted, she would not need to see to successfully shoot an attacker. We have to remember, the elderly, small women, the blind, and the disabled are often first targets. They are not idiots, and would not be randomly shooting at moving blurry objects
in hopes they hit the right person. It is the stupid people with guns that scare me, and it sure does seem like their is a surplus of those. </span></div><div><span></span> </div><div><span>Donovan J. Arnold</span></div><div><br></div> <div style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <div style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div dir="ltr"> <div class="hr" style="margin: 5px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); height: 0px; line-height: 0; font-size: 0px;" contenteditable="false" readonly="true"></div> <font face="Arial" size="2"> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Ron Force <rforce2003@yahoo.com><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> Moscow Vision2020 <vision2020@moscow.com> <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Sunday, September 8, 2013 7:42 PM<br> <b><span style="font-weight:
bold;">Subject:</span></b> [Vision2020] Will Idaho be far behind?<br> </font> </div> <div class="y_msg_container"><br><div id="yiv7305119517"><div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="yiv7305119517ody-hgroup" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom-color: rgb(44, 44, 44); border-bottom-width: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid;"><h1 style="margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 8px; font-size: 30px;">Iowa grants permits for blind residents to carry guns in public</h1><h2 style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); padding-bottom: 23px; font-size: 18px;">Sheriffs and advocates are divided on whether that's a good idea.</h2><h6 style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); padding-bottom: 12px; font-size: 11px; font-weight: normal;"><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></div><span class="yiv7305119517fb_recommend" style="float: right;
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1px 25px 1px 10px; outline: 0px; color: white; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: none; float: left; background-image: url("http://www.desmoinesregister.com/odygci/p2/spritesheet_nr.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);' href="" rel="nofollow">Purchase Image</a><a class="yiv7305119517ody-zoompic yiv7305119517AR" style='background-position: -457px -1316px; padding: 1px 10px 1px 25px; outline: 0px; color: white; text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: none; float: right; background-image: url("http://www.desmoinesregister.com/odygci/p2/spritesheet_nr.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);' href="" rel="nofollow">ZOOM</a></div></div><h6 style="margin: 0px; padding: 9px 0px 20px; width: 300px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); line-height: 15px; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal;">Michael Barber examines a gun with his hands at Bass Pro Shop in Altoona last
month. 'When you shoot a gun, you take it out and point and shoot, and I don't necessarily think eyesight is necessary,' said Barber, who is blind. / Andrea Melendez/The Register</h6></div></div><div class="yiv7305119517ody-image-wrapper-extra-a" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></div><div class="yiv7305119517ody-facts-wrapper" style="margin: 0px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 0px; width: 300px; height: 96px; overflow: hidden; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-top-style: none;"><div class="yiv7305119517ody-bo-lg" id="yiv7305119517ody-para-facts" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; color: rgb(44, 44, 44); line-height: 24px; font-size: 14px;">When can
sheriffs deny carry permits?</h3><div style="padding: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); line-height: 18px; font-size: 12px;">Iowa law lists a handful of circumstances when county sheriffs can deny citizens permits to carry weapons, but being visually disabled is not one of them. Sheriffs can deny permits if: <br>• A person is less than 18 years of age for a professional permit or less than 21 years of age for a nonprofessional permit. <br>• An applicant is addicted to the use of alcohol. (That generally means an individual cannot have alcohol-related offenses such as public intoxication or driving drunk for three years before obtaining a permit.) <br>• Probable cause exists to believe, based upon documented specific actions of the person where at least one of the actions occurred within two years immediately preceding the date of the permit application, that the person is likely to use a weapon unlawfully or in another manner that
would endanger the person or others. <br>• The applicant has, within the previous three years, been convicted of any serious or aggravated misdemeanor defined in Chapter 708 of Iowa law not involving the use of a firearm or explosive. <br>• The applicant is prohibited by federal law from shipping, transporting, possessing or receiving a firearm. <br>• The applicant is subject to the provisions of Section 724.26 of Iowa law. These provisions include: (A) felony conviction; (B) a person who is an adjudicated delinquent in federal or state court on charges that, if committed by an adult, would constitute a felony; (C) a person subject to a protective order to restrain them from harassing, stalking or threatening an intimate partner or child of an intimate partner; (D) misdemeanor crime of domestic violence conviction. <br><i>Sources: Iowa Department of Public Safety, Section 724.8 of Iowa law</i></div></div><div
class="yiv7305119517ody-bo-lg" id="yiv7305119517ody-para-facts" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; color: rgb(44, 44, 44); line-height: 24px; font-size: 14px;"><b>AROUND </b><b>THE U.S.: INCIDENTS WITH BLIND PEOPLE, GUN RIGHTS</b></h3><div style="padding: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); line-height: 18px; font-size: 12px;">While rare, there have been cases around the country in the past decade where blind people with guns have run into legal trouble. <br><b>NEW JERSEY: </b>Perhaps the most high-profile case involved blind New Jersey resident Steven Hopler. Police confiscated his guns five years ago following an incident in which he shot his own leg. <br>Authorities cited not only that incident but a series of other situations that involved alcohol and guns. But since then, a judge has ruled that Hopler’s disability — alcoholism — does not disqualify him from his constitutional right to
bear arms. <br><b>KENTUCKY:</b> In
a 2005 case, Carolyn Ann Key was fined $100 and had to temporarily surrender her gun and permit after carrying a handgun into the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Louisville. Key was unaware of signs that stated weapons were prohibited in the medical center. <br>Kentucky laws don’t specifically restrict blind people from obtaining weapons permits but do require a person to take a test and hit a human-sized target at least 11 times out of 20 at a distance of 21 feet. <br>Key said that an instructor led her into a booth and told her the target was in front of her. She could see light and shadows, and could make out the target’s silhouette enough to pass, according to a 2005 Associated Press report. Federal prosecutor McKay Chauvin said allowing blind people to obtain weapons permits made as much sense as giving the blind a license to drive. The law, however, was not changed. <br>— Jason Clayworth</div></div><img
class="yiv7305119517ody-factbox-fade" style="border-width: 0px; width: 300px; height: 40px; display: block;" alt="" src="http://www.desmoinesregister.com/odygci/p2/factboxfade.png"></div><div class="yiv7305119517ody-image-wrapper-extra-b" style="margin: 0px; padding: 20px 0px 0px;"></div><div class="yiv7305119517more" id="yiv7305119517factsMore" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; width: 300px; text-align: center; clear: both; border-top-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); border-top-width: 4px; border-top-style: solid;"><div class="yiv7305119517st_hide" style='background-position: -597px -16px; padding: 0px 4px 0px 14px; width: 30px; height: 19px; line-height: 17px; font-size: 10px; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; background-image: url("http://www.desmoinesregister.com/odygci/p2/spritesheet_nr.png"); background-attachment: scroll; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-color: rgb(229, 229, 229);'>More</div></div><div
class="yiv7305119517ody-related-links" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 20px;"><div class="yiv7305119517ody-bo-lg" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><h5 style="margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 14px;">RELATED LINKS</h5><ul style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 18px;"><li style="list-style: none; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 16px; font-size: 12px;"><a style="outline: 0px; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.desmoinesregister.com/relart/20130908/NEWS/309080074" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Sheriff: I can teach a blind person to safely operate a gun</a></li><li style="list-style: none; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 16px; font-size: 12px;"><a style="outline: 0px; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.desmoinesregister.com/relart/20130908/NEWS/309080071" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Blind man buying gun: 'Public
has a misperception about blindness'</a></li><li style="list-style: none; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 16px; font-size: 12px;"><a style="outline: 0px; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.desmoinesregister.com/relart/20130908/NEWS/309080066" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Blind Algona man with gun permit: We need to respect limitations</a></li><li style="list-style: none; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 16px; font-size: 12px;"><a style="outline: 0px; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.desmoinesregister.com/relart/20130908/NEWS/309080065" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Blind Newton man: Carrying a weapon is my right</a></li></ul></div></div></div><div id="yiv7305119517artpagination" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="yiv7305119517content-wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto; color: rgb(44, 44, 44); line-height: 13px; overflow:
visible; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; float: none;"><div class="yiv7305119517gel-content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="yiv7305119517gel-pane yiv7305119517gpagediv" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">Here’s some news that has law enforcement officials and lawmakers scratching their heads:</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">Iowa is granting permits to acquire or carry guns in public to people who are legally or completely blind.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">No one questions the legality of the permits. State law does not allow sheriffs to deny an Iowan the right to carry a weapon based on physical ability.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px;
line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">The quandary centers squarely on
public safety. Advocates for the disabled and Iowa law enforcement officers disagree over whether it’s a good idea for visually disabled Iowans to have weapons.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">On one side: People such as Cedar County Sheriff Warren Wethington, who demonstrated for the Register how blind people can be taught to shoot guns. And Jane Hudson, executive director of Disability Rights Iowa, who says blocking visually impaired people from the right to obtain weapon permits would violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. That federal law generally prohibits different treatment based on disabilities.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">On the other side: People such as Dubuque County Sheriff Don Vrotsos, who said he wouldn’t issue a permit to someone who is blind. And Patrick Clancy, superintendent of
the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School, who says guns may be a rare exception to his philosophy that blind people can participate fully in life.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">Private gun ownership — even hunting — by visually impaired Iowans is nothing new. But the practice of visually impaired residents legally carrying firearms in public became widely possible thanks to gun permit changes that took effect in Iowa in 2011.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">“It seems a little strange, but the way the law reads, we can’t deny them (a permit) just based on that one thing,” said Sgt. Jana Abens, a spokeswoman for the Polk County sheriff’s office, referring to a visual disability.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">Polk County officials
say they’ve issued weapons permits to at least three people who can’t legally drive and were unable to read the application forms or had difficulty doing so because of visual impairments.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">And sheriffs in three other counties — Jasper, Kossuth and Delaware — say they have granted permits to residents who they believe have severe visual impairments.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">“I’m not an expert in vision,” Delaware Sheriff John LeClere said. “At what point do vision problems have a detrimental effect to fire a firearm? If you see nothing but a blurry mass in front of you, then I would say you probably shouldn’t be shooting something.”</div><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 5px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px;">One county sheriff shows how to train visually
impaired</h3><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">In one Iowa county, blind residents who want weapons would likely receive special training.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">Wethington, the Cedar County sheriff, has a legally blind daughter who plans to obtain a permit to carry when she turns 21 in about two years. He demonstrated for the Register how he would train blind people who want to carry a gun.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">“If sheriffs spent more time trying to keep guns out of criminals’ hands and not people with disabilities, their time would be more productive,” Wethington told the Register as he and his daughter took turns practice shooting with a semi-automatic handgun on private property in rural Cedar County.</div><div
style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">The number of visually impaired or blind Iowans who can legally carry weapons in public is unknown because that information is not collected by the state or county sheriffs who issue the permits.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">The Register became aware that a handful of Iowans with visual impairments can carry weapons in public because county sheriffs and their staffs recalled issuing those permits. Sheriff officials in most of the cases said they were uncertain about the extent of the visual impairments.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">Clancy, superintendent of the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School, said the range of sight among people who are classified as legally blind varies greatly. He believes there are
situations where such applicants can safely handle a gun.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">However, he also expressed concerns.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">“Although people who are blind can participate fully in nearly all life’s experiences, there are some things, like the operation of a weapon, that may very well be an exception,” Clancy said.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">It’s an issue that musician Stevie Wonder, who has been blind since birth, called attention to in January.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">“Imagine me with a gun. It’s just crazy,” Wonder told CNN while calling for reforms to what he has previously called “ridiculous” gun
laws.</div><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 5px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px;">Some states do consider vision in issuing permits</h3><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">The Gun Control Act of 1968 and other federal laws do not prohibit blind people from owning guns. But unlike Iowa, some states have laws that spell out whether visually impaired people can obtain weapon permits.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">Vision requirements are either directly or indirectly part of the weapon permit criteria in some surrounding states.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">In Nebraska, for example, applicants for a permit to carry a concealed handgun must provide “proof of vision” by either presenting a valid state driver’s license or a statement by an eye
doctor that the person meets vision requirements set for a typical vehicle operator’s license.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">Other states have indirect requirements that could — but don’t automatically — disqualify people who are blind. That includes Missouri and Minnesota, where applicants must complete a live fire test, which means they have to shoot and hit a target.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">A 50-state database of gun permit requirements published by USACarry.com also shows that South Carolina has a law that requires proof of vision before a person is approved for a weapons permit.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">Wisconsin, like Iowa, has no visual restrictions on gun permit applicants. Illinois lawmakers enacted a concealed
weapons law in July, but permits have not yet been issued.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">Illinois’ qualifications don’t specifically require a visual test, but applicants must complete firearms training that includes range instruction.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">The National Federation of the Blind does not track states that require vision tests as part of weapon permit processes and has not taken an official stand on the issue. But its members are generally opposed to such laws, said Chris Danielsen, director of public relations for the group.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">“There’s no reason solely on the (basis) of blindness that a blind person shouldn’t be allowed to carry a weapon,” Danielsen said. “Presumably
they’re going to have enough sense not to use a weapon in a situation where they would endanger other people, just like we would expect other people to have that common sense.”</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">Iowa requires training for anyone who is issued a permit to carry a weapon in public, but that requirement can be satisfied through an online course that does not include any hands-on instruction or a shooting test.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">A provision in Iowa’s law allows sheriffs to deny a permit if probable cause exists to believe that the person is likely to use the weapon in such a way that it would endanger himself or others.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">Many sheriffs noted, however, that the provision relates to
specific documented actions, and applicants who appealed their cases would likely win.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">Vrotsos, the Dubuque County sheriff, did not know whether any blind people had applied for permits in his county, but said he wouldn’t hesitate to deny them.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">“We do not track these applicants, but ... if I knew the person was blind ... a permit would not be issued, and this person would then have the right to appeal,” Vrotsos said.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">But Hudson, executive director of Disability Rights Iowa, believes changing the state law to deny blind people or others with physical disabilities the right to carry arms would violate federal disability law.</div><div
style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">Part of the Americans with Disabilities Act requires a public entity to conduct an individualized analysis to make a reasonable judgment before denying a service. Hudson believes someone could successfully challenge Nebraska’s proof of vision requirement as illegal.</div><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">“The fact that you can’t drive a car doesn’t mean you can’t go to a shooting range and see a target,” Hudson said.</div><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 5px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px;">Other issues cited by Iowa sheriffs</h3><div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 160px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">The Des Moines Register earlier this year published reports about Iowa’s 2011 law that requires sheriffs to adopt uniform standards in issuing permits to
carry weapons in public. Read about issues cited by Iowa sheriffs, such as gaps in their ability to search a person’s background for mental health problems and their inability to deny permits to sex offenders. Find complete coverage at<b><a style="outline: 0px; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.desmoinesregister.com/section/news&keyword=gun_permits&template=keywords" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">DesMoinesRegister.com/gunpermits</a>.</b></div><div><b><br></b></div></div></div></div><div class="yiv7305119517sharelinks-bottomwrapper" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto; color: rgb(44, 44, 44); line-height: 13px; overflow: visible; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; float: none;"><div class="yiv7305119517toolswrapper yiv7305119517bottom" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="yiv7305119517toolsArticle yiv7305119517facetwitt yiv7305119517bottom"
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