Joshua Duehr is one of more than 50 sex offenders in Iowa who can carry a gun in public.
"I don't leave the house without one," said Duehr, who lives in Dubuque.
It's legal — and it's news that has surprised some state lawmakers and alarmed a few Iowa and national law enforcement officers.
"It does seem to go contrary to what the whole point or the whole purpose" of the sex offender registry is, said Steve Conlon, the deputy unit chief of the FBI Behavioral Science Unit's Evil Minds Research Museum in Quantico, Va.
"I've never even heard of anybody looking into this arena," Conlon said. "You're in some unchartered grounds."
Some, if not most, applications by sex offenders for permits to carry weapons would have been denied by county sheriffs before 2011, according to officials from the Iowa Department of Public Safety. But sheriffs no longer have discretion to reject such applications.
The article goes on to explain what's wrong with allowing sex-offenders carry guns. Their crimes often depend upon intimidation and coersion. In my opinion these guys should be disqualified just as domestic abusers are.
Monday, May 6, 2013
Convicted Sex Offenders with Concealed Carry Permits
USA Today
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Here's a better question--if these guys are sex offenders, what are they doing walking free in the first place?
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