Iowa is granting gun permits to legally and completely blind people, allowing them to acquire or carry guns in public, according to USA Today.
The permits are technically legal, as state law doesn't allow sheriffs to deny an Iowan the right to carry a weapon based on physical ability. However, that doesn't calm the public safety concerns that it presents to some.
Advocates for the disabled and Iowa law enforcement officers disagree over whether it's a smart idea to allow those that are visually impaired to have dangerous weapons. Patrick Clancy, the superintendent of the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School, says that guns may be a rare exception to his philosophy that blind people can participate fully in life.
The other side contains people with the view that blind people can be taught to shoot guns, as Cedar County Sheriff Warren Wethington did as a demonstration for the Des Moines Register. According to Jane Hudson, the executive director of Disability Rights Iowa, blocking visually impaired people from the right to obtain weapon permits would violate the Americans With Disabilities Act, a federal law that prohibits treating people differently based on their disabilities.
Visually impaired people in Iowa have always been able to get a gun permit, but it's only since the 2011 change to gun permits that they have been allowed to carry firearms in public.
"It seems a little strange, but the way the law reads we can't deny them [a permit] based on that one thing," Sgt. Jana Abens, a spokeswoman for the Polk County Sheriff's Department said, referring to visual disabilities.
At least three people who legally are prevented from driving have been issued permits.
"I'm not an expert in vision," Sheriff John LeClere of Delaware County told USA Today. "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," LeClere continued.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
