Grant Rodgers

grodgers@dmreg.com

Madison County Supervisors approved a gun ban at the county courthouse after a gun scare last week

The Madison County board of supervisors today approved a policy banning firearms in the county courthouse, responding to safety concerns after a gun scare last week.

The new policy, however, immediately drew criticism from gun rights advocates who say the ban violates Iowa law that allows residents with proper permits to carry concealed firearms. Advocates are looking for Iowans willing to challenge such bans in court and it wouldn't be surprising to see a lawsuit filed over Madison County's new policy, said John Reed, board chairman of the Iowa Firearms Coalition.

Reed's not opposed to judges with 16-county judicial district that includes Madison County enforcing a gun ban inside courtrooms where hearings and trials take place. However, the board of supervisors shouldn't bar licensed residents visiting other offices in the building to pay property taxes or for other tasks from carrying firearms, he said.

"State law does not keep people from carrying firearms into a courthouse, period," he said. "It's an illegal request and now they've just passed an illegal act. Now we have to make a decision how we deal with that."

Though the three-person board unanimously approved the firearms ban, Reed and advocates could continue to try to have the board reverse the policy, he said. No state law bans bringing guns into courthouses, however, counties have traditionally been allowed to enact such policies, Steve Davis, a spokesperson for the Iowa Judicial Branch, has said.

Today's vote on the courthouse weapons ban came after judges in a special meeting on Friday told supervisors and county law enforcement officials that the lack of sheriff's deputies and other measures at the Madison County Courthouse have created unsafe conditions. A week ago, Cory Lee Daugherty, 29, pulled a .38 Special handgun out of his pocket and escaped the courtroom after being sentenced to ten years in prison for possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.

Establishing the no-weapons policy would be the right first step to creating safer conditions, supervisor Kirk Macumber said. The board approved the ban as part of an overall courthouse security plan covering threats from high-risk trials and suspicious powders or substances to weather hazards that was first brought to supervisors in 2013.

"Obviously this policy is going to certainly be revised," he said. "But I think it's best we get something in place and then revise as necessary."

The board of supervisors had voted against a policy banning firearms three times since October 2012 before it passed this morning. In discussions before past votes, supervisors who voted against the plan, including Macumber, were concerned there would be no way to enforce a ban.

Until today, Madison County was the only county in its 16-county judicial district that didn't have a courthouse gun ban. Under the plan approved today, bringing a gun into the building would be a simple misdemeanor, Madison County Sheriff Craig Busch said.

Also today, the supervisors asked Busch to study whether he could hire retired law enforcement officials on a part-time basis to be in the courtroom on days when hearings and trials occur. Historically, the county has not assigned a deputy to full-time courtroom duty; judges last week, though, asked for the county to start the practice.

Using retired deputies or police officers on a part-time basis could be a short-term solution while the county reviews the financial impact of hiring another full-time deputy to its six-man sheriff's department, Macumber said.