“I kind of pride myself on getting to know people that carry guns in Black Hawk County. Just to sit down, and get to know them a little more intimately. … We’ve lost all of that,” Thompson said. “The reality is that not everybody has the wherewithal to be able to carry a gun safely in our community.”

Thompson said once sheriffs lost discretion, more responsibility falls to instructors and trainers to serve as watchdogs for law enforcement agencies.

Patrick Ferguson is an instructor certified by the National Rifle Association and co-owner of Tactical Firearms Academy in Vinton. He does not agree such evaluation is part of his job.

“I’m a firearms instructor. I am not a psychiatrist. It is not my profession to establish whether a person is mentally stable enough to carry a firearm,” Ferguson said. “If they fall through the cracks, that problem falls on the government, not the sheriff and the instructors.”

Students at Ferguson’s academy can take an eight-hour basic pistol course, which is more than state law requires for a permit to carry. But he said only 10 to 15 percent of his students take advanced courses with curriculum on the physiological and psychological ramifications of firing a weapon.