Legal Question in Family Law in Iowa

Dear LawGuru,

I am currently going through a divorce after 22 years. During this time, i owned and operated a shooting range in the state of Iowa. During the divorce process, my ex was able to secure a Civil Protective Order, (not criminal), based upon my condition with PTSD related to gulf war, my subsequent mental health treatment by the VA, and access to firearms.

I am not a man of any means and she retains all of the joint assets. I cannot afford an attorney and until yesterday worked part time at walmart to make ends meet. Having looked at Iowa code, it states that i cannot "posses" any offensive firearms or ammunition. my question is, that by Iowa code, can I re-open the range as long as myself, and the range neither own or posses any firearms or ammunition?

This is a membership based facility and the members themselves retain possession of their own firearms and accessories. I merely provide a facility for them to shoot at.

Thank you,

Jon


Asked on 5/03/14, 6:24 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Luedeman solo practitioner

This is an interesting question. The Lautenberg amendments prohibit people who are the subject of protective orders (civil and criminal) from possession of firearms. You could try and get her to drop the protective order. But if not, the question would be "what constitutes possession" of a firearm or offensive weapon. Unless you actually possess it it comes down to an issue of constructive possession and that is an ill defined term. If you are in exclusive possession of the premises that weighs heavily against you. I would suggest that you take a trip to the law library at the University of Iowa and research Iowa cases starting with State v. McPhail 838 N.W.2d 868 (Iowa Ct. App. 2013), State v. Nickens, 644 N.W.2d 38 (Iowa Ct. App. 2002) and State v. Bushnell, 2014 WL 970025 (Iowa Ct. App. 2014). Some of these cases may be found on the Iowa Judicial Branch website.

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Answered on 5/05/14, 7:15 am


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