Legal? Not legal?

My sheriff told my daughter-in-law that she could not be in such close proximity to her husband without him breaking the law about being in possession of a firearm. He told her she could not own a pistol, and store it in their home locked in a portable lock box. She would have to leave it at a friend's house.

I don't believe a word of it, but I'm asking if the laws have changed that drastically. If they have, he couldn't walk into a hardware store, or even the police station without breaking the law.

I think the sheriff is poorly informed, but I'm not sure how to handle any advice. She has taken an online course and qualifies to get a carry permit. He says my son can't be in a vehicle or dwelling with a firearm, even if he cannot access it.

She can get a permit. My kids think it will make them a target for the sheriff's office, and I agree.

724.26 is what you are looking for.  Ctrl+f on the following:
https://www.legis.iowa.gov/DOCS/ACO/IC/LINC/Chapter.724.pdf

Judge determines possession. However, the real issue is probably more of being on the radar of the local Sheriff's office. Even if they are wrong and believe they are right, it could be a huge pain in the rear for your daughter-in-law.

What I am having the brain dead moment with is why you are calling him her husband rather than your son.

If your Sheriff was right (and he isn't), any person who cohabitation with someone with three DUIs would become, for all intents and purposes, a prohibited person.

For clarity, legal and advice should be treated as two entirely different things.

Thanks for the link.

Let me fill in a few details.
My son is a felon. He's 36, and hasn't been in any trouble since he was 20. He's married and has a job and two kids. His wife is a nurse. Their son started shooting in 4H, which led to her sprouting an interest in firearms. Her dad has a gunshop. He told her if she got a carry permit he'd give her whatever handgun she wanted to carry.

Her dad has taken her shooting. I let her shoot several of my handguns and an AR-15.

My understanding has always been that a felon can live in a house with a gun owner, but the firearms need to be locked up so the prohibited person cannot access them. I have no idea if ammo would have to be locked up as well. As for her carrying on her body, around him, I don't see that any different from him walking down the gun aisle of the hardware store, or standing next to the Sheriff.

The Sheriff says, among other things, my son cannot be in a vehicle that has a firearm in it, even if the firearm is in a locked container/gunsafe/firesafe. Same story at home.

I agree with you.  

Depending on the type of offense, where it occurred, and who convicted him, if your son hasn't, he may want to start this process.

I don't know anyone who has gone through the process, but it can't hurt to try.  Ten years has passed, so if it is an in-state non-forcible felony, he is eligible.  All it costs is his time and the court costs.

Your sheriff doesn't understand the law. It's a pretty common problem in Iowa, unfortunately, but then Sheriffs are administrators of law enforcement, not lawyers / prosecutors, so they don't always learn every minor detail of the law.

It is about having possession of (or reasonably easy access) to a firearm, not being in proximity to it. Keeping it on-body, or when not so, in a locked cabinet  which the prohibited person does not have the means to open, should be sufficient. That results in someone other then the prohibited person being classified as in possession/control of it.

If you talked to your DA/ADA, they could probably explain it well for you.