MONROE COUNTY DISPUTE OVER STATE GUN LAW WILL LIKELY PROVE COSTLY FOR COUNTY TAXPAYERS

Des Moines – After filing a lawsuit against the Iowa Firearms Coalition (IFC) and Albia resident J.D. Thompson, Monroe County now finds itself a named defendant in counterclaims that will likely prove costly to the county.

Following separate inquiries to the county about potential violations of a firearms preemption law passed in 2020, Thompson and the IFC found themselves named as defendants in a lawsuit filed by Monroe County on February 23, 2021. The county’s lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgment about the law and asks for an order that Thompson and the IFC pay their attorney fees.

Thompson and the IFC’s answer, filed on March 11, 2021, includes counterclaims against Monroe County and several Monroe County officials, including the supervisors in their individual capacities.

“We look forward to pushing back against this abuse of power by Monroe County officials and vindicating the legal rights of J.D. and the Iowa Firearms Coalition,” said IFC attorney William Gustoff. He continued, “Every Iowan has the right to ask questions of public officials, and especially to question an illegal policy, without the fear of being sued for doing so or having to hire an attorney for petitioning government.”

H.F. 2502, signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds on June 25, 2020, prohibits political subdivisions from banning firearm possession in buildings unless security screening and armed guards are provided. Monroe County prohibits firearm possession in all areas of the courthouse, even in spaces that are not used for judicial branch functions. Thompson alerted county officials that their policy violates Iowa law and then, receiving no response from the county, wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper on the matter. The IFC appears to have been sued because it was mentioned by Thompson as a source of information and because another IFC member sent his own inquiries about the policy to the county.

“Monroe County’s decision to sue someone because he simply asked his local government to follow the law is truly outrageous,” said attorney Alan Ostergren. “The Monroe County board of supervisors voted to sue an individual because he wrote them a letter and sent a letter to the editor of the local paper. We will ask the court to hold them accountable for their unconstitutional actions” Ostergren added.

Thompson and the IFC’s counterclaims request confirmation that Monroe County’s firearms policy violates Iowa law and assert that Monroe County and its board of supervisors violated their civil rights by retaliating against them for exercising rights protected by the U.S. and Iowa Constitutions. Thompson and the IFC claim the county sued them to infringe on their rights to engage in free speech, petition the government, exercise freedom of association, and peaceably assemble. Additionally, they assert that the county and the sheriff violated Iowa law by releasing confidential information about Thompson’s possession of a permit to carry concealed weapons. The parties seek damages and attorney fees, as provided in federal and state law for such violations.

The counterclaims include a request that Monroe County board of supervisors Dennis Amoss, John Hughes, and Michael Beary be held personally liable for punitive damages for retaliation in violation of the Iowa Constitution.

Thompson and the IFC are represented by Des Moines attorneys William Gustoff and Andrew Karas of Hagenow & Gustoff LLP and Alan Ostergren of Alan R. Ostergren, P.C. They report that discussions earlier this week with the law firm defending Monroe County on the counterclaims were brief and not productive in finding a resolution.

link to the IFC blog (contains links to the court documents, iowa code, etc.)

you know, as long as i've been part of ifc, they've never been good about asking for membership or donations.  i know, in my heart, they've done so much over the past 15yrs in this state to change all these laws...

guys, they're worth helping.  your membership and your engagement go a long ways.  more than you may realize.  become a member folks.  give to the pac and the org.  without that this all stops.  it's tough to do this with only a handshake and smile.

your help over the years has been essential.  i can tell you firsthand, if it wasn't for this particular hometown forum, we would NOT have gotten suppressors when we did.  this place was motivated and ifc gave you a place to pinpoint and concentrate your fire through their action center.  that action center costs $4K a year...  and it's the least costly one available to us.

ifc needs your support.  

thanks!

-michael

Seems like a pretty cut and dry case if you ask me!

I'm no lawyer, but suing a citizen solely because they pointed out a violation of state law and attempted to get the county to comply seems like a frivolous lawsuit that a judge would dismiss as a waste of time.

Did the Monroe County Attorney encourage this civil action? Discourage it, and the Supervisors proceeded anyway?

Surely there's more to this story.

In September, or October I went to the City Admin office/Community center for business. When there I informed them that they were in violation of the state law on preemption with the signs banning firearms.   The city Clerk wanted to argue that it was legal because the previous admins put them up. I informed her that the new law states that you must have a metal detector and a operator of the detector at every entrance if you want to ban firearms. She said, but we don't like guns in here.  LOL, I told her to contact the City Attorney, have him look into the matter and let me know what ha says.

They removed all signage in two days, never said a word to me about it.  Shortly after I turned in a written notice cancelling my contract with the city for placing stop signs at the crosswalks. I knew she was going to get shitty with me about procedures, and she did. I lost some monthly income.

It seems the "declaratory statement" they desire is right in the code. It's really not hard to understand.

So to clarify, it is in fact legal to carry in the county court house?

I was under the impression that it was legal, but the buchanan county courthouse and attached sherriff's dept are plastered in no gun signs.

Do they have security measures in place? (Armed security, metal detectors, etc?) I have no clue if having an attached sheriff's office adds a different element either

Seems to fit with my past experiences with the County. Sharp folk down there, repeatedly elected former Lt. Gov. Patty Judge.

Monroe County board of supervisors has numerous mention of closed session in their meeting minutes... They are digging in and sure to try to use a deep pockets defense. https://monroecounty.iowa.gov/offices/board-of-supervisors/

Specifically - https://cap.gmdsolutions.com/files/4aa85495-468c-4776-bd74-35d6dcbc0075/Minutes%20February%209%202021.pdf

Then a week later:

Weird Lawsuit: Monroe County, Iowa v. Iowa Firearms Coalition & J.D. Thompson
Updated with a statement from Iowa Firearms Coalition below.

As the suit says, Monroe County is suing IFC and a county resident. Specifically, the suit is over a Chief Justice order barring firearms from court houses, and a state law that says if you do that, you must provide security. I jumped right into the filing because I really wondered how the hell the county was going to rationalize a claim against those defendants.

And… I don’t see a claim against them.

I need someone smarter than myself to explain this to me. The obvious unofficial backstory makes it clear that the county is maliciously targeting IFC and Thompson because they warned the county to comply with the law. But the only way the court filing addresses the official defendants is this.

STATEMENT OF THE IOWA FIREARMS COALATION (sic) AND MR. THOMPSON
30. Monroe County, Iowa has been advised by the Iowa Firearms Coalition that if it continues to comply with a lawful Order of the Iowa Supreme Court, that it will impose this unfunded mandate upon Monroe County, Iowa or that Monroe County, Iowa will be liable for this unfunded mandate plus attorney fees and other costs allowed by HF 2502. Monroe County, Iowa denied Mr. Thompson’s request.
31. No personal judgement is sought against Mr. Thompson.

Dafuq? There’s no actionable claim. They only say that IFC warned them they should comply with the law. Thompson gets no mention beyond that he made an unspecified — in the filing — request. Neither IFC’s nor Thompson’s warning/request is included in the filing. So even this vague soeta-claim is unsupported.

Other than that, the whole thing is a claim against the state for an unfunded mandate imposed by HF 2502. But even that is bogus. There’s no mandated expenditure; all they have to do is not declare a gun-free zone. If they choose to do that, then they voluntarily accept the expense. It would like Joe Blow calling vehicle registration fees an unfunded mandate; it isn’t because no one has to pay it unless they choose to buy a car.

This reads like a case against the state, and some office intern accidentally listed the wrong defendants. And even then, the alleged unfunded mandate would have been imposed by the Chief Justice who issued the gun-free order. Including IFC and Thompson has no point — legally; unofficially, it looks like retaliation for protected speech — but to make them pay for the county’s suit against the state.

OK, smarter people; what have I missed?

Update: Statement from IFC Chairman Michael Ware:

“You just stated what our attorneys did as well. We have no idea what has motivated this action, but we seek to correct the injustice.”

The case may be BS, but IFC still needs to defend itself. Good attorneys are not cheap. You can help support IFC.

https://membership.iowafc.org/donate

Here is a link to make a donation to IFC to help fight this. They will have lawyer bills, I would hope everyone here is already a member, if not you can join HERE.

This is the letter Mr Thompson wrote and that was published in Albia News Dec 17, 2020. Link

To the Editor:

I am writing this letter to bring to the attention of the Monroe County Board of Supervisors that the “NOTICE--No weapons allowed--The possession of any and all dangerous weapons is prohibited on this premises” sign on the front door of the Monroe County Courthouse violates Iowa Codes 724.28 and 724.32.

724.28 states: A political subdivision of the state shall not enact an ordinance regulating the ownership, possession, legal transfer, or transportation, registration, or licensing of firearms when the ownership, possession, transfer, or transportation is otherwise lawful under the laws of this state. An ordinance regulating firearms in violation of this section existing on or after April 5, 1990 is void.

This was further reinforced through HF517 in 2017, which reads under 724.28: Prohibition of regulation by political subdivisions.

1. As used in this section, “political subdivision of the state” means a city, county, or township.

2. A political subdivision of the state shall not enact an ordinance regulating the ownership, possession, legal transfer, lawful transportation, registration or licensing of firearms when the ownership, possession, transfer, or transportation is otherwise lawful under the laws of this state. An ordinance regulating firearms in violation of this section existing on or after April 5, 1990 is void.

3. If a political subdivision of the state, prior to, on, or after 2017, adopts, makes, enacts, or amends any ordinance, measure, enactment, rule resolution, motion or policy regulating the ownership, possession, legal transfer, lawful transportation, registration or licensing of firearms when the ownership, possession, transfer, or transportation is otherwise lawful under the laws of this state, a person adversely affected by the ordinance, measure, enactment, rule resolution, motion or policy may file suit in the appropriate court for declaratory and injunctive relief for damages.

HF2502, which was signed by Gov. Reynolds on June 25, 2020, went a step further to reinforce HF517, 724.28 by the inclusion of new section, 724.32.

Sec. 5. NEW SECTION. 724.32 County courthouse--weapon prohibitions. A supreme court or judicial branch order that prohibits a person from lawfully carrying, possessing, or transporting a weapon in a county courthouse or other joint-use public facility shall be unenforceable unless the judicial order applies only to a courtroom or a court office, or to a courthouse used only for judicial branch functions.

As a law-abiding citizen, I feel that it is my duty to bring this issue to your attention. The goal and purpose of this letter isn’t to assign blame, cause issue, or to cause problems with the county. This is an attempt to ensure that law-abiding citizens who lawfully carry a firearm, are not subject to the illegal enforcement of the notice sign on the front of the Monroe County Courthouse building.

I respectfully request that this sign, and all other similar signs posted at the courthouse, be removed from the premises as well as provide notification to the law enforcement officers and security personnel, as well as county employees who work in the courthouse, so that they are aware of its removal and that we as lawfully carrying citizens have peace of mind that our rights, under the law, will not be violated.

JD Thompson

Albia

Thank you! I hate to ask for help almost as much as I hate to ask for money but IFC is being targeted but outside forces with seemingly unlimited resources. The all volunteer organization just can't function without your support.

Is there a way to donate without giving your life history on that form?  If there is a PO box I can send donations to, I would like to help out with this.

IFC does good work and this is not a knock against the current folks there, but based on an "incident" that happened back when they were still Iowa Carry (and ran the old BBS), I remain reluctant to give them my personal info ever again.

PO Box is 310, Moville, IA 51039. Thank you!

This has the whiff of small town political vendetta.  Unfortunately not uncommon.

No security, no metal detectors

If you can share, what county or city did this happen in?  We should get a list going of problem areas and maybe something could be done as a whole depending how this turns out.

This lawsuit is a clear violation of his first amendment rights.

Sent them a donation yesterday.

Wow, thank you!

IFC Life member

Grew up in Iowa, worked there for 42 years. Only thirty miles from the IA border. My Dad’s farm is there where I spend some of my free time.

IFC has done a lot for Iowa residents and for those who visit.

Thank you.

Dave Funk
President, IFC

Total Victory today!!!

GREAT NEWS that makes this day doubly special for freedom in Iowa. Thank you IFC!

Another win for our side!

Nice Work guys.

I work as a security officer at the Polk County Administration building and at the Polk County River Place.  Both places have armed security but no xray or metal detection screening.  Neither place has scheduled Court proceedings but River place does have child custody hearings at DHS.  The hearing officer can decide whether a child or children can be removed from a parent (s) custody.   Does this qualify the hearing Officer as a judge ??  Their findings become a Court Order if there is a removal.  They may not be referred to as "Judge" but they have judicial authority in this capacity.

After reviewing this, I still have concerns about individuals bringing in firearms even though we don't electronically screen, but we do have armed security and we have irregular patrols by sheriff's deputies.  As it stands right now open view firearms and weapons are not allowed in (the security officers make that determination with management approval) but we don't screen for concealed firearms or weapons via xray or metal detection. (electronic screening)  We do have the authority to pat down or do body searches for weapons as required or with probable cause which is in effect a screening process/technique.   I guess I will have to pass this on to management for their review and opinion.  Please, don't come in trying to test the system.  We have our SOP's (Post orders) and we will follow them until they are changed by someone higher up the food chain.

kwg

Chickasaw County is posted(has been since we went shall issue) with no metal detectors or security that I've seen as well-there always seems to be at least one deputy in the building though.