Just to answer a few questions:
Scott County is eastern-central end of the state, and includes the Iowa side of the Quad Cities (Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa, Rock Island and Moline in Illinois). It also has the Iowa approach to the Rock Island Arsenal. The county's population is approximately 175 thousand. The Sheriff's dept is responsible for patrolling hundreds of miles of mostly rural roads, running the county jail, various functions on the shres of and on the Mississippi River, courthouse security, and county backup, both regular and tactical, of municipal PDs in the county. As the western starting point of I-74, the river crossing points for I-74, 80, and 280, and its proximity to Chicago, St. Louis, Des Moines, Kansas City, and the Twin Cities, it becomes a major transit area for illicit drugs, as well as its metro area providing a ready sales area for same. While certainly not a hot-bed of crime (organized or disorganized for that matter) it has its "fair share" including, as previously mentioned, meth labs, OMGs, barricaded suspects, etc... I certainly don't begrudge them getting rifles to go with their 870s.
They purchased RRA LE tactical CAR UTEs, have them outfitted with Eagle slings, EO Tech optics, and a barrel-mounted flashlight system.
Yes, Iowa voted for Gore. As did half of the country. I didn't. Nuff said.
I go to the courthouse once a year to get my annual permit to acquire a handgun. It costs $10, and is active three days after I get it. That three days and the background check counts as my background check for NICS purposes. I can keep my old permit as long as it isn't out of date, so I have uninterrupted access to purchasing. I don't have to have a permit if I don't intend to buy any handguns, or if I only want to buy longarms. With it, I can walk in, pay my money and walk out with handguns, rifles, shotguns, ammo, etc..no calls, no delays. We also have CCW, with a very real possibility of it going from "may" issue to "shall issue" during the next legislative session.
I don't know of a single local preemption law on firearms anywhere in the state, and even our Democrat governor has no significant problem with firearms. A recent statistic that a local officer showed me says that somewhere between 60 and 70% of Iowa homes have at least one firearm...and that's based on the people who acknowledge it. I can buy ammo at convenience stores and gas stations in most rural communities, and PETA is (except in Iowa City, home of the University of Iowa) pretty much quietly told to carry their "professional protestor" asses out of town.
Well...I'll let someone else enlighten you on the rest of Iowa's virtues.
Sluggo