Armed and weird: guns and free speech.

• Author: Sullum, Jacob
• Position: Citings - Brief article

IOWA IS ONE of seven states where local police still have the discretion to decide who is allowed to carry a concealed handgun in public. In a vivid demonstration that such policies can have First as well as Second Amendment implications, a federal judge ruled in July that Osceola County Sheriff Douglas Weber violated a man's right to freedom of speech when he denied him a carry permit based on his political activism.

Paul Dorr, well known locally for demonstrating at abortion clinics and agitating against government spending, said he applied for a permit because he carries large amounts of cash as part of a balloon-selling business. Weber decided Dorr was too "weird" to carry a gun, although he had held a permit without any problems from the late 1990s until 2006. The sheriff put this notation on Dorr's rejected application: "Concern from Public. Don't trust him."

U.S. District Judge Mark W. Bennett concluded that the "concern" was related to Dorr's controversial speech, especially his attacks on excessive county spending, which included an inquiry about the salaries of Weber's deputies. "The...