Unauthorized Possession Of Offensive Weapons Lawyer In Iowa
Iowa Code 724.3 makes it illegal to carry an offensive weapon without authority. Breaking this law is a class D felony. You could go to prison for up to five years.
Class D Felony Unauthorized Possession of an Offensive Weapon
The government must prove all of the following elements of Class D Felony Unauthorized Possession of an Offensive Weapon in order to convict you:
- You are not an authorized person
- But you possessed an offensive weapon anyway
- And you knew that you had that weapon
Who is an "Authorized Person?"
It's illegal to possess an offensive weapon without authority. So who's authorized?
The following people may have offensive weapons when their duties or lawful activities require or permit it:
- Peace officers
- Members of the United States armed forces
- Members of the National Guard
- People in the service of the United States
- Iowa Department of Corrections correctional officers
- People who are lawfully engaged in the business of supplying offensive weapons to authorized people
- People, firms, and corporations who are lawfully engaged in improving, inventing, or manufacturing firearms
- Museums (etc.) that display relics that are permanently unfit for use
- People who have curios or relic firearms "solely for use in the official functions of a historical reenactment organization of which the person is a member," IF the weapon "has been permanently rendered unfit for the firing of live ammunition." (It's okay if the weapon is adapted to fire blanks.)
Even if someone is authorized to possess offensive weapons in some situations, "no person is authorized to possess a shotshell or cartridge intended to project a flame or fireball ." Iowa Code Section 724.1(7).
What is an "Offensive Weapon?"
Iowa Code section 724.1 explains that the following are "offensive weapons:"
- Machine guns.
- Short-barreled rifles. (A rifle with less than 16 inches of barrel length or a rifle that is less than 26 inches long.)
- Short-barreled shotguns. (A shotgun with less than eighteen inches in barrel length or a shotgun less than 26 inches long.)
- Any weapon other than a shotgun or muzzle loading rifle, cannon, pistol, revolver or musket, which fires or can be made to fire a projectile by the explosion of a propellant charge, which has a barrel or tube with the bore of more than six-tenths of an inch in diameter, or the ammunition or projectile therefor, but not including antique weapons kept for display or lawful shooting.
- Explosive, incendiary, or poison gas bombs, grenades, or mines.
- Rockets with more than four ounces of propellant charge.
- Missiles with more than a quarter ounce of explosive charge.
- Any device "similar" to those bombs, grenades, mines, rockets, or missiles (note -- constitutional vagueness protections are worth evaluating any time a law prohibits "similar" conduct.)
- Ballistic knives. (Knives with detachable blades, propelled by spring-operated mechanisms, elastic material, or compressed gas.)
- Parts or combinations of parts designed or intended to be used to convert other things into or assemble offensive weapons. This does NOT include magazines or other parts, ammunition or ammunition components for lawful sporting firearms. This also does NOT include barrels suitable for refitting to sporting firearms.
- Bullets or projectiles that contain explosive mixtures or chemical compounds that are capable of exploding or detonating prior to or upon impact.
- Shotshells or cartridges containing exothermic pyrophoric misch metal as a projectile, designed to throw or project a flame or fireball to simulate a flamethrower. (NOBODY is authorized to possess this one)
- Silencers, mufflers, and suppressers. (There's an exception for deer hunting with a specific permit.)
