Iowa regulates a class described as “offensive weapons,” which includes machine guns (any firearm which shoots or is designed to shoot more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger) and any part or combination of parts either designed or intended to be used to convert any device into an offensive weapon, except magazines or other parts, ammunition, or ammunition components used in common with lawful sporting firearms or parts including but not limited to barrels suitable for refitting to sporting firearms. Iowa Code § 724.1. It is a crime to possess an offensive weapon unless the person in possession falls within any of the categories listed in Iowa Code § 724.2.

Iowa makes it a crime to offer for sale or sell “a manual or power-driven trigger activating device constructed and designed so that when attached to a firearm [it] increases the rate of fire of the firearm,” but does not ban possession of such devices; Iowa Code § 724.29.

The application for a permit to acquire pistols or revolvers is made to the sheriff of the county of the applicant’s residence. Once issued, the permit is valid for five years; Iowa Code § 724.20. As of December 2025, the ATF recognizes Iowa’s permit to acquire pistols as a permit that qualifies as NICS-exempt; Brady Permit Chart | Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

State law on the “permit to acquire” a handgun mandates that the permit must be general in nature: it cannot be issued for a particular pistol or revolver and cannot contain information about a particular pistol or revolver (make, model, or serial number) or any ammunition used in that pistol or revolver; Iowa Code § 724.19.

Felons: A convicted felon, or anyone adjudicated delinquent on the basis of conduct that would constitute a felony if committed by an adult, and who knowingly has possession or control of, or receives or transports or causes to be transported a firearm or offensive weapon, commits a felony. The prohibition does not apply where the person’s firearm rights have been restored after a disqualifying conviction, commitment, or adjudication through pardon or otherwise, or the conviction for a disqualifying offense has been expunged. Iowa Code §§ 724.26, 724.27.

Domestic violence: State law also prohibits anyone who is currently subject to a protective order that would be firearm-prohibiting under federal law, or who has been convicted of a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” (as defined in that section) from possession, receipt, transport or shipping a firearm, offensive weapon, or ammunition. The conviction is not disqualifying where the person’s firearm rights have been restored through an expungement of the conviction or otherwise. A court that issues an order or enters a judgment of conviction that would be disqualifying under this paragraph must generally order that any firearm, offensive weapon, or ammunition the person possesses be sold or transferred by a date certain to the custody of a “qualified person,” as determined by the court, failing which to the county sheriff or a local law enforcement agency designated by the court for safekeeping until a qualified person is identified. Once the protective order is no longer in effect, the firearm, offensive weapon, or ammunition must be returned to the person who was subject to the protective order within five days of that person’s request to have the items returned. Iowa Code §§ 724.26, 724.27.

Mental health: Iowa Code § 724.31 adopts the firearm prohibitions in federal law, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(4), for persons with certain mental health adjudications or who have been committed to a mental institution. That section includes a process by which the person may petition a court in the county where the person resides for relief from the firearm disabilities.

Minors: Iowa Code § 724.4E makes it a crime for a minor to be armed with a dangerous weapon concealed on or about the person, or to carry, transport, or possess a loaded firearm of any kind within the limits of a city, or knowingly carry or transport a handgun in a vehicle. A “dangerous weapon” is defined at Iowa Code § 702.7 and includes a firearm.

A person under the age of 18 is prohibited from acquiring a handgun, although a parent, adult guardian or adult spouse of a person under the age of 18 may allow the person, while under direct supervision, to possess a handgun or handgun ammunition “for any lawful purpose,” or while the person receives instruction in the proper use of the gun from an adult instructor with the consent of such parent, guardian, or spouse. Any parent, guardian, or spouse of a minor under the age of 14 who allows that minor to possess a handgun or handgun ammunition is strictly liable to an injured party for all damages resulting from the possession of the handgun or ammunition by that minor. A parent, adult guardian or adult spouse (or another adult with the express consent of the parent, guardian or spouse) may allow a minor to possess a rifle, shotgun or the ammunition therefor for lawful use. Iowa Code §§ 724.15, 724.22.

Alcohol, Illegal Drugs, Dangerous to Others, etc: Iowa Code § 724.8B prohibits, from carrying a “dangerous weapon,” any person who is addicted to the use of alcohol; is illegally in possession of a controlled substance; who is committing an indictable offense; who has, within the previous three years, been convicted of any serious or aggravated misdemeanor not involving the use of a firearm or explosive; or where probable cause exists to believe, based upon documented specific actions of the person, that the person is “likely to use a weapon unlawfully or in such other manner as would endanger the person’s self or others. A “dangerous weapon” is defined at Iowa Code § 702.7 and includes a firearm.

Another section, Iowa Code § 724.4C, makes it a crime to carry a dangerous weapon on or about the person or within the person’s immediate access or reach while in a vehicle, while the person is intoxicated, but exempts carrying or possession while in the person’s own dwelling, place of business, or on land owned or lawfully possessed by the person, and the “transitory possession or use of a dangerous weapon during an act of justified self-defense or justified defense of another, provided that the possession lasts no longer than is immediately necessary to resolve the emergency.”

“Offensive weapons.” It is a crime for anyone who is not an authorized person to possess a machine gun or other offensive weapon; Iowa Code §§ 724.3, 724.1 (definitions).

Permitless carry: Iowa Code § 724.5 explicitly states that the availability of a permit to carry weapons “shall not be construed to impose a general prohibition on the otherwise lawful unlicensed carrying or transport, whether openly or concealed, of a dangerous weapon, including a loaded firearm.”

Permits: Iowa is a “shall issue” jurisdiction. There are two types of permits, a professional permit (Iowa Code § 724.6) and a nonprofessional permit (Iowa Code § 724.7) to carry weapons. The professional permit relates to when the person’s employment in a private investigation business or private security business licensed under state law, or as a peace officer, correctional officer, county attorney, assistant county attorney, security guard, bank messenger or other person transporting property of a value requiring security, or in police work, reasonably justifies that person going armed. EMS providers designated and attached to a law enforcement tactical team or certain qualified school employees are also eligible for these permits.

Nonprofessional permits are available to anyone who meets the eligibility and other requirements; the discussion below deals only with nonprofessional permits.

Issuing agency/official: the sheriff of the county in which the applicant resides; § 724.11(1)

Minimum age: 18 years; § 724.8

State residency required: Yes, for a nonprofessional permit; professional permits to carry weapons for persons who are nonresidents of the state are available

Objective disqualifications: Iowa Code § 724.8 disqualifies any applicant who: is a prohibited person under state law (see Possession Standards); is addicted to the use of alcohol; has, within the previous three years, been convicted of any serious or aggravated misdemeanor as defined that does not involving the use of a firearm or explosive; or who is prohibited by federal law from shipping, transporting, possessing, or receiving a firearm.

Non-objective disqualifications: Iowa Code § 724.8 disqualifies an applicant for which “probable cause exists to believe, based upon documented specific actions of the person, where at least one of the actions occurred within two years immediately preceding the date of the permit application, that the person is likely to use a weapon unlawfully or in such other manner as would endanger the person’s self or others.”

Training /Familiarity requirement: applicants must demonstrate knowledge of firearm safety by any of the means listed at § 724.9, including completion of any NRA handgun safety training course or a handgun safety training course offered by an instructor certified by an organization approved by the department of public safety, completion of a hunter education program approved by the state natural resource commission, if the program includes handgun safety training and completion of the handgun safety training is included on the certificate of completion, and others. Any courses must have been completed within 24 months prior to the date of the application. Training is not required for renewals of a nonprofessional permit.

Fingerprints required: No

Maximum processing time: 30 days, and “the failure to approve or deny an initial or renewal application shall result in a decision of approval,” § 724.11(4)

Fees: $50, $25 to renew

Duration of permit: Five years

Mandatory notifications: None, but a person carrying, “whose behavior creates a reasonable suspicion that the person presents a danger to the person’s self or others,” must cooperate with an investigating officer; § 724.4D.

Special Provisions? The permit includes a designation that the permit is invalid when the permittee is intoxicated; § 724.11(5). 

Non-resident carriers. The state permitless carry law isn’t restricted to Iowa residents. Iowa honors all carry permits or licenses issued by other states, as § 724.11A states that a “valid permit or license issued by another state to any nonresident of this state shall be considered to be a valid permit or license to carry…” Non-residents are eligible to apply for a professional permit to carry in limited circumstances and must apply to the commissioner of public safety; § 724.11. For deployed military, the state commissioner of public safety must have available a process that allows service members deployed for military service to submit a renewal of a nonprofessional permit to carry weapons early and by mail, and a permit issued to a service member who is deployed for military service that would otherwise expire during the period of deployment remains valid for 90 days after the end of the service member’s deployment; see § 724.7(2).

Places where carrying is prohibited. State law prohibits carrying, possessing or transporting a firearm within the grounds of a public or nonpublic school, but exemptions include a person who has been specifically authorized by the school to go armed, a person who for any lawful purpose carries an unloaded pistol, revolver, or other firearm inside a closed and fastened container or securely wrapped package that is too large to be concealed on the person, and others listed at Iowa Code § 724.4B. A regulation states the driver of a school bus cannot allow firearms or ammunition to be carried in the passenger compartment of any school vehicle transporting pupils; Iowa Admin. Code 281-43.24.

Iowa Code § 724.4A defines a “weapons free zone” as the area in or on, or within 1,000 feet of, the real property comprising a public or private elementary or secondary school, or in or on the real property comprising a public park (except parks where hunting is permitted). A person who commits a public offense involving a firearm or offensive weapon within a weapons free zone is liable to a fine of twice the maximum amount which may otherwise be imposed for the public offense.

State law, Iowa Code § 8A.322, authorizes the director of the department of administrative services to establish and enforce rules on the use by the public of the capitol buildings and grounds and the state laboratories facility in Ankeny. These rules must “prohibit a person, other than a peace officer, from openly carrying a pistol or revolver in the capitol building and on the grounds surrounding the capitol building including state parking lots and parking garages,” but exempt “the lawful carrying, transportation, or possession of any pistol or revolver in the capitol building and on the grounds surrounding the capitol building including state parking lots and parking garages by any person regardless of whether the person has a valid permit to carry weapons.” The rules/ regulation is found at Iowa Admin. Code 11-100.2 and generally prohibits members of the public from carrying a dangerous weapon in state buildings on the capitol complex, regardless of whether the person has a valid permit. In addition to any potential criminal charges, a weapon found in possession of a member of the public in violation may be confiscated.

County courthouses or other joint-use public facilities may be designated by the supreme court or judicial branch as places where weapon possession or transport is prohibited, but such judicial orders may only apply to a courtroom or a court office, or to a courthouse used only for judicial branch functions; Iowa Code § 724.32.

Firearms are prohibited within the State Fair Grounds unless authorized by the Iowa state fair board; Iowa Admin. Code 371-2.5

A regulation states that patrons and employees of facilities licensed by the racing and gaming commission are prohibited from possession of firearms within any licensed facility without the express written approval of the administrator, and these facilities must be posted as a “no guns” zone; Iowa Admin. Code 491-5.4.

Intoxication and Carry: Iowa Code § 724.8B prohibits, from carrying a “dangerous weapon,” any person who is addicted to the use of alcohol; is illegally in possession of a controlled substance; who is committing an indictable offense; who has, within the previous three years, been convicted of any serious or aggravated misdemeanor not involving the use of a firearm or explosive; or where probable cause exists to believe, based upon documented specific actions of the person, that the person is “likely to use a weapon unlawfully or in such other manner as would endanger the person’s self or others. A “dangerous weapon” is defined at Iowa Code § 702.7 and includes a firearm.

Another section, Iowa Code § 724.4C, makes it a crime to carry a dangerous weapon on or about the person or within the person’s immediate access or reach while in a vehicle, while the person is intoxicated, but exempts carrying or possession while in the person’s own dwelling, place of business, or on land owned or lawfully possessed by the person, and the “transitory possession or use of a dangerous weapon during an act of justified self-defense or justified defense of another, provided that the possession lasts no longer than is immediately necessary to resolve the emergency.”

One exception is that a political subdivision “may restrict the carrying, possession, or transportation of firearms or other dangerous weapons” in buildings or physical structures located on property under its control, but only “if adequate arrangements are made by the political subdivision to screen persons for firearms or other dangerous weapons and the political subdivision provides armed security personnel inside the building or physical structure where the restriction is to be in effect.”

An ordinance regulating firearms in violation of this state law existing on or after April 5, 1990, is void. A person adversely affected by an alleged violation of the preemption law has a private right of action and may file suit in the appropriate court for damages and declaratory and injunctive relief. In addition to awarding a prevailing party in any such lawsuit reasonable attorney fees and court costs, a court must assess damages against the political subdivision (after it has been given written notice of the violation) in the amount of not more than $500 and not less than $100 per day, not to exceed $5,000. However, if the political subdivision “knowingly participated in such a violation,” the damages assessed rise to not more than $2,500 and not less than $1,000 per day, not to exceed $25,000. The court, for good cause, may assess damages in excess of these amounts. Such damages must be paid by the political subdivision directly to the adversely affected person.

A person who gives a false name or presents false identification, or otherwise knowingly gives false material information to one from whom the person seeks to acquire a handgun, commits a felony. Iowa Code § 724.21.

State law prohibits selling, loaning or making available a rifle or shotgun or ammunition for a rifle or shotgun to a minor, and selling, loaning or making available a pistol or revolver or ammunition for a pistol or revolver to a person below the age of 18, unless there is express consent of the minor’s parent, guardian or adult spouse and, in the case of a minor under the age of 18 and a handgun/handgun ammunition, there also has to be direct supervision of the minor by an adult. Iowa Code § 724.22.

State law also imposes restrictions on the sale, gift or other transfer of ammunition to persons under the age of 21. Sales or transfers of handgun ammunition to anyone under the age of 21, and sales or transfers of rifle or shotgun ammunition to a minor under the age of 18, are generally prohibited unless exempted under Iowa Code § 724.22. This law classifies .22 rimfire ammunition as “rifle ammunition.”