Seeking gun rights back, West Branch farmer gets arrested instead
AP
6/26/19
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A retired West Branch farmer who applied to Gov. Kim Reynolds to have his gun rights restored has instead been charged with illegally possessing firearms.
76-year-old Allan Phillips had been out of trouble for 40 years when he sent in his application seeking restoration. He wrote that it was time to “clear my name” on a 1978 misdemeanor conviction for having a loaded hunting gun in his car.
Phillips received a surprise visit in February from agents who were conducting a background check as part of the process. They found that he had firearms in violation of the gun ban that his 41-year-old conviction triggered. They charged Phillips with being a felon in possession of a firearm. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
Phillips is not a felon despite the charge he faces. Instead, he was convicted of a misdemeanor for carrying a prohibited weapon in 1978. He was caught with a loaded trap gun, typically used for shooting at clay targets, in his car in Johnson County, records show. He was sentenced to one year probation. But the conviction triggered the lifetime loss of his firearm rights under Iowa law because it was an aggravated misdemeanor involving a firearm.
The case illustrates how hard it can be for ex-offenders to get their gun rights back once they are lost. A recent report shows Reynolds didn’t restore anyone’s gun rights during her first 19 months in office.
