State v. Walton, 87-823
| Decision Date | 21 September 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 87-823,87-823 |
| Citation | 429 N.W.2d 133 |
| Parties | STATE of Iowa, Appellant, v. David Lee WALTON, Appellee. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen., Bruce Kempkes, Asst. Atty. Gen., James A. Smith, County Atty., and Jamie Bowers, Asst. County Atty., for appellant.
John C. Wellman, Des Moines, for appellee.
Considered by McGIVERIN, C.J., and SCHULTZ, LAVORATO, NEUMAN, and SNELL, JJ.
Defendant David Lee Walton was sitting in his parked vehicle when he was approached by a Des Moines police officer concerning traffic violations. At the officer's request, Walton produced his motor vehicle registration from the car's glove compartment. There, in plain view, the officer observed an uncased revolver, later determined to be unloaded.
Walton was arrested and charged with carrying a weapon in violation of Iowa Code section 724.4 (1985). Upon Walton's motion, the trial court dismissed the charge, concluding that the locked glove compartment fell within the statute's exception for handguns transported in a "closed and fastened container." Iowa Code § 724.4(6). On appeal from that dismissal, the State challenges the court's interpretation of section 724.4(6). We reverse.
Iowa Code section 724.4 provides, in pertinent part, that "[a] person who ... knowingly carries or transports in a vehicle a pistol or revolver, commits an aggravated misdemeanor,...." Exempt from this criminal penalty, however, is
[a]ny person who for any lawful purpose carries or transports an unloaded pistol or revolver in any vehicle inside a closed and fastened container or securely wrapped package which is too large to be concealed on the person or inside a cargo or luggage compartment where the pistol or revolver will not be readily accessible to any person riding in the vehicle or common carrier.
Iowa Code § 724.4(6).
The sole question before us is whether a person who carries an unloaded revolver in a vehicle's locked glove compartment is entitled as a matter of law to the benefit of the exemption. The trial court concluded that Walton was so entitled, reasoning that "[a] glove compartment is a 'container' ... designed for holding smaller objects ... [and] if it were capable of being removed from the car, is too large to be hidden on the person." Because this "container" holding Walton's weapon was indisputably closed and fastened, the court ruled that the State could prove no violation of the law.
Arguing for reversal, the State contends that by defining a glove compartment as a container rather than a cargo or luggage compartment, the trial court erroneously ignored that part of the statute which proscribes the carrying of handguns where they might "be readily accessible to any person riding in the vehicle." See Iowa Code § 724.4(6). Without accepting the State's broad assertion that even unloaded, encased handguns must meet this "not readily accessible" test, we agree that for purposes of section 724.4(6) a glove compartment is not a container. Therefore the ready accessibility of the pistol or revolver to passengers riding in the vehicle must be considered.
Essentially, the statute prescribes two lawful alternatives for transporting unloaded handguns:
(1) In a closed and fastened container or securely wrapped package too large to be concealed on the person
or
(2) Inside a cargo or luggage compartment not readily accessible to the vehicle's driver or passengers.
The first alternative echoes the language of the section defining the circumstances under which a person may lawfully carry an unloaded pistol or revolver when not in a vehicle. See Iowa Code § 724.4(5). Before this language was added in 1980, the statute prevented persons from transporting handguns in vehicles except "inside a cargo or luggage compartment where the pistol or revolver will not be readily accessible to any person riding in a vehicle or common carrier." See 1980 Iowa Acts ch. 1015, § 68. The amendment appears to reflect...
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State v. Johnson, 98-1502.
...wrapped package which is too large to be concealed on the person." The court rejected the proposed instruction relying on State v. Walton, 429 N.W.2d 133 (Iowa 1988), which held under a similar section 724.4(4) exception, that a locked automobile glove compartment was not a "closed and fast......
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State v. McCoy, 99-1152.
..."container" for purposes of applying a different, yet similar, exception to the carrying-a-concealed-weapon offense. See State v. Walton, 429 N.W.2d 133, 133 (Iowa 1988) (interpreting Iowa Code section 724.4(6) (1985), which excludes firearms "inside a closed and fastened container" from th......
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State v. Jones, 93-1950
...transport his unloaded revolver in a "closed and fastened" container too large to be concealed on his person. Id. In State v. Walton, 429 N.W.2d 133 (Iowa 1988), the defendant was convicted of a violation of section 724.4 after a police officer noticed an uncased revolver in the glove compa......