Anyone happen to know the law regarding carry on hospital grounds? Shots fired incident at MercyOne today and debriefing stated there was an AD by an individual accompanying a patient. I am not sure what exactly that means nor not sure what happened as I was not working at the time.

There are no iowa weapons laws specifically about hospitals.
There are laws about carrying on school property, and some hospitals might overlap with school property in various ways, like the University of Iowa hospital chain.

This is the bulletin from the police for the "violent intruder alert" at MercyOne. I am unsure if there will be charges filed.



On Friday, December 29th, at approximately 9:40 AM Waterloo Police responded to a report of a shot being fired at Mercy One.   There were no injuries and no suspects.   When the Officers arrived, they located what appeared to be damage from one gun shot in a restroom.   Officers and hospital staff investigated the incident and were able to locate the person responsible, off the hospital campus.   The person responsible reported the weapon had gone off accidentally and he got scared and left the hospital.  

This incident remains under investigation.

Negligent discharge.

Iowa has no statutes prohibiting the possession of firearms in the following locations, although administrative regulations may apply:

Parks;
Hospitals;
Places of worship;
Bars or restaurants where alcohol is served;
Sports arenas;
Gambling facilities; or
Polling places.

MercyOne has Gun Free Zone signs on the doors. It’s handled as criminal trespass.  There were a couple times cars rolled up with bullet holes and a shooting victim and  I just asked them to leave their guns and knives in the car cause it freaks out the nurses. Even the bad guys are fairly compliant when they have a buddy with holes in them and want medical help. Sometimes injured people are brought to the ER with a pistol. Public Safety secures it in a lock box and returns it when they leave ( no charges filed). Lock your toys in the trunk if you’re visiting.

Dude had a NG in the bathroom and left as dude was scared. Intruder code was called and the whole place freaked. Tomorrow should be an interesting day at work.

Signs don't bear weight of law

No trespass is commited unless you ask some to leave and they refuse