may state
n.— «Applicants also must meet state and federal requirements for possessing firearms—they cannot be under indictment or convicted of a felony, have a mental health history, be convicted of domestic violence, among others. Iowa is what is known as a “may” state, which means the issuing agency—in this case, the county sheriff—has full discretion on who gets a permit. Some people are pushing for Iowa to become a “shall” state, which means applicants who meet set criteria would have to be issued a permit, removing the discretion of the sheriffs.» —“Concealed gun permits on rise in Scott County” by Ann McGlynn Quad-City Times (Davenport, Iowa) Nov. 16, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
After our conversation about towns with extremely short names, many listeners wrote to tell us about Why, Arizona. Others pointed out that there are towns called Ely in Iowa, Minnesota, and Nevada. Other super-short appellations include Rye, New...
Debbie from Keokuk, Iowa, shares a funny story about her family’s tradition of speed-cleaning the house if guests were coming over. Her mother would declare, “Quick, guys! Whited sepulchre approach!” Her use of the term whited...
This is a clipping of the more generally attested term “May issue state” and “Shall issue state”.