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
Throwing cheese and shaky cheese are two very different things. In baseball, hard cheese refers to a powerful fastball, and probably comes from a similar-sounding word in Farsi, Urdu, and Hindi. Shaky cheese, on the other hand, is the grated...
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This is a clipping of the more generally attested term “May issue state” and “Shall issue state”.