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(Des Moines, IA) -- A gun possession case now before the U-S Supreme Court has the attention of Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird.
She is asking the High Court to rule in favor of a New Hampshire man who was arrested in Massachusetts for gun possession, despite being licensed in his state and disclosing the gun to arresting officers.
"He voluntarily told law enforcement that he had a lawful firearm in his vehicle and he got into trouble for that. They later dismissed the charges but we have to be able to travel and the Constitution is the same whether we're in Iowa or Illinois or Massachusetts," Bird said.
She adds another layer of the case is the paperwork required to legally possess a gun in Massachusetts takes up to 170 days for an out of state permit to be approved or rejected. Bird says the defendant might still have been denied the right to legally carry his gun even if he had applied for the permit and that's not the way the Constitution was designed to work.
"While most of us don't travel to Massachusetts, we certainly do travel as Iowans. It's important our Second Amendment rights are protected where ever we go," said Bird.
Bird made her comments to Jeff Angelo on the WHO Morning Show.