Two talk radio hosts clashed on Newsmax TV on Wednesday over a California bill that could disarm gun owners by slapping them with the legal equivalent of a domestic violence restraining order.
Bill Frady of "Lock 'N Load" and Rick Ungar of "Steele & Ungar" took turns on "America's Forum" evaluating AB 1014,
a bill introduced in the state legislature after a deadly rampage in Isla Vista., Calif., that claimed seven lives.
The bill establishing a so-called "gun violence restraining order" would, if enacted, empower police to confiscate guns from someone reported as an imminent threat. Police would have to seek approval from a judge for the restraining order, and the gun owner could — as with domestic violence complaints — contest the police's request in court.
"Without any due process, somebody could file a complaint on your family member, your neighbor, whomever" and have that person's lawfully owned weapons confiscated, Frady told "Forum" host J.D. Hayworth and contributor Francesca Page.
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Ungar disagreed sharply in a separate interview.
"Shame on Bill for saying something like that without knowing what he's talking about," said Ungar. Under the proposed legislation, "The evidence is put forth by both sides and a judge decides," said Ungar.
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Last month's campus killing spree by 22-year-old Elliot Rodger, an enraged loner, has reignited debate over how, and when, to keep firearms out of the hands of would-be murderers. Rodger's mother got sheriff's deputies in Santa Barbara County to visit her son but they didn't search his apartment.
"They flubbed it," said Frady, arguing that
existing California law allowed police to detain Rodger for up to 72 hours under state mental health guidelines. "They don't need a new law," he said.
Ungar conceded that a gun violence restraining order won't stop every shooting. "The way I am viewing it is as something of a tool that might help," he said. He called it a "fairly intelligent" response and "not an undue limitation" on the 2nd Amendments rights of lawful gun owners.