SAN DIEGO — In the wake of the Uvalde school shooting, work is underway in Congress to generate bi-partisan support for gun control legislation.
One of the proposals on the table are red flag laws, which would allow the courts to temporarily take firearms away from someone determined to be a risk to themselves or others: a move opposed by some Republicans.
Under red flag laws, a family member, co-worker, educator or employer can work with the legal system to request a gun-violence restraining order.
In 2020, more than 37% of all those orders throughout the entire state were issued in San Diego County.
"Ultimately it is crisis intervention," said San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott, who has been a national leader on red flag laws. "And that's what we are trying to do: to keep people safe, keep them alive."
Elliott launched San Diego's gun violence response unit in 2017, which works with police to make a compelling case to a judge. That judge ultimately decides whether to issue a gun-violence restraining order, which lasts for at least one year.
Elliott told CBS 8 in a previous interview that her office is not focused on responsible gun owners.
"I am concerned about the ones who are not responsible," said Elliott. "The ones who are threatening to harm themselves, or harm somebody else,"
In 2020, 1,285 gun-violence restraining orders were issued statewide: 483 of them in San Diego.
"When you have ready access to a gun, it is very very easy to do something lethal very fast," said Ron Marcus, president of San Diegans for Gun Violence Prevention. "And if you pull that away, it is much harder for them to take an action that everybody is going to regret afterward,"
Marcus added that red flag laws are one part of a comprehensive gun control legislative package, including background checks and restricting sales to those under 21 on the federal level.
"This is the time to talk about it," Marcus told CBS 8. "This is a political issue and we need out politicians to do something about it,"
Returning from his visit to Ulvalde, Texas this weekend, Biden sounded hopeful that bipartisan negotiations would be successful.
"I think things have gotten so bad, that everybody's getting more rational about it," Biden added. "At least that's my hope and prayer,"
"There's a lot of problems with red flag laws, especially at a national level," said Republican congressman Dan Crenshaw from Texas. He has already voiced his opposition to gun-violence restraining orders. "What you are essentially trying to do with the red flag law is enforce the law before the law has been broken," he added.
Elliott maintains that in San Diego, red flag laws are working. "We'll never know how may lives we've saved," she told CBS 8. "But I have to believe that of the hundreds of restraining orders we've achieved that we have saved some lives...and that is good enough for me."
In Washington, as bipartisan negotiations continue, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on a red flag bill as early as next week.
WATCH RELATED: How San Diego’s politicians voted on gun laws last year (May 2022)