At the 2020 State Committee of the Republican Party of Arizona meeting, pro-gun hecklers interrupted Gov. Doug Ducey’s address, in opposition to the governor’s support of so-called “red flag” laws.

The meeting, where officials from the Arizona Republican Party conduct official party business, had several hundred attendees from each precinct and district. The list of speakers included Representatives David Schweikert, Paul Gosar, and Debbie Lesko, as well as Sen. Martha McSally and Governor Doug Ducey.

As the Governor began his address, at least a dozen protesters began chanting “no red flags.”

The Governor, who was visibly flustered, stopped speaking. State Republican Party Charwoman Kelli Ward banged her gavel repeatedly until the chants subsided.

“Okay, everyone that’s here that’s standing in protest, you’ve been heard,” Ward said. “We will have decorum in this auditorium. I’ve asked you once, if I ask you two more times, you will be removed from this venue.”

Ducey then addressed the protesters.

“Arizona is the number one pro-Second Amendment state in the nation, and that’s not gonna change,” he said. “Arizona also happens to be the number one most pro-life state in the nation, and that is not gonna change.”

In August 2019, Ducey called on the state Legislature to pass red-flag laws after the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, that left a combined 32 people dead. There wasn’t enough support in the state Legislature to allow a red-flag measure to pass.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Gov. Ducey first called for legislation in 2018 to allow law enforcement to temporarily remove guns from people deemed a danger to themselves or others by a court. It was one of several initiatives in the proposal. That effort failed in the state Legislature.