Cory Booker: Red flag gun laws 'nowhere near enough to stop' mass shootings

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Are 'red flag laws' constitutional?

17 states have allowed a temporary halt to firearms access for people believed to be an imminent threat.

2020 presidential hopeful Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said proposed red-flag gun laws allowing for a temporary suspension of Second Amendment rights would still not be enough to prevent mass shootings, during an interview on CNN Sunday.

Host Jake Tapper asked Booker if he would support a stand-alone red-flag bill without increased background check measures, and the New Jersey Democrat said he'd only support a fully comprehensive gun control proposal.

"I have a comprehensive plan, perhaps the most far-reaching amongst the Democratic candidates and yeah, so-called red-flag laws are part of that. And we should do that as a nation," he said on "State of the Union." "But it's not going to be enough to end the epidemic of mass shootings. And it's not going to be enough to really restore a sense of — bring a sense of calm and security back to our nation," he said on "State of the Union."

Booker added, "We need far more bolder action to make our nation safe. Red-flag laws, yes, they’re important, but they’re nowhere near enough to stop these rising levels of mass shootings. Now having ... less sunrises and sunsets than we've had mass shootings -- we have to do more. The American public should demand more. And frankly, things like background checks are overwhelmingly supported by gun owners. The fact that we’re not doing that is a failure of leadership."

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Red-flag laws have spawned skepticism over the issue of due process and raised questions about their constitutionality. Detractors argue such laws would lead to a government gun grab while slowly chipping away at the rights of gun owners. Red-flag laws already exist in seventeen states plus the District of Columbia.

Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said the federal government can't force states to enact such laws, but can provide financial incentive and "pay" them to pass their own frameworks.

"The theory of the Constitution is we don't punish people or take their rights away from them because of what they might do, what they could do, because of what we fear they'll do, but only because of what they have done," he said Tuesday on "Fox & Friends."

Fox News' David Montanaro contributed to this report.