A local physician caused a stir last week when he appeared in a video waving a handgun and saying he’d rather people carry concealed weapons than wear face masks to guard against the coronavirus.

Dr. Jeff Barke, a Newport Beach family medicine physician who serves as board chairman of a charter school in the city of Orange, has been a vocal opponent of mask wearing and has appeared at rallies to reopen schools and businesses.

In a video interview recorded Sept. 16, Barke is featured in a virtual sit-down talk with Peggy Hall, a devout anti-masker who started the mask-opposition website the Healthy American in May.

In the 38-minute split-screen conversation — which Barke posted on his website, “Rx For Liberty,” and on YouTube, but which has since been removed — the pair discuss their views on mask wearing (and shaming), police protests and a “spiritual battle” being waged in America.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.