“This is an unbelievably powerful tool that fills a previous gap” when dealing with a potential active-shooter situation or threat of suicide, she said. McKeown said the number has jumped this year, but couldn’t provide an official count. In the first two years, state records show, 11 restraining orders were issued in Santa Clara County. There was a new law, she realized, and this seemed the perfect opportunity to use it.Īfter the man was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and his eight guns, including an AR-15-style rifle, were seized using a restraining order, McKeown become a crusader, leading informational sessions for police agencies across Santa Clara County. The prosecutor hung up and began to research. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she responded. “I want to do a gun restraining order thing,” the officer told McKeown. In one message, the man said to “watch the news,” adding that he planned to do “worse” with his guns. Police had reviewed text messages the man sent soon after a sniper killed five Dallas police officers.
Authorities there had received a tip about a man with a truck full of guns who was driving toward his job at an auto shop. McKeown learned about the gun restraining orders by chance in 2016, after receiving an urgent call from a police investigator in Campbell, a city southwest of San Jose. While big money goes into passing legislation, there’s often less capital put toward educating the public once it becomes law, McKeown said.Įven members of law enforcement struggle to keep up with the state’s evolving gun laws. Marisa McKeown, one of the state’s leading experts on the restraining orders. He also recently contacted Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore and Los Angeles School Police Chief Steve Zipperman about doing in-person training sessions with officers.Īwareness is key, agreed Santa Clara County Supervising Deputy Dist.
His office has led two educational sessions about the tool and helped with a website that offers instructions on how to obtain a restraining order. “The paucity of (orders) here in Los Angeles leads me to believe additional training will be very helpful,” he said.
Mike Feuer, who held a news conference in 2016 touting the measure as a life-saving tool and vowing to fight for its success, acknowledged the low numbers. With 32, Los Angeles County had the most, but some smaller counties, such as Santa Barbara and San Diego, had higher rates for their size with 21 and 18, respectively. Fewer than 200 were issued across the state during the law’s first two years on the books, according to the state Department of Justice. Relatives of the gunman, Elliot Rodger, had previously alerted authorities to his potential danger.īut so far, the gun violence restraining orders have been rarely used.
The legislation followed a 2014 mass shooting in Isla Vista, near UC Santa Barbara. In 2016, California became the first state in the nation to allow family members, roommates and police officers to ask a judge to block individuals believed to be dangerous from having firearms for up to a year. It was a successful use of a legal tool that proponents believe will help reduce gun violence as more members of the public and law enforcement learn about it. What if he was a copycat killer inspired by the Parkland shooting and obtained another gun after posting bail? Beverly Hills officers decided to try something they’d never done before and persuaded a judge to temporarily bar the man from having guns. Police confiscated a loaded handgun in the man’s glove box and arrested him. Two weeks after a gunman in Parkland, Fla., zigzagged from one classroom to another in his former high school, killing 17 people, a Beverly Hills High employee dialed 911 to report a stranger mumbling to himself and following her as she left campus.