Representative Image. / Pexels

A bank employee carried out a mass shooting at his workplace, livestreaming the attack. The shooter legally purchased an AR-15-style rifle just six days before the massacre by passing the background check process. The shooter intended to highlight how easily someone with mental health struggles could obtain a gun in the U.S. 

California has some of the strongest gun safety laws in the country to prevent just such a situation. Speaking at the American Community Media (ACoM) briefing, Ari Freilich, who leads California’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention within the Department of Justice, said: “Civil court orders temporarily prevent a person at risk of harming themselves or others from accessing firearms.”

Intervene when someone is in crisis but has not broken the law.

Two pathways to block a dangerous situation

Gun Violence Restraining Order, or GVRO, a unique civil court process red flags a dangerous person and temporarily switches off their access to firearms.

There are two pathways for requesting the GVRO. The emergency pathway is available only to law enforcement in emergency circumstances. Law enforcement officers responding to the scene of a violent incident or a dangerous incident can obtain a GVRO over the phone in these emergency circumstances from a court. If the court grants that request, the emergency GVRO remains in effect for up to 21 days. It also requests a court hearing to occur within 21 days about whether to issue a longer-term GVRO that can remain in effect for up to 5 years. 

The standard pathway, the alternative, is available to both law enforcement and other community members. It allows them to submit standard GVRO petition forms to the local Superior Court either in person or through the court's website. This form prompts the petitioner, the person requesting the GVRO, to provide evidence of dangerousness.

The petitioner can request a temporary GVRO that will be issued within one business day and that can last for up to 21 days before the full court hearing. And after the full court hearing, the court can issue a GVRO that remains in effect for up to 5 years.

How to step in before someone gets hurt

GVRO can be an important tool for temporarily disarming someone who's already armed and or for blocking a dangerous individual from passing background checks to purchase and acquire arms in California. It’s often the only tool to It can be issued the same day, even outside court hours via law enforcement to stop harm before it happens, not after.

If the persons requesting the order have a qualifying relationship with the person they're concerned about, including family members, household members, coworkers, employers, school officials, and intimate partners, and if they can convince the judge that the individual is a significant danger of causing injury to themselves or others by having the legal ability to access or require firearms, they can get a GVRO issued. The court must receive sufficient evidence of dangerousness.

Laws which have actually helped lower the state's rate of firearm deaths, both in homicides and suicides. However, a recent statewide poll found that 80 percent of Californians know little or nothing about gun violence protection orders. An effort is needed to ensure that laws and policies aren't just good ideas on paper, that they're effectively implemented and understood and utilized to prevent harm. 

Understand the restraining order processes 

Governor Newsom's office launched a Reduce the Risk campaign.

One of the top priorities of the department has been to support a better understanding and implementation of court protection and restraining order processes. They allow people concerned about another person's safety, or their own safety to ask for help from the courts. 

“Request court-ordered safety interventions to prevent harm,” urged Freilich.

Pathways to Safety: A guide to California's array of nine different court protection and restraining order processes

‘Pathways to Safety’ guides citizens through the provisions to prevent gun violence and armed abuse. It enlists nine processes that empower Californians to present evidence to a judge showing that they need court-ordered safety protections for themselves and or for other people who may be in danger.

“For all of these processes, if a court receives sufficient evidence, it may issue a protection order, also called a restraining order that includes a set of legally mandatory court-ordered safety rules and requirements designed to reduce risk, protect people in harm's way, and temporarily restrict individuals' access to firearms and related items after a court finds they engaged in violent, abusive, or other dangerous conduct,” he said. 

All of these processes are designed to help restrict dangerous individuals' conduct and firearm access without incarcerating them. They are designed not to punish, but to prevent. They're a parallel to the criminal justice system. 

For instance, where a person has exhibited a desire to harm people of a certain faith, race, or political party or people may come across evidence, such as a manifesto, or journal writings, or social media posts, other statements or warning signs that an individual has persistent, intrusive thoughts about committing mass violence, they can seek a GVRO.

It does not provide any other protections to targeted victims. 

The success of these interventions is largely invisible to the public

It's a known fact that in states where officials have passed gun safety laws, fewer people die by gun violence. California has one of the lowest in the U.S., despite being the most populous state. In 2023, California’s gun death rate was about nine per 100,000 people, compared to the national average of fourteen per 100,000.

GVRO usage has grown dramatically from 2018 to 2023. In 2018, only 424 gun violence restraining orders were filed in the state of California. In 2023, 5 years later, that number had gone up to 2,073, an increase of 528 percent. 

“How many acts of terrible violence have been prevented because their safety impact is measured in shootings that didn't happen, and headlines that were never written because folks took effective action to see something and say something to reduce the risk and prevent gun violence,” said Chris Dargan, Senior Public Information Officer, Cal OES, to discuss the Reduce the Risk campaign.

“Fifty-eight of GVROs cases 2016 to 2018, were for threats of mass shootings, and when that GVROs was filed, none of those mass shootings actually occurred,” said Dr. Amy Barnhorst, Vice Chair for Community Mental Health at the UC Davis Department of Psychiatry.

For more information the website is Reducetherisk.ca.gov. The site is available in 14 different languages.