There was no room for interpretation in the domestic violence restraining order papers the shooter in Monday's church massacre had received a few months earlier.
The illustration of a handgun has a line drawn through it. A paragraph in bold spells out the risk of a $1,000 fine and jail time for failing to comply. A heading declares: "You cannot have guns, firearms, and/or ammunition."
But despite the unambiguous intent, such orders in California largely rely on the good faith of alleged abusers when the stakes couldn't be higher. The shooting at the Sacramento church that left three children dead on Monday evening showed that even in California — home to some of the strictest gun laws in the country — haphazard enforcement often leaves firearms in the hands of domestic violence perpetrators.
