SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — It has been 10 years since a killing spree on the Central Coast prompted the creation of California’s red flag law, also known as gun violence restraining orders.
On May 23, 2014, a 22-year-old with known mental illness problems stabbed and killed three people and then murdered three others in Isla Vista near UC Santa Barbara.
“The family called on their own child to law enforcement, and law enforcement said he hasn't committed a crime. We can't do anything about this,” said San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott. “Predictably, the kid did exactly what the family thought he was going to do, and he committed mass murders.”
The shooting prompted the creation of California’s gun violence restraining order law, or GVRO.
As a graduate of UC Santa Barbara, the mass murder hit close to Elliott’s heart. She became an early adopter of GVROs, calling it a “crisis intervention tool.” She has trained numerous law enforcement agencies about its use.
“I don't think that anybody wants to wait until somebody uses a gun to break the law by murdering somebody. It's like if you know somebody is drunk, you take their car keys away,” Elliott said.
Elliott launched the use of GVROs in late 2017. Since then, it has come a long way.
Through May 1st of this year, the city attorney’s office obtained 1,895 GVROs. That includes the short-term emergency orders and the longer lasting orders issued by the court. That can take your firearm away for up to five years, according to the city attorney’s office.
In all, 3,705 firearms have been seized. “Our office has fully embraced it because it works,” Elliott said.
Several years ago, ABC 10News also spoke with Michael Schwartz, the executive director of the San Diego County Gun Owners PAC.
In 2018, Schwartz said, “Conceptually, the idea of taking firearms from criminals are people that are mentally unfit is something we stand behind.”
That is a statement he said he still stands behind. “We talk about how we defend the rights of people who are sane, trained and law-abiding,” Schwartz said.
However, he said since the law was created, he has seen abuse of the law.
“I'm even more determined to either completely get rid of gun violence restraining orders or do a massive overall,” Schwartz said. “There is nowhere near enough due process when it comes to gun violence restraining orders, and it's made it very easy for them to be used vindictively against people.”
One case where he believes due process was not given after a GVRO was issued involved a local man accused of road rage, yet criminal charges were never filed. According to court documents, his lawyer said that the man is still trying to get his concealed carry weapon back.
He mentioned instances of coworkers and roommates wrongfully filing GVROs against people they didn’t like, although specifics on those cases were not provided.
Elliott argues when it comes to the decision on whether a weapon gets taken away, it is not made by her or the police department. “It is made by a court of law.”
Law enforcement, immediately family and a person's employer are among the groups that can request a GVRO.
“I feel that it's the most important thing I've done as city attorney,” Elliott said.
