Over 23K Gun Owners in California are Banned from Possessing Firearms But Still Do
California is one of 20 states that allow gun restraining orders, in which the government can take away a person’s firearm if they’re believed to be a threat to themselves or others. The California program, known as the Armed and Prohibited Persons System, boasts a relatively small staff of law enforcement officials, which has made it difficult to keep up with the growing list of gun owners across the state prohibited from possessing firearms.
"Thirty or forty, typically, are covering the entire state and may have to drive hours to get to an individual person's house," said Dr. Garen Wintemute, who heads the Violence Prevention Research Program at University of California - Davis.
"The transaction at the door is "Hi, we understand that you own firearms and you're not allowed to under the law. We need for you to give us your firearms,' he explained. "That's not a one law enforcement officer, one person kind of transaction. It takes half a dozen people to carry that off ... so it's extremely labor intensive."