By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

Federal law requires anyone served with an order of protection to give up their guns, but it's rarely enforced at the state level, leaving domestic violence victims in jeopardy.

One community in California, though, is using a federal grant to tackle the problem -- with promising results, as a report by NBC News' "Rock Center with Brian Williams" found.

San Mateo County Deputy Sheriff John Kovach and his partner head a team that tracks down and confiscates these weapons one by one. Last year, his department collected 324 firearms and for the third year didn't have a single gun-related domestic violence homicide.

"We have shotguns, rifles, pretty much any kinda gun you can imagine," Kovach said as he displayed the contents of his gun vault.

"Right here we have a submachine gun that was actually purchased illegally in Nevada and brought into the State of California. And this was recovered during one of our investigations of a restraining order."

When someone in his county takes out an order of protection, Kovach interviews them to find out what kind of guns the other party might have. Then he goes to the home to serve the order and take the weapons.

Sometimes the owner says they don't have the weapons any longer; sometimes they say they're at a relative's home, which means another stop for Kovach and his partner.

The sleuthing and legwork is worth it, he said.

"I've worked in a lot of different areas of law enforcement," Kovach said. "They are all satisfying, but nothing like this."

He noted that responding to a domestic violence incident is among the most perilous calls for a police officer. Getting guns out of the hands of those with restraining orders means other cops -- along with civilians -- are safe, he said.

In Spokane, Wash., mother of two Stephanie Holten learned how ineffective an order of protection can be if the other person is still armed.

After she told her ex-husband she was seeing someone else, he threatened her, she said.

"He said to my face that he would come over to my house and put a gun in my mouth and pull the trigger, that he would blow my head off," she said.

She filed a police report and obtained an order of protection. Police served her ex with the order, but no one took his gun. Nine hours later, he was at Holten's door with the weapon.

"He starts yelling at me, 'I was served a protection order today and I'm going to kill you. I'm going to shoot you,'" Holten recalled.

"I'm on my knees by the living room couch and he's standing over me. And I am looking at this gun barrel."

Secretly Holten used her cell phone to call 911, and police rescued her. Her ex-husband is in prison now.

Kelly Starr of the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence said the episode could easily have had a more tragic ending.

"When there is a gun around is when we see domestic violence turn to murder," she said. "What we know is that domestic violence victims are five times more likely to be killed if there's a gun around."

Statistics like that are why Kovach believes he is making a difference.

"I know I am saving lives," he said.

Related links:

Son of a transgender author: 'I live in a normal family'

More from Rock Center with Brian Williams

Police in Texas say a man shot and killed his ex-wife and himself on the same day their divorce was finalized.

On Wednesday, DeSoto police said 40-year-old Andre Murphy, a former police officer with the Cedar Hill Independent School District, arrived at his ex-wife Catina's home Tuesday and kicked in the front door as she pleaded with 911 officers to send help fast.

Police said the man then ran upstairs and shot the 37-year-old woman several times before apparently turning the gun on himself.

When officers arrived they found the bodies of the couple inside the home on the 700 block of Timber Trail.  While police are calling the incident a murder-suicide, it'll be up to the Dallas County medical examiner to officially declare Andre Murphy's death a suicide.

As the investigation unfolded, police learned that the couple's divorce had been finalized that day and the man went to the home a short time afterward.

Police said the couple have a 7-year-old daughter who was not at home at the time of the shootings. Jermaine Pearson, a cousin of Andre Murphy, said the couple's daughter is now staying with other family members.
 
“She's going to be fine," Pearson said. "She has a very great support group. Not only her grandmother, her family in Lancaster, it's a huge family, and we all love the child as we love the parents."
 
Andre Murphy was a former police officer for the Cedar Hill Independent School District. He had worked as a police officer for the district for four years before being laid off in 2012 during a reorganization of the department, the district said.

DeSoto police initially said they had not been called to that address for any domestic violence-related calls, but said Wednesday that they were called once in September after Catina Murphy claimed her husband pushed her.  Andre Murphy was issued a ticket that was later dismissed.   The divorce decree indicated that Catina got a temporary restraining order against her husband in Oct., 2012.

NBC 5's Randy McIlwain contributed to this report.

Noah Berger / AP

Suspended San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi and his wife Eliana Lopez arrive at a Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday in San Francisco. The Board planned to vote on removing Mirkarimi, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in a domestic violence case, from office.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A divided San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to reinstate Ross Mirkarimi to his elected post as sheriff late Tuesday after he was suspended by the mayor following a domestic-abuse conviction.

The vote to return Mirkarimi's badge came after a nearly year-long political firestorm within San Francisco over a New Year's Eve quarrel with his wife, Venezuelan soap opera actress Eliana Lopez, that turned violent.

Mirkarimi, a co-founder of California's Green Party, watched during five hours of emotional public testimony from more than 100 of his supporters who called for him to stay, and about 15 domestic-violence advocates who called for his ouster.

The board's 7-4 vote was two votes shy of what was needed to strip him of his elected position.

"The system worked in this case," Mirkarimi, 51, said after the vote. "It took a long way to get here. The next step is mending fences and moving forward."

'Jewel in the crown'
Many of the speakers told supervisors how Mirkarimi had become a voice of the voiceless in the community, showing up at homicide scenes in the middle of the night.

"Ross is the jewel in the crown of San Francisco," said Ursula McGuire, 76, who spoke from her wheelchair. "I want you to reinstate the jewel."

San Francisco sheriff in domestic abuse case to face ethics charge

Domestic-violence advocates urged the board to oust the sheriff.

"If reinstated, Ross Mirkarimi would represent San Francisco's tolerance of domestic-violence crimes," said Katharine Berg, associate director of La Casa de las Madres, a Bay area women's shelter.

Domestic abuse billboard aimed at sheriff's comments

Mirkarimi had launched a legal case seeking reinstatement to his post and his salary. He said he could not be removed for official misconduct because his offense occurred more than a week before he took office as sheriff.

In a cellphone video a neighbor recorded the day after the argument, a tearful Lopez, 36, pointed to a bruise on her arm and said her husband had grabbed it with such force that he left it black and blue.

A day in jail, probation
Lopez testified before a city ethics panel that the neighbor convinced her to document the bruise in case she and Mirkarimi separated.

Lopez said she feared her status as an immigrant could cost her custody of her son if they separated.

Lopez refused to testify against her husband and has stood by him, though a family court judge only recently allowed the couple to reunite after seven months apart.

Biden to lead push for domestic violence law

San Francisco's district attorney charged Mirkarimi on January 13, five days after his installation as sheriff, with misdemeanor counts of domestic violence battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness.

He struck a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to a single, lesser charge, and was sentenced to a day in jail and three years of probation.

But the mayor said Mirkarimi's conduct was a violation of the public trust and his role as a law enforcement officer.

The city's ethics commission voted 4-1 in August that Mirkarimi committed official misconduct.

More content from NBCNews.com:

• 'Warmest year' looking more likely for 2012 across continental US
• Jerry Sandusky's victims said to be largely satisfied with sex abuse sentence
• Gay Scouts come out, rally around teen's Eagle Scout bid
• 1 in 5 Americans is not religiously affiliated, survey finds
• Deadly crossing: Death toll rises among those desperate for American Dream
• Video: Mexican authorities arrest suspect in tourist murder

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Updated 12:57 p.m. ET: SPOKANE, Wash. -- Police have identified a "person of interest" in the homicide investigation of a woman and two children whose bodies were found in a home in north Spokane.

Spokane police say they are looking for 22-year-old Dustin W. Gilman, who is thought to be driving a silver 2007 Nissan Pathfinder.

On Friday, police spokeswoman Jennifer DeRuwe said police were looking for a "suspect" believed to be in a domestic relationship with the three dead.

Maj. Frank Scalise described it as "a potential domestic violence" situation.

The victims' names, ages and cause of death were not immediately released. DeRuwe said she couldn't specify the victims' relationship to each other.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News

• Did serial killer John Wayne Gacy have accomplices?
• Another American in Libya no-fly limbo
• Airlines secretly cash in on unused tickets
• Obama revamps contraceptive policy