NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- There's a federal law that demands people convicted of domestic violence or served with an order of protection hand over their guns. But the Channel 4 I-Team found several people convicted of abuse and those served with orders of protection in Davidson County legally permitted by the state to carry guns wherever they go.

Video: Gun Permits Allowed For People Convicted Of Abuse

Lori Stanley took out an order of protection against her ex-boyfriend only to be shot and killed by him.

"My sister didn't deserve to die this way," Stanley's sister said.

Stories of domestic violence continue to occur in Tennessee. The state ranks in the top 10 for states with the highest number of women killed by men.

If they are served with an order of protection, they have to turn over that gun for the length of the order.

The I-Team found, again and again, people convicted of abuse and men banned from being near women in Davidson County allowed by the state to keep their handgun carry permits. They received their gun permits before the incidents and kept them despite what happened in court.

"I think it's crazy. Absolutely crazy," said Lois Key, who was granted an order of protection. "Brainless."

"Clearly, those gun permits should have been revoked," said Kathy England Walsh of the Tennessee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence

Joseph Muschler, who negotiated a plea of assault on a woman, is allowed to carry a gun in Tennessee until 2010.

There's Vickie Cooper, who was served with an order of protection in August, ordered to have no contact with his wife and take anger management classes, allowed to carry a gun for the next two years.

And Darron Savage -- whose wife took an order out against him, saying she was afraid of him and calling him violent -- is permitted by the state to carry a gun until 2011.

By federal law, none of these men should have been allowed to even possess a gun.

"Somebody (needs) to do something about making sure these weapons are taken," said Key.

"If we have offenders who still have their gun permits," said Walsh, "then clearly there is a breakdown."

Col. Mike Walker of the Tennessee Highway Patrol said that these men could still have their permits "simply because we didn't know."

The state found out about the men only when the I-Team told them.

"It does trouble me," Walker said.

The Department of Safety's gun permit division is supposed to be contacted by the courts when someone is convicted of domestic violence so that they can revoke their permits.

The state finds out about people served with orders of protection when law enforcement enters the information in the state's crime database, which is when their permits are supposed to be revoked.

Walker said that the information about the men not being passed on to the Department of Safety is "a problem, but we can't do something about something we know absolutely nothing about. That's the problem."

The Department of Safety has taken action, sending letters to offenders and men served with orders of protection, revoking or suspending their handgun carry permits.

Walker said that it "very well could be" dangerous that these men had permits the whole time.

The federal law banning handgun permits for convicted abusers or men served with an order of protection pertains only if their cases met certain criteria, such as their relation to the woman. In these cases, the men did meet the criteria.

As a result of the I-Team's investigation, officials with the Department of Safety met with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which thought the courts were alerting the state to orders of protection cases, which wasn't happening.

The TBI is now going to be routinely meeting with the state to alert them to orders of protection.

It is unknown if these men were carrying guns; the issue is that their permits were never revoked.

The I-Team also found judges not taking away guns in orders of protection cases, saying the federal law doesn't apply.