NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Judges routinely order men and women to get rid of their guns once they are served with orders of protection.

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The Channel 4 I-Team found that the system is so flawed Metro police said no one in a case like this has ever surrendered a gun to them, not even once.

When judges sign orders of protection, they often check this box, sending a clear message. But that order might be an empty threat.

"I've never had anyone turn in their weapon," said Judge Carol Soloman, 8th Circuit Court.

Federal law said many people served with orders of protection cannot possess a gun, and local judges routinely issue orders to these people saying they have to give up their guns.

But the orders don't say where that gun is supposed to go or for how long anyone has to give it up.

There has never been a gun turned into Metro courts or to Metro police.

There's no mechanism to give them up, and there is no one in Nashville's justice system making sure the accused actually hand them over.

That's a major problem for one of the country's top domestic violence investigators.

"There's gotta be changes of procedures," said Mark Wynn, a domestic violence expert.

Wynn points to cases like Lori Stanley, who took out an order of protection against her ex-boyfriend Gregory Clayton. Clayton later killed Stanley with his own gun.

Ricky Welker was ordered to give up his gun after his brother, Stephen, took out an order of protection against him. But there was no procedure to hand it over, and Welker later shot and killed his brother.

In North Carolina, the law holds that an individual has 24 hours to turn over the gun to the local sheriff.

In California, someone served with an order of protection has 24 hours to surrender his or her gun to either law enforcement or to a licensed dealer.

And in Pennsylvania, the law specifically lays out that it is up to judges when and where guns are surrendered.

But Tennessee has no such provision, and neither does Nashville.

"We have no mechanism to turn them over," Soloman said. "I had a man in the other day, and I told him to turn over his gun. And he said, 'I gave it to my brother.' We have no way to police that."

This lack of procedure to turn over weapons is part of the reason judges feel they can't follow the federal law in Tennessee.

The I-Team found case after case of men, served with orders of protection in which they should have lost their guns, told they didn't have to turn over their weapons.

"With some sort of mechanism in place to accomplish that, how do you enforce it?" said Judge John Manson, 8th Circuit Court.

Wynn argues judges should enforce the federal law anyway and said he feels the state's lack of a procedure for people to turn over their weapons could have deadly consequences.

"The link between the possession of weapons and domestic violence murder is well-established," said Wynn.

This has become a nationwide problem.

Over the weekend in Florida, a man served with an order of protection to stay away from his girlfriend was also ordered to surrender his gun, an AK-47.

But, like Tennessee, Florida has no procedure to surrender guns, and the man is now charged with using that AK-47 to kill his ex-girlfriend and her father.