Yeah, see, Mel Gibson is apparently an abusive fuck.
Seriously:
He apparently has also punched his wife in the face hard enough to break teeth and cause concussions.
He sounds a lot like my father. Right down to the blatant racism and anti-semitism and insanity. Right down, in point of fact, to people saying, “He got physical, not violent.” Excuse me?
His wife finally got her restraining order against him, but now there’s a custody battle. And even if there wasn’t a custody battle, I generally conclude that in cases of insanity like this, restraining orders only lead to one thing: the abuser coming after you repeatedly until either you are dead or they are. ((Actually, sometimes this happens anyways. I never managed to successfully get a restraining order against my parents… I salute her for being able to do so, but fear for her.))
Or you’ve managed to run and change your identity a few times, etc etc etc, which is kind of like stabbing your soul repeatedly, and may not be possible with a small child in tow.
If Mel wins custody of his child, I fear for the child, for they will simply become a nearby focusing point for his anger. That never goes well.
I can only look at this piece of news and see death on the table. There’s just no good way out without serious damage, possibly fatal. It’s not to say there aren’t ways out—it’s just that this is going to be like watching someone trying to do the Water Temple level in any of the Legend of Zelda games without the armor/clothing/whatever that lets you breathe underwater.
Spontaneous ∂erivation 
Restraining orders are worthless. I mean, it’ll work in this case because he’s famous so everybody’s watching. So he won’t do anything. But in ordinary situations, they’re worthless. The couple times my mother got one against one of my stepfathers it just pissed them off more.
I don’t know what the solution is though. I have friends on various police forces so I’ve brought this up and they just don’t have the manpower. Too many abusive people and not enough cops.
I agree with you on the worthlessness of restraining orders. I still worry about Mr. Gibson though. Maybe he’s going to do something drastic and insane anyways. I’m pretty sure being a celebrity boosts ego points for some people.
And yeah. Number of abusive crazies > police far too often. :-/
I already can’t bear to watch anything with Tom Cruise in it because his actual self is so damned crazy.. now I’ll not be able to watch Mel Gibson either. :-/
A restraining order helped, sorta, with my ex-husband, but mainly because he didn’t feel like pushing it after I threw him in jail for a night, which helped in my case. I think I am an exception on that front. Otherwise restraining orders just doesn’t really seem to do much that’s beneficial except possibly encourage the cops/shelters to listen and/or respond. Maybe. If they’re not too busy.
Restraining orders seem to do diddly squat. :-/ I remember it being so hard to get one that it seemed like such a lot of effort for a scrap of paper that barely helps when a stalker really wants to hurt you….