The story makes the judge look bad, but a protective order is basically meaningless in a case like this. It certainly would not have stopped this guy from carrying out his intentions.
I agree with you, but even then one apparently can’t always get a protective order. In other words, the argument the gun grabbers make is utterly demolished in two different ways: (1) no, you can’t always get a protective order, and (2) they don’t actually protect you even if you get one. Therefore, (3) get a gun to protect yourself, and (4) view anyone who wants to prevent you from doing that as essentially wanting you to be murdered.