Sometimes the most stunning discussion to witness in a committee meeting during general session is no discussion at all.
Such a no-discussion discussion is exactly what occurred in a House Judiciary Committee presentation of House Bill 78, which would protect gun manufacturers from liability lawsuits following fatal shootings, but additionally — let’s call this compounded cruelty — would punish people who sue gun-related businesses in violation of the liability shield after they have likely suffered loss due to gun violence.
I was sitting in the House Judiciary meeting in which this bill was presented by sponsor T.J. Roberts, a sophomore lawmaker who is sometimes seen wearing an AR-15 pin on his lapel, noting before the meeting even started that there were eight bills on the agenda and wondering how they were going to squeeze this many bills into just 60 minutes.
The answer came quick.
Committee chairman Daniel Elliot stated at the top that he would have to limit discussion of each bill to about 10 minutes each which, based on the number of bills, seemed generous.
This is how HB 78 played out:
- Time for sponsor to present bill — 3 minutes.
- Discussion — zero.
- Voting — 2 minutes.
I often sit in committees like this and wonder why any of us are there at all. On this day, I considered what a regular citizen testifying against HB 78 might say, but the fact is that it does not matter what anyone at the testimony table says, pro or con, at this stage since (a) bills are only allowed on a committee’s agenda if leadership approves; (b) lawmakers already know how they are going to vote before meetings begin; and (c) everyone knows that if a bill is on the agenda at this late stage in the general assembly, it’s going to pass committee.
The rest, other than votes being on the record, is just theatre.
It was therefore no surprise when every Republican on the House Judiciary Committee speedily voted yes on HB 78 (without explanation) including Rep. Jason Nemes, majority whip and primary sponsor of omnibus House Bill 5, the so-called Safer Kentucky Act, back in 2024.
Let us recall that the ACLU wrote about HB 5, “Nothing detailed in the so-called “Safer Kentucky Act” will make Kentuckians any safer. Bills like this give the illusion of “law and order” while continuing to punish vulnerable populations and add to Kentucky’s incarceration crisis.”
Will HB 78 protect Kentuckians? No.
What will HB 78 protect? The bank accounts of gun manufacturers.
When asked about the scourge of gun violence, GOP lawmakers often say that access to firearms isn’t the problem, that what we need to address is mental health.
Guess what kinds of bills does this legislature never prints on a committee agenda: mental heath bills.
Ironic, ain’t it.
Rep. Lindsey Burke, a Democrat, voted no on HB 78. “I wish that we spent more time on protecting people from gun violence,” Burke said, “and less time on protecting the people who manufacture the guns.”
Rep. Pamela Stevenson, a Democrat, also voted no, saying in part, “Most of what these manufacturers are being sued for are foreseeable, and they choose not to correct the deficiency. And yes, there might be $94 million and 5,000 jobs [in Kentucky] but it doesn’t compare to the loss of life because no one is being responsible for their actions. The people making the guns — and I have a gun, I don’t mind, have one — but we’ve got to be more responsible, and this body has been unwilling to say ‘stop killing my children in schools’ so I’m a no.”
Why is the gun industry, and not your loved ones, always, always, always protected by GOP majorities?
It’s simple.
Corporate profits.
As former firearms executive Ryan Busse wrote on page 115 in his book “Gunfight” about the gun manufacturing industry in which he built his career, “The unspoken truth, understood by all manufacturers, was that if new safety requirements, smart-gun mandates, and distribution regulations were forced on us, guns would become more expensive. And more-expensive guns meant that fewer people could buy them.”
HB 78 — to protect gun manufacturers — was presented and passed in five minutes.
That’s how much thought this Kentucky GOP supermajority is willing to give a bill to protect the profits and liability of gun manufacturers and spending not a single minute this session providing solutions to stem gun violence. As Busse wrote on the last page of his book, “The gun industry has built a political landscape where federal lawmakers are scared to do the right thing…”
Sit in one of these committee meetings sometime.
Fear rules at the state level, too.
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