FRANKFORT — Gun manufacturers and sellers would be shielded from lawsuits over the actions of their customers under a bill approved Tuesday by the GOP-controlled Kentucky House of Representatives.
Rep. TJ Roberts, R-Burlington, sponsor of House Bill 78, told lawmakers that “criminals should be held liable for their actions — not manufacturers, not sellers who had no clue that someone was going to act that way.”
“Whenever it comes to someone who followed the law and sold a firearm and it is later used in a crime, the criminal is the person who should be held accountable,” Roberts said. “We have to ensure that our constitutional rights are protected from extralegal efforts to suppress these basic rights.”
The bill would also bar local governments from passing laws or issuing regulations that “impose liability” on gun sellers, manufacturers and trade associations because of “criminal misuse, alteration, or modification” of firearms.
The Kentucky House voted 75-17 to advance the bill to the Kentucky Senate.
The minority of Democrats strongly opposed the bill, arguing the legislature was determining court outcomes in advance instead of allowing courts to weigh whether specific claims against a gun manufacturer or seller can move forward.
Rep. Erika Hancock, D-Frankfort, said she was a survivor of gun violence and that she understood points made about individual responsibility with guns. Hancock wrote on social media that her grandparents were shot to death on their front porch in Boone County.
“Accountability in our system does not stop with the individual who commits the crime. Courts exist so then when tragedy happens, the facts can be examined and responsibility can be determined wherever it belongs,” Hancock said.
Another Democrat, Rep. Anne Donworth, D-Lexington, expressed concern about pending lawsuits against gun sellers and manufacturers, saying she wanted to make sure those plaintiffs “would still be able to have judicial interpretation of the law.”
A Jefferson Circuit Court judge ruled last year a civil lawsuit could move forward against a firearms dealer who sold a semi-automatic weapon and accessories to the shooter who killed six people and injured eight more at Old National Bank in downtown Louisville. Lawyers for the defendant have argued the firearms dealer should not be held civilly liable.
Roberts told Donworth that the bill would go into effect immediately once it becomes law because of an emergency clause but that there is not a “retroactive” impact on court cases.
Rep. Adam Moore, D-Lexington, also criticized provisions in HB 78 that bar local governments from taking action against the gun industry.
“We’re effectively telling our cities and our counties that when it comes to this one singular industry that local control ends at the courtroom door,” Moore said.
Roberts responded to Democratic critiques by saying that civil liability lawsuits aren’t seen in other industries like they are with the firearms industry. He made an apparent reference to a situation in 2021 where a man drove an SUV through a parade of people in Wisconsin, killing six people and injuring another 62 people.
“I think of an incident in Waukesha, Wisconsin where a man drove a truck through a crowd of people. I don’t think the manufacturer of the truck was sued. I don’t think the dealer of the truck was sued,” Roberts said. “The narrative that this has nothing to do with the Second Amendment just is not true. If there is no industry, if there is no supply, that right may as well not even exist.”
This article is republished under a Creative Commons license from Kentucky Lantern, which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com. Follow Kentucky Lantern on Facebook and Twitter.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
Liam Niemeyer covers government and policy in Kentucky and its impacts throughout the Commonwealth for the Kentucky Lantern. He most recently spent four years reporting award-winning stories for WKMS Public Radio in Murray.
