# In wake of school shooting, Tennessee legislators take action to protect the vulnerable **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 19, 2023, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908 "2023-04-19T16:17:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2023, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908/1 "2023-04-19T16:17:59Z")
by enacting a law to protect gun companies from lawsuits. Obviously, the gun companies are the real victims of all these shootings and need special legal protections. > **[Tennessee moves to shield gun firms after school shooting](https://apnews.com/article/tennessee-gun-lawsuits-shooting-e35ded1be99d504b7ae1694ad030be17)** > > In the wake of a deadly school shooting last month, Republican lawmakers in Tennessee are sending to Republican Gov. Bill Lee a proposal that further protects gun and ammunition dealers, manufacturers and sellers against lawsuits. The Senate's... ---
**Author:** ![TruePisces](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/truepisces/32/13628_2.png) [@TruePisces](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruePisces)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2023, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908/2 "2023-04-19T16:37:39Z")
Yeah, this is far more like what I’d expect from Bill Lee. Because after kids are born, they can fend for themselves. Multimillion dollar companies are the real vulnerable ones that need help. I’m still in Tennessee why? Oh yeah. So my kids have college paid for through my husband’s job. And to try to fight from the inside. But every day, the former is winning out over the later, and even that is getting closer to me wanting to say screw it, let them figure out their own way to college. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2023, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908/3 "2023-04-19T16:50:41Z")
This feels uncomfortably dystopian to me. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2023, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908/4 "2023-04-19T16:59:30Z")
They’re certainly working hard, and it’s clear who they’re working for. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2023, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908/5 "2023-04-19T17:46:59Z")
What if it is a gun company owned by a drag queen? ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908/6 "2023-04-20T09:27:31Z")
> [@TruePisces](#): > > Yeah, this is far more like what I’d expect from Bill Lee To give the man a little room, it’s only an ornament on his halo if he signs the bill into law. Or has Lee asked the legislators to mark the bill up? Q1. Is this proposal coming because legislators believe that civil lawsuits against gun manufactures is contravention of the 2nd Amendment or because “Big Guns” came knocking asking for indemnity? Q2. If another “as apple pie” industry like say “Big Motors” wanted a piece of the same leg-up, would they get a hearing? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908/7 "2023-04-20T13:53:51Z")
Do well sue auto manufacturers when a guy drives into a crowd? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908/8 "2023-04-20T22:49:59Z")
Are automobiles intended to kill people? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908/9 "2023-04-21T01:28:38Z")
Guns sold to civilians are not intended to kill people. They are obviously sometimes misused, as are some cars. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908/10 "2023-04-21T01:31:34Z")
Have you _seen_ some of the adverts for guns?? > **[These 5 gun ads are alarming critics, changing laws](https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2022/08/18/ftc-gun-ads-deceptive-marketing-mass-shootings/10347606002/)** > > Could gun ads go the way of Joe Camel from the cigarette industry? Gun safety groups say now is the time to restrict content for firearm marketing. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908/11 "2023-04-21T01:35:51Z")
> [@TruePisces](#): > > Yeah, this is far more like what I’d expect from Bill Lee. Because after kids are born, they can fend for themselves. Multimillion dollar companies are the real vulnerable ones that need help. > > I’m still in Tennessee why? > > Oh yeah. So my kids have college paid for through my husband’s job. And to try to fight from the inside. But every day, the former is winning out over the later, and even that is getting closer to me wanting to say screw it, let them figure out their own way to college. I hear you. **Mrs Magill** accepting a transfer to Rhode Island sounds better every day. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908/12 "2023-04-21T01:36:35Z")
I saw one ridiculous thing that you had to own an AR-15 if you were a tough guy. That obviously should be stopped. Liabilities against the companies that make the guns are precedents for companies that make cars and rat poison that kill people. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908/13 "2023-04-21T01:43:01Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Guns sold to civilians are not intended to kill people Which of those adverts are targeted to deer or beer hunters, target shooters or “collectors”? The answer is _none of them._ Look at the Urban Super Sniper advert-What about the name, let alone the copy, tells you that the intended target is not a human being? Now show me ONE automobile advert that targets drivers that need to hit pedestrians and/or other cars. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908/14 "2023-04-21T01:47:57Z")
And while you’re at it with your “guns and cars are just the same”, please point out to me the armies of the world that have regiments armed solely with cars, no guns, because they’re equally effective as killing machines. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908/15 "2023-04-21T12:21:33Z")
I didn’t say they are the same, I said that if firearm manufacturers can be sued because there product was used to kill people, so could auto makers. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908/16 "2023-04-21T12:39:59Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I said that if firearm manufacturers can be sued because there product was used to kill people, so could auto makers. Auto makers _have_ been sued – and justifiably so – not for making cars, but for making and marketing products that they knew were unsafe. Gun makers have a unique liability because it’s statistically demonstrable that their products are _always_ unsafe. So you’re only partly right, and not in the way you think. Besides, do you seriously believe that Tennessee Republicans are worried about setting a precedent for suing legitimate businesses like carmakers? Or is this performance art for their gun-loving lunatic Republican base? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908/17 "2023-04-21T12:58:21Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Besides, do you seriously believe that Tennessee Republicans are worried about setting a precedent for suing legitimate businesses like carmakers? Or is this performance art for their gun-loving lunatic Republican base? The latter, of course. If we came to blows over this discussion, and I hit you with a chair, would you sue the guys who made the chair? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908/18 "2023-04-21T13:10:56Z")
In the f\*\*\*ed-up current environment where guns, and gun nuts’ patently dangerous addiction to them, are unassailable, the rest of us are grasping at any straw to try to put the brakes on the lunacy. Yes, suing gun manufacturers is a contrived bass-ackwards way to achieve that goal. But it’s precisely the contrived bass-ackwards way our society has become deranged that we’re trying to slow and reverse by whatever means may be available. ---
**Author:** ![TruePisces](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/truepisces/32/13628_2.png) [@TruePisces](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruePisces)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908/19 "2023-04-21T13:27:36Z")
Also keep in mind that the Tenses Legislature loves to make laws for things that aren’t a problem because it takes the focus off the real issue. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908/20 "2023-04-21T13:36:13Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > If we came to blows over this discussion, and I hit you with a chair, would you sue the guys who made the chair? Based on the purpose of a chair, what do you think would be the success of a court case that tried to represent it as inherently dangerous, and something that either should be severely restricted or not available at all to the general public? Yet guns are in precisely that category in most civilized countries around the world, with the US being the notable exception. The US federal government is generally pretty good about addressing safety issues – **[the Consumer Product Safety Commission banned lawn darts in 1988 after reports of several injuries](https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/5053.pdf)** [PDF]. The difference is that lawn darts didn’t have an immensely powerful lobby behind them and weren’t worshipped with the religious fervour that guns are. So there is (literally) a case to be made that the supply chain of gun makers and their retail distributors – and in my view, especially the latter – are direct contributors to a deadly national epidemic. IIRC the vast majority of mass shootings in recent years were perpetrated with legally purchased guns. Between failure to enact gun control legislation, failure to adequately enforce it, and just plain don’t-give-a-damn profiteering, every element of the supply chain implicitly thought it was just fine to provide these mass shooters with the tools of wanton death. That chain has to be broken wherever we can break it, as it has been in all other countries. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-wake-of-school-shooting-tennessee-legislators-take-action-to-protect-the-vulnerable/982908.md?page=2)