Cross posted to the MRC's NewsBusters blog
On Monday afternoon, MS NOW host Katy Tur provided a forum for The Trace's Mike Spies to call for changes in the law so that gun makers can be sued over shootings.
Near the beginning of the show, Tur recalled the increase in mass killings in schools since the Columbine attack in 1999, and played a prerecorded clip of Congressman Bill Burchett (R-TN) from 2023 predicting that an answer to school shooting would not originate in Congress. The MS NOW host then responded to the soundbite:
Why not? Why aren't we going to fix it? They're trying to do something about it in Australia again. On the issue of guns, it only took hours after two gunman opened -- opened fire on and killed Jews celebrating Hanukkah at the beach for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to promise reforms.
After playing a recent clip of Australian Prime Minster Anthony Albanese announcing plans for more gun control in his country which has already had strict laws since the 1990s, Tur posed: "Politicians there quickly realizing that the strict gun laws the country enacted after a mass murder back in 1996 needed updating. So why aren't we addressing anything here? Why not here?"
A bit later, as she spoke with Spies from The Trace, Tur wondered why more background checks are not passed in spite of public opinion polls alleging that such action is popular: "The majority of the country wants tighter gun laws. They want universal background checks. ... they want it to be harder to get guns. It's the majority, clear majority of Americans. Why does it never happen in Congress? Is it a one-party issue?"
The anti-gun activist soon argued that Democrats should be pushing to make it possible to sue gun makers: "But I think where Democrats have really failed is it's been there's been a huge misplaced emphasis basically since the early '90s, every time there's an incident like this to to go back to background checks and expanding them..."
A bit later, he added:
And if I was going to pick something or say the thing that really is standing in the way of of reform, it would be the liability shield that exists for the gun industry that was enacted in the early 2000s. So it's essentially unlike any other industry. It is nearly impossible to hold the gun industry accountable through lawsuits for misuse of its products. And without that, I mean, that's basically how tobacco was ultimately held to account, along with other industries whose profits ultimately are at odds with public health.
Transcript follows:
MS NOW's Katy Tur Reports
December 15, 2025
3:03 p.m. Eastern
KATY TUR: According to The Washington Post, roughly 400,000 kids have experienced gun violence since the 1999 murders at Columbine High School in Colorado, an event back then that was so shocking it seemed impossible to happen again, or at least impossible that we as a country would let it happen again. But it did happen again, and it was worse -- Sandy Hook in Connecticut, Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Florida, Robb Elementary in Texas, Covenant in Nashville -- after which Covenant, after which Representative Tim Burchett told reporters that the American public should not expect Congress to fix this problem.
CONGRESSMAN TIM BURCHETT (R-TN), dated March 27, 2023: Three precious little kids lost their lives, and I believe three adults, I believe. And then the shooter, of course, lost their life, too. So it's a horrible, horrible situation and we're not going to fix it. Criminals are going to be criminals.
TUR: Why not? Why aren't we going to fix it? They're trying to do something about it in Australia again. On the issue of guns, it only took hours after two gunman opened -- opened fire on and killed Jews celebrating Hanukkah at the beach for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to promise reforms.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: We are stronger than the cowards who did this, and I want to conclude finally, by saying that the government is prepared to take whatever action is necessary. Included in that is the need for tougher gun laws.
TUR: Politicians there quickly realizing that the strict gun laws the country enacted after a mass murder back in 1996 needed updating. So why aren't we addressing anything here? Why not here?
(...)
TUR: The majority of the country wants tighter gun laws. They want universal background checks. They want things to -- they want -- they want it to be harder to get guns.
MIKE SPIES, THE TRACE: Right.
TUR: It's the majority, clear majority of Americans. Why does it never happen in Congress?
SPIES: Well, I think --
TUR: Is it a one-party issue?
SPIES: I mean, I think it is, you know, in the sense that there's no room to pass legislation in that way. It's a -- it's a one-party issue because it's just become, you know, you either -- there's there's one party, the Republican party, which has sort of moved to taking an absolutist position on gun rights. Then you have the Democratic party that's taken the position of reform, and there's really like no crossover anymore or no, no real middle ground.
But I think where Democrats have really failed is it's been there's been a huge misplaced emphasis basically since the early '90s, every time there's an incident like this to to go back to background checks and expanding them, which are not the worst thing in the world, but not -- I mean, I'd rather have them than not, is what I'm saying, but I don't think that that's the most productive legislation or what people need to know.
And if I was going to pick something or say the thing that really is standing in the way of of reform, it would be the liability shield that exists for the gun industry that was enacted in the early 2000s. So it's essentially unlike any other industry. It is nearly impossible to hold the gun industry accountable through lawsuits for misuse of its products. And without that, I mean, that's basically how tobacco was ultimately held to account, along with other industries whose profits ultimately are at odds with public health.
