PBS on Gun Bill

The bill banning gun companies from dumb lawsuits finally passed the Senate yesterday.  Here's an exchange from the News Hour on PBS which discusses Tom Daschle and what happened to the last bill:

MARK SHIELDS: The votes were there, Jim. I don't think there's any question that the combination of the political clout of the gun owners and the gun manufacturers was very much in evidence.

There was the -- that fear or at least an apprehension among some Democrats and others that Tom Daschle, who lost his Senate seat last year when George Bush carried the state by 21 percent, he lost by only two, but the reason that tipped him out of office was the fact that as majority leader, Senate Democratic leader, he had held up a vote on a final passage of this by loading up amendments that the gun owners and gun manufacturers felt unacceptable.

So I think with Harry Reid backing it, there was no question it was going to sail.

JIM LEHRER: That's the big change, of course, the man who replaced Tom Daschle, Harry Reid, supported this bill.

RAMESH PONNURU: That's right, and it's not just that Daschle lost his race. Democrats have gotten burned multiple times by going too far in the direction of gun control --1994 the assault weapons ban Bill Clinton said it was part of the reason why the Democrats lost the House; 2000, there were a lot of people who say Al Gore could have picked up three states that he ended up losing but for the gun control issue.

So I think a lot of Democrats have been pulling back on this issue, and when you talk about these lawsuits against gun manufacturers, which is what, that is an issue.

In the Thune Senate, bills are finally passing.  Here is the Argus Leader story:

Sens. Tim Johnson and John Thune voted for the measure and are original co-sponsors of the bill introduced by Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, early this year.

"This critical legislation will protect South Dakota gun manufacturers against predatory lawsuits that seek to undermine legitimate businesses," Thune said. "By curbing irresponsible lawsuits that harm gunmakers and drive up their cost of doing business, this bill serves the interests of hundreds of thousands of South Dakota sportsmen and hunters."