I started this post from seeing a Leftist blue-check-mark claim that in Pennsylvania you can buy a gun and walk out with it that same day but it takes a month to register to vote. Okay?… I mean – I’m not confused at the point the lady was attempting – she’s saying that protecting yourself shouldn’t be easier than voicing what brand of authoritarian control should rule over you and your neighbor — it’s just a dumb point is all.
Idk if that’s true or not in Pennsylvania specifically. It’s not true generally – something we’ve known for years since Barack Obama made the same claim and it was debunked – but why let the truth get in the way of a perfectly good emotionally-persuasive talking point amirite? But on PA specifically – idk – but I’m not gonna look it up cuz it doesn’t matter.
Voting is not a right. Firearm ownership is.
When elected representatives openly say that non-rights should be easier to access than your Constitutionally guaranteed rights – then you know you’re looking at an authoritarian douchebag.
My states new senator, Alex Padilla, who was appointed to Kamala Harris’ Senate seat, and many wondered if he would live up to Officer Harris’ authoritarianism, did his predecessor proud by repeating the falsehood (tweeted here by CBS News without commentary or fact-checking, of course):
“In a majority of states” means that Padilla is claiming that in at least 26 states it’s easier to buy a gun than it is to vote for the first time. It isn’t.
Even if it is true that in Pennsylvania you can get a same-day firearm purchase, all 50 states have eligibility requirements and you have to pass a background check, present a valid, pay taxes and fees to the government for the purchase, and I would imagine that even in a quick-buy state like maybe-PA-is, that a good percentage of the time the person would still end up having to wait days or weeks for their firearm to be in their possession. Soooo. If we could just make voting as “easy” as it is in that allegedly most-easy state then that’d be a good start, yea.
If Republicans had any balls then they would call Democrats’ bluff on this talking point and try to make their false claim a reality by introducing a bill that makes what they’re claiming so. Democrats would vote against it because they’re using the false talking point negatively, but it would illustrate that it’s 1- not currently true, and 2- force Democrats to go on record by way of a vote that they want power more than they want you to have protection.
David Harsanyi articulates how that could work:
Of course, we would be able to test Padilla’s contention by linking the two issues. Let’s pass an H.R. 1 for guns. If you can receive a ballot in the mail, then FedEx should be able to bring you an AR-15. If you can vote without photo ID, you should be able to buy a handgun without it, too. If we are to institute same-day registration and voting, then Americans should also enjoy same-day background checks and gun purchases. If we implement automatic voter registration for anyone using a government service, we should simultaneously implement automatic background checks that pre-clear them for gun ownership. If we’re going to pre-register 16 year olds as voters, let’s pre-register them for gun ownership, as well.