The new California senator, Alex Padilla, recently claimed that Americans in a majority of states can get a gun faster and easier than they can vote.
CapRadio’s PolitiFact California reporter Chris Nichols anchored with Mike Hagerty this afternoon about the allegation in Can You Handle the Truth? segment.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
About where Padilla made his statement, and its context
It is important to remember that Padilla, until a few months ago, was the Secretary of State in California and was in charge of the election. Access to voters is an important issue for him.
The Democratic senator made it last week shortly after the mass shootings in Georgia and Colorado. He was speaking at a hearing on gun violence in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“In a majority of states, new voters can get a gun faster than they can cast their first vote,” Padilla said. “It seems to me we have our priorities completely reversed if we make it easier to buy a gun than to vote.”
About the truth of this statement
PolitiFact has found that it is on the numbers, and that is correct. About two-thirds of states have a faster process of obtaining a gun than giving a ballot if you believe voters should register weeks before an election.
Georgia is an example. In that state, a new voter must register to vote at least 29 days before an election, whether he or she intends to vote in person or by mail. This is according to the non-partisan group vote.org.
But on the other hand, there is no waiting when someone buys a firearm. The attacker in the shooting in the Atlanta area in which eight people were killed, legally purchased weapons. He passed the ‘immediate background test’, which can only take a few minutes.
Then he used the weapon the same day, according to the Associated Press.
About waiting periods and how California’s gun control laws work
According to the Giffords Law Center, which advocates for gun control, only ten states have waiting periods.
Proponents of gun control say a cooling-off period should lead to less violence, or even a few days between buying and owning a gun, could lead to less violence – both for people considering themselves or someone else impair.
Several states are considering adding a waiting period. The period is ten days in California. And unlike some states, someone to buy a gun in California must obtain a permit and register their gun.
But the process of voting in California is much faster than in a majority of the states. It is one of 21 states that allow voter registration on the same day. This is where you can register and vote on the same day – you can even do it on Election Day here in California.
About how PolitiFact judges Padilla’s claim over most states that offer a faster process to buy a gun than to vote
PolitiFact pointed out that acquiring a gun and voting are not really parallel activities. Of course, it takes longer to be ready for an election than to sell a gun.
But with the clarification and given that two-thirds of the states have a faster process of buying a gun, PolitiFact judged the statement to be mostly true.