Current and former agents from the ATF have raised concerns just this week about David Chipman, President Biden’s pick to lead the agency, saying he is a “rabid partisan” who has taken a “hostile approach to the Second Amendment.”
Former ATF Director Michael Sullivan said to Fox News that he was worried by Chipman’s “hostile stance against American’s Second Amendment rights.”
“I am worried that someone who has such a hostile stance against the Second Amendment, and gun owners, would be viewed as a political leader for an agency that, I think, has worked very hard to create a public confidence in its interpreting of the Gun Control Act and other regulations concerning it., Sullivan said.
An ATF agent for nearly 25 years, Chipman now works as an advisor for a gun control group created by former Congressman Gabrielle Giffords.
“Chipman has made it certain while working for a time as a lobbyist for groups that are anti-gun and one that believes in a very narrow interpretation of America’s Second Amendment … that he has a great hostility against the Second Amendment and the rights of Americans to use their constitutional rights to keep guns., he said.
Another ATF member, speaking anonymously, told reporters that Chipman was a “bully.”
“His reputation as an activist., he said. “I only know two ATF agents out of hundreds who I would say was anti-gun, and Chipman is one of them.”
“To enforce gun laws, you must not be political., he said. “You can’t be a partisan person. Dave is a rabid partisan. He has shown a propensity to personally attack people who don’t have his … philosophies. He thinks he is on a sort of platform of righteousness.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted against Chipman’s nomination on Thursday with a vote of 11-11. The vote was along party lines, with Democrats supporting Chipman and Republicans oposing him vehemently given the controversial nomination.
Author: Blake Ambrose