20 State Attorneys General Oppose Biden’s ATF Pick

I have a few questions.

Joe Biden thinks this guy should be in charge of your Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

If you ever needed confirmation of just how hostile the Biden administration is to the Second Amendment, look no further than the recent confirmation of David Chipman to be the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Chipman, whose fame began with the slaughter of Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, and continues with his much more recent anti-gun lobbying, represents a middle finger from Biden to the Bill of Rights. Today, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen and 19 other state attorneys general today called on the U.S. Senate to reject that confirmation.

The reason this is such an interesting development is that those state attorneys general are essentially telling the Senate that they fear that Chipman will institute guidelines that they cannot enforce at the state level. They have very, very good reasons to have that fear, which they outlined in a letter to U.S. Senate Republican and Democratic leadership, (the previous link will take you to an automatic download of a .pdf file).

“Mr. Chipman has a First Amendment right as a private citizen to work for these political organizations and to lobby for the taxation, registration, and even confiscation of firearms. Americans likewise have the Second Amendment to protect their God-given rights to keep and bear arms,” Knudsen and the attorneys general wrote. “Accordingly, we ask you to oppose Mr. Chipman’s confirmation to this important position and demand President Biden nominate someone who is not hostile to our rights and way of life.”

ATF agents play an important role in upholding the public safety of communities around the country and will be disserved by an agency director with a political agenda. Americans’ Second Amendment rights do not need to be infringed to keep them safe from violent criminals.

“Its agents deserve a director who will inspire confidence from the people they serve. Given Mr. Chipman’s history of anti-gun lobbying and political activism, Americans cannot be reasonably expected to believe he will be an unbiased enforcer of current laws,” the letter stated. “As the chief legal and law enforcement officers in our respective states, we are concerned that Mr. Chipman will make Americans less safe by diverting ATF resources to attack the rights of law-abiding gun owners instead of cracking down on violent criminals and criminal organizations.”

Attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and West Virginia also signed onto Knudsen’s letter.