Unable to pressure recalcitrant Senator Angus King (I-Maine.) into supporting its radical, anti-gun, anti-Second Amendment nominee to head up the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the White House gave it up and withdrew its nomination of David Chipman on Thursday.
In its official statement, the White House blamed Republicans for the embarrassment:
Republicans in Congress … moved in lockstep to block David Chipman’s confirmation….
He would have been an exemplary Director of the ATF.
As The New American reported, Chipman sank his own nomination back in May when he publicly promised to ban all “assault-type” weaponry. He used such expansive terms to include any firearm with a magazine containing rounds that could be fired with a single press of the trigger.
He waffled when he was asked about whether he would prosecute Hunter Biden for lying on his Form 4473 about his drug addiction while applying for and receiving approval to purchase a firearm.
His staff didn’t help any by filing complaints against him, accusing him of bullying and using racist comments.
Other Democrat senators, including Joe Manchin (E-W.Va.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Susan Collins (D-Maine), and Lis Murkowski (D-Alaska), backed away from confirming Chipman, sealing his fate and forcing the White House to withdraw his nomination.
This is the second nomination to fail to be confirmed. Neera Tanden, Biden’s nominee for the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), sunk her own ship with tweets that insulted the very senators whose votes she needed to be confirmed.
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) explained why Chipman failed to be confirmed: “[His] long record as a partisan, anti-Second Amendment activist raised plenty of concerns about how he’d administer federal firearms laws,” adding,
But that wasn’t the only cause of concern. The record he concealed from Congress, some of which remains hidden to this day, about how he treated his fellow employees while at the ATF confirms his lack of fitness to lead the agency.
Chipman also mocked law-abiding gun owners, offending them by telling them to “secure that gun, locked and unloaded, and hide it behind the cans of tuna and beef jerky that you have stored in a cabinet, and only bring that out if the zombies start to appear.”
Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) tweeted: “David Chipman is an unhinged gun-grabber. His defeat is a win for the Constitution — and a crushing loss for Joe Biden.”
Representative Chip Roy (R-Texas) expanded on the news of the withdrawal:
President Biden should have never nominated anti-gun David Chipman for ATF Director, and I’m pleased to see reports that his nomination will be withdrawn.
His confirmation would have jeopardized the constitutional rights of every legal firearm owner in America, and his anti-Second Amendment beliefs make him completely unfit to serve in any kind of leadership position anywhere in this administration.
The right to keep and bear arms in self-defense is a human right enshrined in our Constitution; those who enforce our laws need to understand that.
Dudley Brown, the head of the National Association of Gun Rights (NAGR), joined in celebrating the withdrawal, noting that it took major political action from gun owners to turn the tide:
Chipman, a former ATF agent and staunch gun control advocate, could not garner enough support in the U.S. Senate to make it through the confirmation process.
David Chipman’s nomination to lead the ATF was a slap in the face to gun owners across the country. Now, thanks to the pro-gun grassroots, we’ve put Chipman back where he belongs: at home, without a job….
His nomination and subsequent defeat comes at the hands of millions of law-abiding gun owners consistently lobbying the U.S. Senate to back down and remove him from consideration.
I want to personally thank the 4.5 million members of the National Association of Gun Rights and their tireless grassroots lobbying efforts. It’s the activism of honest gun owners which brought Chipman down.
Brown is a single-issue activist, and a much needed one. But in the war against liberty being waged by the Left, more than a single-issue campaign, no matter how successful, is needed.
For five decades, the John Birch Society has been the only organization that educates and then directs its members to attack where the insiders are the most vulnerable, no matter what the issue might be. A few members, educated, motivated, and activated, have made the difference in slowing the march of tyranny. More are needed. Go to JBS.org for more information on how to become active in the freedom fight.
As Dudley Brown rightly noted, “We know President Biden will prop up another anti-gun pawn in the near future.… We [must] stand ready to oppose their unconstitutional actions.”
Related articles:
Democrat Support for Biden’s ATF Pick Is Crumbling
Biden’s ATF Nominee David Chipman to Ban All “Assault-type” Weapons
