If David Chipman, President Joe Biden’s (D) failed nominee to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), hadn’t yet made it abundantly clear that he is unfit to run the agency, a recent interview leaves no doubt.
The failed nominee went after firearms manufacturers and retailers, and declared that opposition to him equals support for the actions of violent criminals.
“The problem is the gun industry profits by gun violence itself,” said Chipman, depicting the firearms industry as being complicit in violent crime without an ounce of proof. This, by itself, is deeply troubling, as he was nearly tasked with overseeing this industry. To allege that manufacturers profit from crime is not only dishonest, it also shows his outright contempt for the entire industry.
He didn’t stop there, as he then went after retailers by saying, “The fear is it’s going to be harder for people who sell guns to sell guns absent any accountability for profiting from selling them to criminals and terrorists.” So not only does Chipman blame the firearms industry for violence, he also claims—again, without evidence—that retailers sell guns without any accountability, and implies they deliberately do so to “criminals and terrorists.”
Firearms distributors have to be federally licensed and are required to conduct a federal background check through the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) for each and every sale, and it’s illegal to knowingly sell to any person prohibited from owning one.
Incredibly, his biggest fib was yet to come. “The reality is in much of America, it’s easier to buy a gun than a beer,” said Chipman. While the sale of alcohol is regulated, this claim is, unsurprisingly, patently untrue, as beer sales don’t require a federal background check for every purchase, but firearms do.
This telling interview builds upon multiple other reasons that illustrate why Chipman was never qualified to run the ATF. Clearly, he is an anti-Second Amendment partisan who sought to weaponize a major agency against your rights.
Though Chipman was defeated, we’ll keep you updated on whomever the president nominates next to lead this agency.
