U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- Under intense questioning by Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans, Joe Biden’s nominee to become head of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives acknowledged during a hearing Wednesday that if he is confirmed, David Chipman acknowledged he would ban the AR15, which currently is the most popular rifle in America.
Chipman, who is a senior policy advisor for the Giffords gun prohibition lobbying group, told Sen. Ted Cruz, “With respect to the AR-15, I support a ban as has been presented in a Senate bill and supported by the president. The AR-15 is a gun I was issued on ATF’s SWAT team and it is a particularly lethal weapon, and regulating it as other particularly lethal weapons I have advocated for.”
The exchange is the subject of a tweet from the National Rifle Association. NRA strongly opposes Chipman’s confirmation, as do other gun rights groups. The fight to prevent his confirmation could be one of the most intense in recent Capitol Hill history.
https://twitter.com/NRA/status/1397600882758389765?s=20
As reported by The Hill, ranking Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa asserted Chipman has “misled” the public about semiautomatic modern sporting rifles. Grassley criticized the nominee’s “contempt to which he seems to view ordinary Americans who buy and carry firearms.”
The New York Times quoted Grassley’s other scathing remark about Chipman.
“Many see that putting a committed gun control proponent, like David Chipman, in charge of A.T.F. is like putting a tobacco executive in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services, or Antifa in charge of the Portland police department,” Grassley observed.
Chipman worked at ATF for more than 20 years, retiring in 2012. Since then, he has become an outspoken gun control proponent. His nomination by Biden suggests the president wants someone with a gun control track record to be running the agency responsible for enforcing firearms regulations.
As noted by USA Today and others, Chipman spent time on the ATF’s SWAT team.
During Chipman’s exchange with Sen. Cruz, the Texas lawmaker sternly reminded him, “The AR-15 is one of, if not the most popular rifle in America. It’s not a machine gun, it’s a rifle.”
Gun prohibitionists have been characterizing the AR15 and other modern sporting rifles as “weapons of war” in an effort to demonize them with the public. The term “assault rifle” is widely considered a creation of anti-gunners, and under questioning, Chipman evaded attempts by Republicans to have him define what he considers an “assault rifle” to be.
According to the New York Times, “Biden’s selection of Mr. Chipman came after an intense lobbying campaign by gun safety organizations…and other gun control activists who identified him as their top choice for the job soon after November’s election.”
But those unidentified “gun safety” organizations are false fronts, according to Second Amendment activists, because they’re not interested in safety at all, but in control or prohibition. Within the firearms community, true “gun safety” organizations are those that actually have instructors who teach firearms safety, such as the NRA or the U.S. Concealed Carry Association.
“The White House was initially reluctant to select a nominee who would provoke such intense opposition,” the New York Times acknowledged, “but Mr. Biden decided he needed to make a bold move after the mass killings in the Atlanta area and Boulder this year, White House officials said.”
Millions of American citizens own AR15s and similar semi-auto rifles.
They are used for a variety of activities, including predator and varmint hunting, competition, recreational shooting and home defense. Chipman’s acknowledgment that he supports banning those rifles could cause trouble during confirmation proceedings.
However, the New York Times suggested Democrats may have the votes to confirm, provided one or two Republicans jump ship. If there is a tie, Vice President Kamala Harris—herself a perennial anti-gunner—would cast the deciding vote in a 50-50 Senate.
As noted by the NY Times, “It is not even clear if Democrats have the votes necessary to clear him out of the committee without resorting to procedural maneuvers.”
By no small coincidence, as Chipman’s hearing was unfolding, it was reported that a mass shooting had occurred in san Jose, California. Gun control groups have wasted no time in trying to exploit the incident and tie it to the Chipman confirmation.
The billionaire-backed Alliance for Gun Responsibility, a Seattle-based gun prohibition group, sent an email blast stating, “News of a mass shooting interrupted the confirmation hearing for the nominee to serve as director of the only federal agency responsible for addressing gun violence.
“We should be able to go to work, take public transit, go grocery shopping, attend a concert, and live our lives free from the fear of gun violence,” the group insisted, after which it quickly solicited contributions “to honor the victims…”
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
Last I checked tyranny and treason still carry the death sentence. What this man is saying goes directly against the constitution and thus his oath of office. The atfe should be disbanded and made to pay for every weapon they confiscated, every second class citizen they and their lawyers ever made, for everyone they assaulted and arrested and jailed without bail then tried for every person they had a hand in murdering. I remember Waco, where this pro communist pos was photographed on site. He had a hand in 79 innocent men, women and children burning to death on live… Read more »
THE most popular rifle in America today, and no fear of telling us they will take them. I am hoping someone explains the US Constitution to them before things get difficult.
If this worthless piece of crap gets confirmed it just shows how the congress doesn’t give a damn about the constitution and anyone who votes for him should be voted out of office come their next election.
FOID cards are unconstitutional, as ruled by a recent court. It is like a poll tax. Thus, it is illegal to register Gun Owners, and it is also against the 1986 law against gun registries. Lefty crooks want the whole pie, not caring about what is Constitutional. They want bans, registries, licenses, etc. They work the long game and keep pushing for more. In the changing definition of receivers and ghost guns, they define “readily” to mean 8 hours in a fully functional machine shop… which would not only cause issues for 80% receivers, but reclassify all semi autos as… Read more »
The 2ndAmendment is the backbone under which all other of our freedoms are based. That may sound a little violent, that we would have defend our freedom with gun fire, but that is the reality of the matter. At some point, if we are not willing to embrace that fact, we will surely become concubines of a Leftist regime. Does that sound extreme to you? Ask the Russian people. Ask the Chinese people. Ask the Cuban people. Ask the Venezuelan people. Ask anyone who is living under an oppressive regime where people are powerless to exercise their God given freedoms.… Read more »
Here IS the IMPORTANT REAL FACTUAL INFORMATION:
“NO WORDS WRITTEN/PRINTED ON ANY PIECE OF PAPER WILL STOP A WANTON THUG FROM HARMING OTHERS”!!!!!!!!!!
Hold the THUGS RESPONSIBLE!!
LEAVE LEGAL LAW ABIDING AMERICAN CITIZENS ALONE WITH THEIR LIVES, FREEDOMS and RIGHTS GIVEN BY GOD ALMIGHTY —– BEFORE “rules or laws” were put to pen”!!!!!
FEAR OF WHAT IS RIGHT! What are you afraid of? I will tell what I fear, the erosion of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights without due process in which the foundations of this country have existed upon for over two centuries. The re-interpretation, and the re-defining of these original documents is a perverted insult to the legal citizens of the United States. Many U.S. Families, including mine, since the inception of these documents have shed their blood to protect these foundations, and continue to do so in the present day. Our forefathers did not arm the American people… Read more »
This is the face of American fascism. This clown has worked his entire career in gumming and out of gummint to attack liberty. The federal bureaucracy is full of little Eichmann’s like this. Be very aware and beware. These clowns think they can silently flip us in to an authoritarian state from within gummint. And in many cases they are right. Most American will roll over like puppies. For those of us who love liberty and Love our God over all the answer must simply be NO. Stand firm.
This guy is on the list, whether or not he is confirmed.
Every time some form of gun control comes up for debate at the Federal level, the false flag campaign ramps up.