On Thursday Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) announced he will vote against President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), David Chipman.
Toomey suggested Chipman’s ties the gun control lobby would make it hard for the ATF to be “impartial in carrying out its duties” under his leadership.
“While I respect David Chipman’s nearly 25 years of experience as an ATF agent,” he said, “I fear that his subsequent vocal support for policies that limit the rights of law-abiding gun owners and his past criticisms of those in the firearm industry would compromise his ability to carry out ATF’s mission effectively.”
On June 22, 2021, Breitbart News noted Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) announced her opposition to Chipman and cited concerns similar to Toomey’s. She also pointed to statements Chipman “has made… that demean law-abiding gun owners.”
Fox News quoted Collins saying:
Although he has the right to express his views, I believe this history makes him an unusually divisive pick for this important position. In particular, I am concerned that his confirmation would do significant damage to the collaborative working relationship that must exist between ATF, the firearms industry, sportsmen and women, and other law-abiding gun owners exercising their Second Amendment rights.
On July 15, 2021, the Wall Street Journal noted Chipman’s confirmation faces an uphill battle in the Senate. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) “told reporters he still needs to see where ‘three or four’ of his colleagues stand on the nomination.”
Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Joe Manchin (D-WV), are three of the Democrats on whom Durbin is waiting.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.