Exclusive — Sen. Steve Daines: David Chipman ‘a Disaster’ for Second Amendment Rights

Breitbart News spoke with Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) about President Biden’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) nominee David Chipman and Daines noted that Chipman would be “a disaster” for Second Amendment rights.

Daines sent a press release on Chipman to Breitbart News on July 14, 2021.

Here is part of what the release said:

The Constitution is clear, and now I know my Democratic colleagues may want to say otherwise but it’s clear where it says: ‘the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.’ Montanans and the American people are guaranteed this right as protected in our Constitution. Despite this, we have seen President Biden and far Left Democrats abandon this right to fit their own gun grabbing agenda.

Daines went on to talk about Chipman’s ties to the gun control lobby and noted, “Putting David Chipman in charge of the ATF is like putting an arsonist in charge of the fire department.”

He urged his Senate colleagues to vote against Chipman’s confirmation, saying, “The Senate must oppose Mr. Chipman’s nomination for the sake of protecting our Second Amendment rights.”

Breitbart News reached out to Daines after getting the press release and he said: “David Chipman’s hostile record towards law-abiding gun owners speaks for itself. He is a registered anti-gun lobbyist and his confirmation would be a disaster to the ATF and Montanans’ Second Amendment rights.”

Breitbart News spoke with Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) on Monday and she stressed that Chipman is “wholly unfit to run the ATF.”

Lummis observed, “The Democrats’ agenda is clear: They want to regulate firearms into oblivion. That’s unconstitutional, and I will stand up for the law-abiding people of Wyoming and our way of life and oppose his nomination.”

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.