Biden’s ATF Director Wants ‘Well Regulated’ Second Amendment

David Chipman, expected to be nominated by President Biden as the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), has previously argued for a "well-regulated" Second Amendment.

David Chipman, expected to be nominated by President Biden as the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), has previously argued for a “well regulated” Second Amendment.

Chipman, whom CNN describes as a “fierce advocate for gun control,” spent over two decades as a special agent with the ATF and currently works as a senior policy adviser for Giffords, a gun control group formed by former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ).

A senior administration official touted Chipman over his credentials for the possible new role.

“Most recently, he has worked to advance common-sense gun safety policies. There is no one better to lead ATF right now,” the official told reporters in a conference call.

“He will help the federal government better enforce our gun laws while also protecting the Second Amendment.”

CNN reports that Chipman’s nomination is “sure to excite firearm safety groups.”

RELATED: Report: Biden Set To Announce Executive Action On Guns

David Chipman – Gun Control Advocate – To Be Nominated For ATF Director

While gun control advocates will no doubt be excited by the selection of David Chipman as ATF Director, Second Amendment proponents will assuredly be dismayed.

After leaving the ATF in 2012, Chipman became a senior adviser at Everytown for Gun Safety, a group critics accuse of using false statistics to bloviate on the dangers of guns in America.

Factcheck.org has previously accused Everytown for Gun Safety of overstating the number of school shootings in America “by including incidents such as accidental discharges of firearms, suicide attempts and incidents in which no involved party was affiliated with the school.”

Chipman has advocated for the necessity to limit “high-capacity” magazines saying anything approaching 100-round magazines is “not normal” and he “can’t think of a purpose” to own said magazines “beyond killing a lot of people.”

Last January, Biden’s pick for ATF Director argued that the Second Amendment requires firearms to be “well regulated.”

Writing in an op-ed for The Roanoke Times, Chipman argued against local governments declaring themselves ‘Second Amendment sanctuaries.’

“The Second Amendment envisions firearms as being ‘well regulated,’ and individual sheriffs aren’t entitled to decide whether a particular regulation is constitutional—that’s the job of the courts,” he wrote.

To the contrary, the Second Amendment envisions a “well regulated militia” while “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Those are two separate declarations.

RELATED: Gun Ownership For Black Americans Skyrocketing As Democrats Push For Gun Control

Biden Set To Announce Executive Action to Implement Gun Control

In that same column, Chipman argues that he is a “proud gun owner who has sometimes been mischaracterized as a gun-grabber.”

In his State of the State address, Governor Greg Abbott argued for what Chipman despises – making Texas a sanctuary state for the Second Amendment.

“Texas must be a Second Amendment sanctuary state,” he declared.

“Politicians from the federal level to the local level have shouted: ‘Heck yes, the government is coming to get your guns,'” Abbott said. “We won’t let that happen in Texas.”

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Chipman has written that such arguments show politicians clamoring for “unregulated access to guns above the lives of their neighbors.”

President Biden on Thursday, aside from nominating Chipman as ATF Director, is set to announce executive action he intends to take regarding gun control.

Politico reports that Biden is preparing to “unveil a long-awaited package of executive actions to curb gun violence.”

Biden “is likely to push for legislation to keep guns away from people believed to be a danger to themselves or others, as well as a ban of assault weapons and high capacity magazines,” they write.

 

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Rusty Weiss has been covering politics for over 15 years. His writings have appeared in the Daily Caller, Fox... More about Rusty Weiss

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