Biden Withdraws David Chipman ATF Nomination, Concedes Gun Control Defeat

Senate Democrats in pro Second Amendment states defy party powers

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Pres. Biden finally conceded he can’t get all the Senate Democrats to vote for gun-control activist David Chipman to be the director of ATF. The president will withdraw his nomination for Chipman to be approved by the Senate. 

This is a win for Second Amendment rights. And It’s a huge victory for the American citizens who have been calling their Senators and saying they don’t want Chipman running the ATF.  

Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Biden to withdraw the nomination last month after reports that Chipman’s “missing” ATF personnel file had charges of racist actions.

Biden Under Fire to Drop ATF Nominee David Chipman Over Allegations of Racism

This is what the Republican leader said today: 

Leader McConnell @LeaderMcConnell

Glad to hear reports the White House is taking my advice and pulling the terrible nomination of David Chipman. Absurd that a vocal opponent of Americans' constitutional rights was ever picked to run ATF. This is a win for the Second Amendment and law-abiding American citizens.

Chipman’s nomination never got out of the Senate Judiciary Committee because Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) didn’t want to bring it to the floor unless he knew it would pass.

The committee vote was 11-11. Vice President Kamala Harris would have had to vote to get the nomination out of committee and then be the deciding vote if all 50 Democrats had gone along with it. Schumer kept the nominee on hold while he twisted arms to get his Dems to fall in line. It seems he never got there.

There are five Dems from pro-gun states who never said publicly how they would vote: Manchin (WVA), King (ME), Tester (MT), Shaheen (NH) and Sinema (AZ).

We will likely never know which of them told Schumer and Biden that no amount of pressure will get them to vote for Chipman. They help the Democratic party by staying silent, while at the same time, show they have listened to their constituents by not voting for Chipman. 

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, put out a statement Thursday to “applauded” Biden for withdrawing Chipman. 

“Mr. Chipman’s long record as a partisan, anti-Second Amendment activist raised plenty of concerns about how he’d administer federal firearms laws. But that wasn’t the only cause for concern. The record he concealed from Congress, some of which remains hidden to this day, about how he treated his fellow employees while at the ATF confirms his lack of fitness to lead the agency. 

The “records he concealed from Congress” are his personnel records from ATF that still have not been released.

ATF Director Nominee David Chipman Missing Personnel Files 

Chipman still works for the gun-control activist group run by Gabby Giffords. Mike Bloomberg spent at least $150,000 on TV ads in DC to lobby for Chipman. They have all been silent so far in the face of their big loss. 

But this is not the end of Chipman. The Washington Post, which broke the news, reported this:

White House officials are trying to find another role in the administration for Chipman, said the people familiar with the matter.

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Biden nominated Chipman in April, along with a slew of other gun-control executive actions.  Democrats tried to slide Chipman through Senate Judiciary Committee hearing by putting him on a panel with a bunch of other people and only having one hearing. This was intended to minimize exposure of his radical gun-control agenda. 

However Republicans on the committee were still able to get Chipman to admit that he want to confiscate AR-15 style rifles from law-abiding Americans. 

ATF Director Nominee David Chipman Wants to Confiscate AR-15 Rifles

The gun grabbers threw a Hail Mary at the beginning of the Biden presidency by pushing an extremist to run ATF. Now they see the limits to their money and power rests in the American people who will not allow the right to keep and bear arms to be infringed by the White House. The power has been restored to the people who want the Constitution upheld by their elected representatives.

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LINKS TO SOURCES:

The Washington Post: White House pulling nomination of ATF chief amid pushback over gun-control advocacy

Senate materials:
Senate Committee on the Judiciary press release: Judiciary Republicans Demand Second Hearing, Information following Revelations of ATF Nominee’s Racist Comments about Colleagues
Committee on the Judiciary -Nominations (including David Chipman)
Chipman Senate Judiciary Questionnaire

NSSF Materials: HERE’S WHY DAVID CHIPMAN IS A TERRIBLE CHOICE FOR ATF DIRECTOR
NSSF website on how to lobby against Chipman Chipman backgrounder

Gabby Giffords/Mike Bloomberg Groups’ Materials: 
Confirm David Chipman for ATF Director: Video in support
Chipman’s bio on Giffords websiteGiffords website on how to lobby for Chipman