BREAKING: Key Senator Says “NO” to Chipman for ATF Head

If you’ve been reading Guns and Gadgets Daily, and our sister publication Freedom’s Lodge, then you already know that President Joe Biden’s nominee for ATF head, David Chipman, would be disastrous for gun rights in America. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearm and ammunition industry, has just notified us that we have something to be grateful for as we roll into this summer weekend: Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) has announced that he will not support Chipman’s nomination.

All it’s going to take to dustbin the Chipman nomination is one more centrist Democrat to say, “No, my constituents don’t like the idea of being immolated alive by a man who doesn’t even know what ‘semi-automatic’ means.” Let’s hope we can find one willing to vote with his or her heart instead of along party lines. The NSSF’s statement is below.

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This bold and decisive announcement is critical to ensuring the ATF remains a fair and impartial law enforcement and regulatory bureau and not a political tool of gun control special interests.

“On behalf of the firearm and ammunition industry, the 13,000 hardworking Pennsylvanians whose jobs depend on the firearm industry, millions of lawful Pennsylvania gun owners and Second Amendment supporters, we thank Senator Pat Toomey for his strong and principled stand to protect the rights of law-abiding Americans. This decision protects the men and women of the ATF working hard each day to carry out their critical mission,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “David Chipman’s nomination is clearly a move to politicize the ATF. Confirming a gun control lobbyist as director would not only do irreversible damage to ATF’s mission but it would also harm the cooperative relationship between our industry members and ATF.”

Members of the firearm industry have a long-standing and cooperative relationship with the ATF to achieve compliance and keep firearms out of the hands of those who are not allowed to possess them. NSSF has supported every ATF director nomination that has been reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, including President Barack Obama’s nominee, B. Todd Jones, who was confirmed by the Senate.

Keane added, “NSSF encourages President Biden to withdraw the nominee and nominate an unbiased, more qualified person to run ATF, someone the industry could support.”

Click here to watch NSSF’s first-ever television ad explaining why Chipman should not be confirmed.