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EXCLUSIVE: The Reign of the Biden Gun Control Agenda is Upon Us

April 16, 2021

President Biden is committed to dismantling the Second Amendment like we have never seen before. This assault will not be carried out through legislation, as the Congress enjoys the protections of longstanding procedural rules like the Senate filibuster (for now). President Biden will, as promised, dissolve your gun rights administratively through the executive branch. We know this strategy to be true because of Biden's nominee to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). David Chipman is a gun-control extremist whose current employer, Giffords, is an anti-gun, leftist lobbying group.

Mr. Chipman's nomination to head the ATF threatens the constitutional rights of lawful gun-owning Americans. He pushed for a litany of firearms restrictions during his time as an anti-gun lobbyist. Mr. Chipman's employer filed a brief in the landmark Supreme Court case, District of Columbia v. Heller, which argued that "The Second Amendment Does Not Limit the Options Available to Cities to Address the Problem of Gun Violence." According to POLITICO, "Chipman supports banning assault weapons, limiting high-capacity magazines, expanding background checks and ending the fairly broad liability shield that firearms manufacturers enjoy. And he has called for ATF, where he worked for more than two decades, to increase inspections of federally licensed gun dealers and use other tools to help curb what he calls a national epidemic." In a 2013 op-ed, Chipman wrote, "Our weak firearms laws make it all too easy for guns to fall into the wrong hands — and since Congress has failed to address these gaps legislatively, ATF must chart a new course to combat the scourge of gun violence."

Mr. Chipman will lead ATF as an anti-gun activist, rather than an impartial Director. I will not stand by idly while this Administration treads on the rights of my constituents and the American people. Following ATF's recent history of limiting the rights of law-abiding Americans with last year's prohibition on pistol braces, President Biden found his next target to be "ghost guns." Biden, ATF, and the Democrats target "ghost guns" for no clear reason other than partisanship. There is no evidence to back up the claim that "ghost guns" are causing harm to our communities. There is no evidence of "ghost guns" in any mass shooting.

Additionally, the Biden administration plans to publish model "red flag" laws to inspire state legislators to restrict their citizens' constitutional rights to own firearms. If pistol braces, ghost guns, and red flag laws weren't enough reasons for concern, congressional Democrats continue to push their anti-gun bills in the 117th Congress. Evidenced by H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021, and H.R. 1446, the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2021, House Democrats are slowly and steadily chipping away at the freedoms enshrined in the Second Amendment of the Constitution.

I urge all Americans who cherish their constitutional right to own guns to call their United States Senators and ask them to reject David Chipman's nomination as ATF Director.