By Steve Neavling
The NRA and conservative GOP lawmakers are digging in for a fight to prevent the nomination of David Chipman as ATF director.
The NRA on Wednesday announced its plans to oppose the nomination of Chipman as part of a $2 million campaign to fight gun-control measures, The Washington Post reports.
Chipman is a gun owner, former ATF agent and senior policy adviser at Giffords, a gun control advocacy group led by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. Chipman has advocated for gun restrictions, including a ban on assault weapons.
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and other Republicans are urging Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and the panel’s top Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, to oppose Chipman.
“Mr. Chipman has a long history of advocating against Americans’ Second Amendment rights,” the Republicans wrote in a letter to Durbin and Grassley, The Hill reports.
“He supports limiting magazine capacity, holding gun manufactures liable if one of their products is used by a criminal in a crime, and banning certain types of rifles – including America’s most popular rifle the AR-15,” they added.
President Biden has faced pressure by gun control groups to pick someone to head the ATF, which has been without a permanent director since 2015 as the nation continues to grapple with mass shootings.
As vice president, Biden recommended in 2013 that President Obama pick a Senate-confirmed ATF director. Obama followed through with the confirmation of B. Todd Jones in 2013, but Jones resigned in 2015, and the agency has been without a permanent director since.
The current acting director, appointed by President Trump, is Regina Lombardo.
Whether Biden can muster the 51 votes required to confirm a permanent leader is an open question. Republicans have blocked ATF candidates who were far friendlier to the pro-gun base.
