Joe Biden’s nominee to head the ATF, David Chipman, was rejected because of racist actions he took when he worked for the agency. That’s the story. Or it should be. CBS interviewed Chipman, not to ask about his racism but rather, to give him a forum for his anti-gun nonsense, including a claim the it’s easier to buy guns than beer.
Chipman is a radical anti-gun activist but the main reason why his nomination was withdrawn to head the ATF is because he made racist comments when he was with the agency and had 2 Equal Opportunity Employment complaints against him, also involving racism.
In this CBS interview, Chipman was asked about his failed nomination, but no mention of the racism that sunk him:
EXCLUSIVE: David Chipman, Pres. Biden’s top choice to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, tells @NorahODonnell that his nomination was blocked by the U.S. Senate over concerns that he would “not play nice with the gun industry.” pic.twitter.com/dhrLK5fGMD
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) October 27, 2021
In fact, according to Chipman, his nomination was blocked because, “I have, from 25 years as an ATF agent and largely for 10 years after that, committed myself to one thing: preventing gun violence in this country. To oppose me must mean that you’re not for preventing gun violence.”
You see, it’s not his racism or rabid anti-gun extremism, it’s because liberal Senators like Angus King are against preventing gun violence. What a douche.
Speaking of which, check out this exchange:
“The 2nd Amendment says, ‘the right of people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,'” said Nora O’Donnell.
“Yeah and it says nothing about the right to sell guns to criminals,” Chipman retorted.
Well yeah, it kind of does. “Shall not be infringed” doesn’t have an asterisk saying that this right doesn’t apply to certain people the government deems unworthy. The 2nd Amendment literally says that the government cannot interfere with the people’s right to possess and carry guns.
In case it wasn’t already clear enough that Chipman has no business running the ATF, he added this:
“The reality is, in much of America it easier to buy a gun than a beer,” Chipman claimed.
What parts of America is this a reality? I’d like to move there.
Down the street from me are a bar and a gun shop, both of which I patronize. At the bar, I order a beer, the bartender gives it to me, and I pay him. I don’t even have to show ID, because he knows me and I don’t look like I’m 12-years-old. Easy peasey.
At the gun shop, the owner knows me as well, but he can’t just sell me a gun because there’s an assload of laws concerning it. First, I have to fill out an ATF 4473 form, stating under penalty of law that I’m eligible to purchase a firearm. Then, I have to show a valid ID as well as a recent utility bill with my name and address on it. After passing the background check, I have to wait 2 weeks before I’m allowed to exercise my Constitutional right. Oh, plus I gotta plop down a bunch of fees for all of this garbage.
If I had to go through that much shit to get a beer, I probably wouldn’t drink and that would suck. But that’s probably the point: make legal gun ownership such a cumbersome and costly pain-in-the-ass that it discourages legal gun ownership.
Granted, I live in California which has some of the toughest anti-2nd Amendment regulations in the country, but I know of no other state where you don’t have to pass a background check to purchase a firearm. I also know of no other state where a background check is required to purchase a beer.
While it is not easier to buy a gun than a beer in this country, it is easier for David Chipman to become an ATF agent than the head of the agency and for that, American gun owners are thankful.
