Conservative Leaders: The Senate Must Reject the Nomination of Gun Control Extremist David Chipman

Nearly 100 leaders of the conservative movement joined a united Second Amendment community to oppose the nomination of David Chipman to be the Director of the Bureau of

Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).

In a letter to Senators the leaders of some of the conservative movement’s most high-profile organizations said David Chipman is a gun control extremist whose views on firearms and the Second Amendment are wildly out of step with constitutional interpretation and widely held social norms. It is clear that Chipman intends to use the position as Director of the ATF to further an aggressive anti-gun agenda, rather than implement the law as written.

In addition to the criticisms leveled by CAP, our take is David Chipman was evasive and dishonest during his confirmation hearing, so imagine how responsive he will be to Congress should he be confirmed. We urge every CHQ reader and friend to use the Capitol’s toll-free switchboard (1-866-220-0044) to call your Senators and let them know that based on his testimony at his confirmation hearing David Chipman lacks the candor and integrity to serve as Director of the ATF.

The text of the letter follows:

June 8, 2021

Washington, DC

Conservatives join with Second Amendment advocates in strongly opposing David Chipman to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).

A former ATF special agent, Chipman currently serves as a senior policy advisor to a pro-gun control lobbying group. He has a long history of misconstruing key details of how firearms work, and has laid out an aggressive anti-gun ownership platform.

Critically, it is unclear whether Chipman fully understands the technical details of firearms and the firearm markets he so eagerly looks to regulate. In 2018, Chipman argued in favor of subjecting all AR-15s and potentially all semi-automatic rifles to regulation under the National Firearms Act – a hugely punitive taxation and regulation measure on the country’s most popular rifle, hugely difficult to implement and police.

In his recent confirmation hearing, Chipman reasserted his support for mass confiscation of semi-automatic rifles – especially troubling considering that, when asked by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) to define a semi-automatic assault rifle, his answer would cover every single modern sporting rifle in America today.

Though Chipman walked back the claim in his confirmation hearing, he has previously advocated for arresting prospective gun purchasers in gun stores following a failed background check – regardless of whether or not the prospective purchaser has done anything wrong. This is a highly dubious proposal given a Department of Justice report from 2011, which found the “false positive” denial rate for background checks was roughly 95 percent.

Chipman has also made false claims about both the nature and intent of firearms suppressors, as well as falsely stating in front of Congress that the American gun market is “flooded” with “foreign made ARs.”

David Chipman is a gun control extremist whose views on firearms and the Second Amendment are wildly out of step with constitutional interpretation and widely held social norms. It is clear that Chipman intends to use the position as Director of the ATF to further an aggressive anti-gun agenda, rather than implement the law as written. The Senate must oppose his nomination.

The Honorable Edwin Meese III

Attorney General

President Ronald Reagan (1985-1988)

Alfred S. Regnery

Chairman, Conservative Action Project

President, Republic Book Publishers

Kelly J. Shackelford, Esq.

Chairman, CNP Action, Inc.

President and CEO, First Liberty Institute

Lori Roman

President, American Constitutional Rights Union (ACRU)

William L. Walton

President

Council for National Policy

The Honorable Morton C. Blackwell

President

The Leadership Institute

The Honorable T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr.

Chief Domestic Advisor

President Ronald Reagan (1987-1988)

Rachel A. Bovard

Senior Director of Policy

Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI)

Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin (Ret.)

Executive Vice President

Family Research Council

Jenny Beth Martin

Chairman

Tea Party Patriots Citizen Fund

Cleta Mitchell, Esq.

The Honorable David McIntosh

U.S. House of Representatives

Former Member, Indiana

The Honorable Tony Perkins

President

Family Research Council

The Honorable Jim DeMint

Chairman, Conservative Partnership Institute

Member, US Senate (SC 2005-2013)

L. Brent Bozell, III

Founder and President

Media Research Center

Tim Macy

Chairman

Gun Owners of America

The Honorable James C. Miller III

Budget Director for President Reagan, 1985-1988

Justin Danhof

General Counsel, National Center for Public Policy Research

Mike Davis

Founder and President

Article III Project (A3P)

The Honorable Gary L. Bauer

President

American Values

Dr. Jerry A. Johnson

President (2013-2019)

National Religious Broadcasters

The Honorable Stephen Stockman

U.S. House of Representatives

Former Member, Texas

Amapola Hansberger

President

Legal Immigrants for America

Dr. Rick Rounsavelle

Trustee

MRC

Seton Motley

President

Less Government

Willes K. Lee

President, National Federation of Republican Assemblies

Richard D. Hayes

Partner

Hayes, Berry, White & Vanzant, LLP

Martha Boneta

President

Vote America First

C. Preston Noell III

President

Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.

Joan Holt Lindsey

President

Lindsey Communications

The Honorable George K. Rasley Jr.

Managing Editor

ConservativeHQ.com

Ron Pearson

Executive Director

Conservative Victory Fund

Paavo Ensio

Chairman

Universal Minerals Group

Penna Dexter

Co-host

Point of View Radio

Lewis K. Uhler

Founder and President

National Tax Limitation Committee

Floyd Brown

Founder

The Western Journal

Peter J. Thomas

Chairman

The Conservative Caucus

Rod Vandenbos

CEO

R2 LLC

William W. Pascoe, III

Our Man in Washington

Tea Party Patriots Action

Chad Connelly

President

Faith Wins

Melissa Kaye Ortiz

Founder and Principle

Able Americans

Richard Scurry

Jack Park

Conservative Activist and Donor

Law Offices of Jack Park

John McCardell

Executive Director

Campaign for Liberty

David Haas

President

Morrison Inc

Dr. Allen Unruh

Founder

National Abstinence Clearinghouse

Kevin Freeman

Founder

NSIC Institute

William Shaker

CRO

Washington Marketing Group

The Honorable Diana Denman

Chairman/ President

The Reagan Legacy Forum

George M. Hiller

President

George M. Hiller Companies, LLC

Myron Ebell

Director, Center for Energy and Environment, Competitive Enterprise Institute

The Honorable Becky Norton Dunlop

White House Advisor

President Ronald Reagan (1981-1985)

Tom Jones

Co-Founder

American Accountability Foundation

The Honorable Paul S. Teller, Ph.D.

Executive Director

Advancing American Freedom

Mary Vought

Executive Director

Senate Conservatives Fund

The Honorable J. Kenneth Blackwell

Chairman

Constitutional Congress, Inc.

Wesley Denton

Chief Operating Officer

Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI)

The Honorable Bob McEwen

U.S. House of Representatives

Former Member, Ohio

The Honorable Russ Vought

Director, Office of Management and Budget (2020-2021)

Scott T. Parkinson

The Honorable Donald Paul Hodel

U.S. Secretary of Energy (1982-1985)

U.S. Secretary of Interior (1985-1989)

Ed Corrigan

Vice Chairman, Conservative Action Project and President & CEO, Conservative Partnership Institute

Terry Schilling

President

American Principles Project

Alan M. Gottlieb

Executive Vice President

Second Amendment Foundation

David N. Bossie

President

Citizens United

The Honorable Chip Roy

Congressman

Texas 21st Congressional District

The Honorable Kenneth T. Cuccinelli

Former Va. Attorney General

Former Acting Deputy Secretary, DHS

Charles J. Cooper

Assistant Attorney General, President Ronald Reagan (1985-1988)

Cooper & Kirk, PLLC

Dr. Richard Lee

President

There’s Hope America

Ed Molchany

Chief Marketing Officer

Media Research Center

Andresen Blom

President

Hawaiian Values

Saulius "Saul" Anuzis

President

60 Plus Association

James L. Martin

Founder/Chairman

60 Plus Association

Dr. Thomas Sheahen

President

Western Technology, Inc.

Kay R. Daly

President

Coalition for a Fair Judiciary

Mario Navarro da Costa

Director, Washington Bureau

Tradition, Family, Property

The Honorable Carol Dawson

Former Member, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Eunie Smith

President Emeritus

Eagle Forum

Lee Beaman

CEO

Beaman Ventures

Tom DeWeese

President

American Policy Center

Barry Meguiar

President

Ignite America

Dawn Wildman

Director of Policy

Coalition for Policy Reform

Elaine Donnelly

President

Center for Military Readiness

Ambassador Henry F. Cooper

President Reagan's Defense and Space Negotiator and SDI Director

Jay Mount

President

MDS Communications Corporation

The Honorable Mike Hill

Former Member

Florida State House

Kathleen A. Patten

President & CEO

American Target Advertising, Inc.

Ralph A. Rebandt, II

Candidate for Governor, Michigan 2022

Ralph Rebandt for Governor

Robert K. Fischer

Meeting Coordinator

Conservatives of Faith

Barbara J. Ledeen

Retired Senate Staff

U.S. Senate

Jon Schweppe

Director of Policy and Government Affairs, American Principles Project

Dr. Virginia Armstrong

National Court Watch Chrm.

Eagle Forum

Judson Phillips

Founder

Tea Party Nation

Randy M. Long

Founder

Long Business Advisors, LLC

Leigh Bortins

Owner

Classical Conversations

Gerard Kassar

State Chairman

NYS Conservative Party

Steve Berger

Pres/CEO

ASI

Paul Gessing

President

Rio Grande Foundation

• federal law enforcement

• ATF

• FBI

• gun control

• gun regulations

• background checks

• gun bans

• assault weapons ban

• Joe Biden nominees

• David Chipman

• NRA-ILA

• Senate confirmation

• AR-15 ban

• gun confiscation

• Second Amendment

• Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms