Exclusive — Sen. Cynthia Lummis: David Chipman ‘Unfit to Lead the ATF’

Breitbart News spoke with Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming) on Monday and she stressed that Biden nominee David Chipman is “wholly unfit to lead the ATF.”

Biden nominated Chipman on April 8, 2021, the day after Breitbart News pointed out that Chipman was a Gabby Giffords’ gun control affiliate.

The Associated Press reported that Chipman “has for years worked as a senior policy adviser at Giffords,” a law center relied on by gun control proponents throughout the country.

Sen. Lummis told Breitbart News she stands firmly against Chipman’s confirmation.

She said, “David Chipman is wholly unfit to lead the ATF. He has spent his career actively working to take 2^nd Amendment rights away from law-abiding citizens, while showing a decided lack of knowledge about the very issue he would oversee.”

Lummis added, “The Democrats’ agenda is clear: They want to regulate firearms into oblivion. That’s unconstitutional, and I will stand up for the law-abiding people of Wyoming and our way of life and oppose his nomination.”

Breitbart News quoted National Shooting Sports Foundation’s (NSSF) Larry Keane saying:

David Chipman’s nomination is clearly a move to politicize the ATF. Voters in key states reject his nomination and those senators have been advised of those polls by NSSF. We are now taking our opposition to the public to remind their senators that Chipman’s nomination is a threat to jobs, revenue and not the least – the ability of law-abiding citizens to exercise their God-given Second Amendment rights.

During Senate confirmation hearings Chipman voiced his support for an “assault weapons” ban but refused to define exactly what an “assault weapon” might be. Rather than define the term, he suggested that an “assault weapon” is “whatever Congress defines it as.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.