FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Chipman Appointment: “Like a Homophobe Investigating Hate Crimes”
DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA (May 29, 2021): Operation Blazing Sword / Pink Pistols opposes the nomination of David Chipman as Director for the ATF in the strongest terms possible, and for the following
reasons:
- After Mr. Chipman retired from service with the ATF, he was employed as a lobbyist for Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Everytown for Gun Safety, and the Giffords Anti-Gun Lobby group; all organizations whose main goal is to restrict civilian ownership of firearms.
- During this same period he was also working for Shot Spotter, a commercial entity which sells a system that purports to detect gunshots by their sound so that police can be dispatched directly to the site. The city of San Diego, which purchased the system, found that Shot Spotter had a greater false positive rate than advertised, indicating that more gunshots were detected than were actual events. This created a false perception that gun crime is more prevalent than it truly is, increasing public fear of guns.
- Mr. Chipman wants to ban the AR-15 rifle, one of the most popular and numerous firearms in the country and therefore the very definition of “in common use” and therefore protected under the Second Amendment as per District of Columbia v. Heller.
- Mr. Chipman lumps AR-15 rifles into the catch-all category of “assault weapons” which he defines as “any semiautomatic rifle capable of accepting a detachable magazine above the caliber of .22”.
- Mr. Chipman further supports President Biden's plan to regulate all such “assault weapons” via the National Firearms Act, a decision which if implemented will result in millions of Americans being deprived of their property without due process and making citizen ownership of any semiautomatic defensive rifle impossible for many.
- Mr. Chipman has made false claims about .50 caliber rifles being found in the ruins of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, TX after the 1993 raid. Neither FBI nor Texas Department of Public Safety records of what was found in the wreckage of the compound support Chipman’s claims.
- Finally, no fewer than one-third of America’s State Attorneys General oppose Mr. Chipman’s nomination for the same reasons outlined above: that he cannot be trusted to faithfully and objectively fulfill his oath of office, specifically to “faithfully discharge the duties of the office.”
We oppose David Chipman’s nomination as ATF Director with the same vigor as we would if a known homophobe were nominated to oversee hate crime investigation, and for exactly the same reasons.
The ATF's purpose is not to punish firearm owners, but the appointment of David Chipman as its Director will have that effect. Chipman is a lobbyist, bought and paid for by Michael Bloomberg, and he will use his position to interpret firearm regulations in the manner most favorable to these modern-day Redcoats, and quite possibly enrich himself in the process, all while increasing new laws and new regulations which will be used to harass innocent citizens.
Please contact both of your Senators via telephone, written letter or email, and explain why they must not approve Chipman’s nomination. Click here to find your Senators’ names; choose your state in the drop down menu and their Washington, D.C., office phone numbers will be shown.
Operation Blazing Sword, Inc. is a grass-roots 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to helping queer people become responsible firearm owners through volunteer education. www.blazingsword.org
Pink Pistols, a division of Operation Blazing Sword, is dedicated to the legal, safe, and responsible use of firearms for self-defense of the gender and sexual minority community. www.pinkpistols.org
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