CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is praising news the Biden Administration has chosen to withdraw its nomination of David Chipman as director of the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Morrisey opposed the Chipman nomination, including sending a letter with other Republican AGs to Senate leadership this spring. Morrisey claimed Chipman’s private work supporting the taxation, registration and confiscation of firearms made his potential confirmation a significant threat to law-abiding gun owners and the Second Amendment.
“This is a huge win for gun owners,” Morrisey said. “It also demonstrates the power of West Virginia’s voice as well as that of Americans who cherish the Second Amendment. Now, we urge the Biden administration to nominate a director who will inspire confidence in the people they serve, while striving to confront violent crime without infringing on the constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners.”
Morrisey
Morrisey says that, because ATF agents play an important role in upholding the public safety of communities around the country, having an agency director with a political agenda would have disserved those agents.
The May letter to Senate leadership pointed to Chipman’s history of anti-gun advocacy and political activism, arguing that Americans could not be reasonably expected to believe he would have been an unbiased enforcer of current laws. The letter also argued the Chipman nomination would have made Americans less safe by diverting ATF resources to attack the rights of law-abiding gun owners instead of cracking down on violent criminals and criminal organizations.