Gosh, that would be awkward, wouldn’t it? Having an ATF director who couldn’t manage to keep track of his duty gun when he was an ATF agent would be…uncomfortable. That’s probably why President BidenHarris’s nominee to lead the firearms regulatory agency answered ‘no’ when he was asked about the allegedly missing pistol.
But as The Federalist is now reporting, Chippy might have fibbed . . .
Judiciary ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah pushed Chipman on whether he had ever lost possession of his assigned gun while employed at the ATF for more than two decades. Chipman wrote in his testimony a negative to the question, but leadership at the American Accountability Foundation told The Federalist the nominee’s former supervisors and peers at ATF remember Chipman getting his gun stolen.
“We were told multiple times by his former colleagues that he had lost his service weapon,” Tom Jones, co-founder of the group, said in an interview. “We shared this information with the Senate, who has taken up the matter. Often a federal employee’s personnel file is made available to the Senate and would clear this and other disciplinary matters up. This week, Chipman refused the Senate’s request to provide his personnel file, which raises questions on this matter and what else he is hiding.”
What else indeed. Why would someone who the most anti-gun president in the nation’s history chose to regulate the nation’s firearms need to hide his personnel file from the Senators whose job it is to vet and confirm (or reject) his nomination?
ATF employees are told not to store firearms in their vehicles. According to those who spoke to Jones, Chipman left his weapon in his personal vehicle one night, and allegedly a handyman broke in and stole it.
Another source familiar with the bombshell allegations told The Federalist “Senate staff will continue inquiries about whether or not Chipman mishandled service weapons,” indicating that Republicans intend to keep gathering intel.
This is, of course, is exactly the kind of thing that the Civilian Disarmament Industrial Complex goes on and on about. Unsecured guns ripe for thieves, who then use them to commit crimes.
It’s why so many anti-gun politicians want to enact safe storage mandate laws (among other limits on the right to keep and bear arms). In their book, the average citizen is just too irresponsible to own and take care of firearms.
Are there other skeletons rattling around Giffords employee Chipman’s background that he’s trying to hide long enough to be confirmed? Inquiring minds want to know.