During his U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) admitted that he supported a ban on AR-15s, the most popular rifle in the country.
“Mr. Chipman, a minute ago Senator Whitehouse asked you if any of your views on guns are out of step with the majority of the American people,” Sen. Ted Cruz said. “The AR-15 is one of, if not the most popular rifle in America.”
“It’s not a machine gun, it’s a rifle,” Cruz continued. “Your public position is that you want to ban AR-15s, is that correct?”
“Senator, thank you for the question, and thank you for our visit yesterday, and offering me a Dr. Pepper, it made me reminisce about my time in central Texas,” Chipman responded. “But now to your question, with respect to the AR-15, I support a ban as has been presented in a Senate bill, and supported by the president.”
“The AR-15 is a gun I was issued on ATF’s SWAT team,” Chipman added. “And it’s a particularly lethal weapon, and regulating it as other particularly lethal weapons, I have advocated for.”
“As ATF director, if I’m confirmed, I would simply enforce the laws on the books, and right now there is no such ban on those guns.”
“So, you want to ban the most popular rifle in America,” Cruz fired back.
WATCH: Sen. Ted Cruz gets Joe Biden’s ATF Director nominee David Chipman to admit that he wants to BAN the AR-15, the most popular rifle in America.
“With respect to the AR-15, I support a ban.” pic.twitter.com/6nDgalAkRj
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) May 26, 2021
Before working as a gun control activist, Chipman was a special agent with the ATF for 25 years. As Fox News reported, Dudley Brown, the President of the National Association for Gun Rights, slammed Chipman’s nomination, saying “Chipman has embraced every hair-brained gun control scheme proposed, so of course Biden and Harris chose him — he’ll fit right in with their corrupt administration.”
As president, Joe Biden has indeed been an advocate for a return of the so called “assault weapon” ban. During a press conference in early April, Biden said, “I know this has been a hobby horse of mine for a long time. Got it done once. We should also ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in this country.”
“For that 10 years we had it done, the number of mass shootings actually went down,” Biden claimed. In reality, this is false, with the average number of mass shootings per year before and during the “Assault Weapons Ban” remaining unchanged at 1.5 events per year.
Biden has made similarly false or misleading statements in the past. In late April, Biden claimed, “In the ’90s we passed universal background checks, a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines that hold 100 rounds that can be fired off in seconds. We beat the N.R.A. Mass shootings and gun violence declined, check out the report, over 10 years. … We need a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. And don’t tell me it can’t be done. We did it before and it worked.”