US 2nd Amendment Under Assault, Freedom Firearms Guns Defense

[grarpamp]

>From the dept of Do 3D-Toy-Printing-Punks Really Matter Dept...

Biden tries to appoint apparently Racist Politcally-Biased
Employment-Law-Breaking Anti-Gunner to head BATF
(a job that is supposed to be neutral executive,
not legislative or judicial)...

Democrats also trying to serialize ammunition,
and require ID to purchase ammunition.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cruz-blasts-atf-chipman-chinese-state-tv
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-atf-chipman-senate-china-propaganda

https://thereload.com/atf-agents-corroborate-existence-of-racial-complaint-against-biden-director-nominee-fear-reprisals-and-hit-to-agency-effectiveness/
https://dailycaller.com/2021/06/22/american-accountability-foundation-david-chipman/
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/lawsuit-filed-employment-records-biden-aft-david-chipman
http://wordpress.bidennoms.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/D.D.C.-21-cv-01669-dckt-000001_000-filed-2021-06-22.pdf

https://thereload.com/republicans-fire-back-at-durbin-in-battle-over-second-chipman-hearing/
https://thereload.com/app/uploads/2021/07/2021-07-29-SJC-Rs-to-Durbin-Chipman.pdf
https://thereload.com/app/uploads/2021/08/2021-08-04-SJC-Rs-to-Durbin-Chipman-Follow-up.pdf


"Politics is supposed to stop at the water’s edge. It’s shocking that
Mr. Chipman’s gun-control agenda not only didn’t, but it eagerly found
a willing host among the Chinese communists," the senators wrote.
FARA "requires certain agents of foreign principals who are engaged in
political activities or other activities specified under the statute"
to disclose... Chipman failed to disclose to the Senate a media
appearance on the China Global Television Network, CGTN, to discuss
the Sandy Hook Massacre, which may have been used as propaganda by the
communist state to cover up a mass stabbing of children. In addition,
The Tea Leaf Nation online magazine, which analyzes social media in
China, found that "particularly vexing to observers was mainstream
media’s following evident marching orders to downplay the Chinese
tragedy in service of emphasizing the Newtown massacre, followed by
local Guangshan government’s unwillingness to cooperate with an
increasingly inquisitive press," according to a report by the Miami
Herald.



ATF Agents Corroborate Existence of Racial Complaint Against Biden
Director Nominee, Fear Reprisals and Hit to Agency Effectiveness

    Stephen Gutowski
    July 28, 2021
    3:08 pm

Multiple ATF sources back up the existence of a complaint alleging
President Biden’s nominee to lead ATF, David Chipman, made racist
comments during his previous stint at the agency.

The agents, who have decades of experience at the agency, told The
Reload they heard the accusation that Chipman denigrated black ATF
agents up for promotion. The officials said they heard about Chipman’s
alleged comments before they were referenced in a recent lawsuit
seeking the release of the complaint.

“He made some comments that he was surprised by the number of African
Americans who have made it onto a specific promotional list,” a
current ATF official told The Reload. “So, his insinuation was that
they had to have cheated. Which is kind of despicable.”

A former ATF agent who worked directly with Chipman said he heard the
same story.

“That one had to do with what’s called the assessment center, which
would be to get promoted,’ the former agent told The Reload. “Somebody
would have had to file a complaint against him if he were a supervisor
making those statements.”

The current ATF official said the allegation ended his time in Detroit.

“He left Detroit because of that,” he said. “He did not leave Detroit
on the best of terms. His reputation was that he was not nice to
people.”

The details of the story told by the agents closely match those
outlined in a Daily Caller News Foundation interview with Tom Jones,
the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) president, on one of the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaints being sought
by his group. That Freedom of Information Act lawsuit alleges there
were two EEOC complaints filed against Chipman. One of those
complaints relates to comments Chipman made implying black agents
could not have performed as well as they did on a promotions
assessment.

Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) asked Chipman about the complaints in
written questions for the nominee. Chipman admitted the complaints
existed but did not reveal their contents and said, “both complaints
were resolved without any finding of discrimination, and no
disciplinary action was taken against me,” according to Fox News. The
details of the racist comments Chipman is accused of making had not
been corroborated before now. The Reload has not been able to verify
the veracity of the allegation Chipman made racist remarks, only that
the allegation exists and was known to some agents before the filing
of the AAF lawsuit.

Jones said the Senate should force the complaints to be made public.

“The Senate must refuse to move on Chipman’s nomination until these
hidden files are made public,” he said in a statement. “The Senate
cannot ignore possible charges of racism.”

April Langwell, chief of the ATF’s Public Affairs Division, told The
Reload the agency “cannot comment on nominees” and referred questions
on the complaint and lawsuit to the White House and Department of
Justice. The White House and DOJ did not respond to a request for
comment.

A third longtime agent, Rick Vasquez, said he hadn’t heard the
specific allegation but confirmed Chipman was reassigned to the
Detroit office after nobody else would take the job. He described it
as a troubled office with a history of washing out supervisors.

“He got sent to Detroit against his will,” he said. “I know that.
Detroit has always been a mess.”

Concerns Over Effectiveness

Vasquez also worked with Chipman during his time at the agency. Like
the other former agent, he said his personal interactions with Chipman
had been positive. He said decisions made by President Joe Biden and
Attorney General Merrick Garland are more important to the overall
direction the ATF takes than who the director is. Still, he said the
agency needs leadership after a string of short-term acting
directors—though he doesn’t believe Chipman will be confirmed due to
“absolutely stupid, asinine” comments about AR-15s and his inability
to define what an “assault weapon” is during his confirmation hearing,
despite wanting to ban the guns.

“I watched his confirmation hearing, and I just said, ‘What in the
hell?’ I thought he would have prepared himself for some of these
questions,” he said. “But ATF is in a mess. They need a supervisor in
there. The relationship with ATF in the industry is probably the
lowest it has ever been.”

They said Chipman’s reputation for being an anti-gun activist, earned
after years of working for some of the most prominent gun-control
groups in the country, would impact how closely licensed gun dealers
are willing to work with the agency. And that could hinder its ability
to put away gun traffickers.

“A large number of ATF cases come from legitimate gun dealers, who see
what they believe to be criminal activity,” the current agent said.
“They see what they believe to be a straw purchase, or we’ve had
countless cases referred to us where there’ll be a gun show, they’re
selling in accordance with their license, they’re following the rules,
and they’ll see someone selling where it’s clearly someone who’s
abusing the law. I can’t even tell you how many countless cases we’ve
gotten that way. So, to have someone come in who potentially could
jeopardize that relationship is really concerning to most of the folks
who are actually working cases. Those relationships help us put bad
people in jail, which in turn, helps us keep the public safe.”

The former agent noted that ATF needs a good relationship with
licensed dealers because the agency isn’t getting real-time
information about gun sales.

“There’s no system that alerts ATF,” he said. “The person who has to
alert us is that licensed dealer. If they don’t pick up the phone and
call us, we’ll never know.”

The agents said an ATF director doesn’t have to be a cheerleader for
the industry or treat gun dealers with a light touch to be successful,
but purposely creating an adversarial relationship would make building
connections with the dealers who tip them off to potential criminals
much harder.

“We have to have that relationship,” the former agent said. “And how
could you have a director who’s clearly anti-gun? You don’t have to be
pro-gun, but you can’t have an anti-gun activist going after quote
‘bad dealers’ and who’s targeting the industry. That is going to have
a chilling effect.”

“It’s a delicate balance, and he’s gonna come in and upset that
balance,” the current agent said. “Well, it affects us greatly. It
affects our abilities to go out there and do our job. And all to score
political points?”

Reprisal Fears

The former and current ATF officials who asked to have their
identities withheld said they also worried about reprisals if Chipman
is confirmed.

“The concern with him is he’s got a reputation for being a bully,” the
current official said. “And he also has a pretty well-founded
reputation for being an activist when it comes to gun control.”

The agents worry Chipman will surround himself with other gun-control
supporters instead of building a team with diverse viewpoints. They
expressed concern he might even punish agents he doesn’t believe are
on board with his vision by reassigning them to far-flung posts.

“If you’re not going to march to the beat of his drum, there is a
concern that you’ll wind up somewhere,” the current agent said. “It’s
not like when you work for a local police department where you find
yourself in a new precinct on the other side of town. Here, you can
find yourself in another part of the country or, even worse, on an
island in one of our territories. That means uprooting your family,
taking your kids out of school, and things like that.”

Concerns Over His Credibility Inside the Agency

Chipman is also outside of the norm for an ATF agent, they said. ATF
employees, especially field agents, tend to be gun enthusiasts
themselves, and most view their job as stopping violent crime rather
than instituting restrictive gun-control measures.

“The reality is we have a bad reputation,’ the current agent said.
“And part of it is because it helps to drum up membership in certain
organizations that think the boogie man is coming to get you guys. I
get it. We all get it. I’ve been doing this for over 20 years. Almost
every agent I’ve ever worked with is pretty apolitical. They take
great pride in not being hyper-partisan. So, he’s the exact opposite
of what most of us are. And he’s one of only two ATF agents I’ve ever
met in my entire life who I perceived to be anti-gun. Most of them are
actually quite fond of firearms; they’re just not fond of firearms in
the hands of violent criminals. But he has shown a propensity to be
anti-gun.”

All three agents also expressed surprise at Chipman’s turn from ATF
agent to gun-control activist. The current agent described his views,
which include new gun bans stricter than those supported by Senate
gun-control champion Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) and removing
gun-carry protections for retired police officers, as “extreme” and
his demeanor “unsettling.” Those who worked with him said his views on
guns appeared to change after he left the agency.

“Those positions didn’t materialize when he was at ATF,” Vasquez said.
“I never saw that working for him. He supported me and supported the
industry. And the industry loved it.”

“He was a decent guy, treated me decently,” the other former agent
said. “What’s happened to him since? He’s gotten whacked. I have no
idea where any of this is coming from.”

Two of the agents also said Chipman had never actually worked a field
case while at the ATF. And, even those who worked with him have a hard
time figuring him out.

“We have a few guys on my job that everybody hates,” the former agent
said. “You have a few guys on my job that everybody loves. And you
have guys who are in the middle. Chipman, you can’t get a read on
anyway. I don’t know if he ever wrote a case. When I’m talking to my
folks everyone’s scratching their head like he’s this Manchurian
Candidate. No one can even nail down who knows him, who hung out with
him, who he was buds with.

“That’s what scares the shit out of me. There’s so much more that we
don’t know.”