Once in a generation a man emerges on the world stage with a vigor and a sense of righteousness that brings hope to the assembled masses.  A belief emerges that this singular individual will tame the mighty waters of impassioned invectives and lay bare the misguided desires of those who would seek to enslave others.  A transformative individual is revealed, who through the sheer will of his unblemished character inspires others in acts of selfless greatness.  

This is not the story of that man.

This is the story of David Chipman… a loser.

David Chipman is the utter definition of a mandarine, a bureaucrat who sought his rise to power in, of all places, the ATF.  He was a field agent who took the culture of the ATF to heart.  The ATF is in place to federally regulate guns and explosives because “The People” are not to be trusted to their own devices.

Countless reports show he was a managerial bully, making other ATF agents uncomfortable.  (That, in and of itself, is not problematic… the motivations behind his bullying are what we have issues with.)

He was, and is, an ideologue.  

But, more importantly, he was a self-serving liar who was more than happy to stake his career on the bodies of those who died before him.  That is not a literary metaphor… it is a stark reality.

Chipman was the lead agent at Waco during the Janet Reno siege.  

Let’s have a bit of a refresher, shall we?

The First Amendment guarantees the right of all people to worship, or not to worship, how they see fit.  In Waco, Texas there were a bunch of Mormons who broke away from the traditional church to form their own religion; they called themselves the Branch Davidians.  Their spiritual leader was David Koresh. 

He was, in their eyes, messianic and very well may have developed an uncomfortable cult-like structure.  They definitely were focused on Armageddon and seemed to like firearms as part of the religious mix.  Hey…”as long as they are not hurting anyone,” as the classic liberal mantra goes… let them be. 

The ATF was not so benign.  All agencies of the government are, by definition, insecure… insecure about the continued existence of the agency and insecure about their continual funding.  Remember…. nothing in the United States Constitution says anything about an FBI, a Federal Reserve, the IRS… or, in this instance, the ATF.

In fact, as agencies go, the ATF is, and was at the time of the Waco incident, fairly new on the scene.  

Using ham-fisted law enforcement techniques, and then lying to the American People and to Congress about the fiasco afterward, the end result was the death of 76 Branch Davidians.  

Then Chipman decided to go where the real money was:  501c3’s.

(If you have arrived here from our newsletter, continue reading here…)

Chipman took up oxygen at the Giffords Law Center, an anti-gun public interest group, raking in a salary from zealous advocates who demand the government restrict our Constitutional rights. 

Giving red meat to his base so they would, in turn, throw donations in his coffers, Chipman railed against the dreaded AR-15.  After all…”No responsible gun owner would even consider owning a weapon of war.”

This single statement epitomizes Chipman.  The modern musket, a singular firearm that is more ubiquitous in the marketplace than any other, the most effective and efficient deterrent to tyranny, was not something a “responsible” gun owner would want.  

More importantly, his remarks belied the fact that he saw the majority of gun owners as thus “irresponsible”.

It only stood to reason that President Biden would nominate Chipman to then lead the ATF.  

(In all honesty… we all really should have seen the Afghanistan fiasco coming, shouldn’t we have?)

His nomination was instantly in peril.  Two senators in particular, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema (both Democrats) questioned the wisdom of putting forth this nomination.  The Biden Administration needed all Democratic Senators onboard and these two have proven, now on multiple occasions, to be a fly in the collectivist ointment.  

(Thank God for them!)

Last week the plug was finally pulled.  Chipman’s nomination is being withdrawn and the agency will continue… as it has for quite some time… to operate without a masthead.  

Of course Biden may choose to appoint another.  To do so would not be politically intelligent for him.  But, based on his current and past actions, intelligence has never been a guiding factor.  

In the meantime, Chipman can go gently into that good night… and hopefully the door does, in fact, hit him in the ass on the way out.