Chipman: No one enjoys making firearms

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

Now that the Biden administration has picked another probable trainwreck to head the ATF, it’s time for David Chipman to stay something that reminds us just how terrible a pick he was to helm that agency.

Advertisement

Of course, for Chipman, that’s as natural as breathing.

His latest example comes from a conversation he had over at Slate regarding so-called ghost guns. You see, he knows what you enjoy and don’t enjoy better than anyone.

David Chipman: There are hobbyists who would go into a gun store and they would buy a frame or receiver. The frame or receiver is sort of like the motherboard of a computer, or perhaps the chassis of a car, and it’s the key part that you need to buy a gun. So when you go into a gun store, that part has a serial number on it. It’s marked by who made it. And you have to pass a background check to buy it, even though that part you can’t shoot or anything—it’s just the basis of a gun.

A ghost gun is a gun that’s manufactured absent that marked part. And really, the only reason to manufacture a gun that way is if you’re someone who wants to avoid a background check, such as a criminal or an extremist. There is no reason to do this. It’s not fun to make a frame or receiver.

[Emphasis added]

Wow. That’s a bold statement filled with male bovine excrement if ever I’ve seen one, and considering I work in politics, I’ve seen plenty.

It’s not fun to make a frame or receiver?

Just because David Chipman doesn’t find it enjoyable doesn’t mean no one else would. The world is a strange place where people enjoy all kinds of things that I don’t, such as entertainment involving Amy Schumer, reality television, and piercing very tender body parts.

It doesn’t have to make sense to me. It’s their lives and they’re free to enjoy what they want to enjoy.

Advertisement

But Chipman isn’t granting anyone that same courtesy. He doesn’t see the allure of making a receiver, so it simply cannot be fun for anyone else to do so.

Look, I’ve made guns from a kit before. I’ve built a firearm from an incomplete receiver and I can tell you that I thought it was about as much fun as a lot of other things I’ve made through the years. There was also great pride the first time I took that rifle to the range and fired it knowing I built it.

I’m not asking Chipman to understand it. Frankly, since he’s not the head of any law enforcement agency, I don’t particularly care how he feels about it.

However, I will point this out and note that this is why the Second Amendment community so vehemently opposed his nomination to run the ATF. He’s vehemently and unapologetically anti-gun and seems to believe that he knows all, only for it to turn out he’s saying some colossally stupid crap.

This isn’t the first time he’s done so and it won’t be the last, either. I’m just glad he’s saying it as an activist and not as the director of the agency tasked with enforcing and interpreting gun laws.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Sponsored