Sen. Susan Collins recently announced that she will vote against the nomination of David Chipman as Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, saying that she found this nomination to be “unusually divisive.” I couldn’t agree more.

As the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, I work hard to preserve the rights and freedoms that we all enjoy as Americans. David Chipman, on the other hand, serves as a policy advisor for a national group that advocates for extreme gun control measures. In this role, he has been outspoken. If Mr. Chipman is confirmed to lead ATF, it will politicize a regulatory and law enforcement agency that depends on compliance to protect the public.

Mr. Chipman’s nomination is no different than a Republican President putting forward the President of the NRA as a nominee. In both cases, putting forward and confirming a political activist to run a law enforcement agency will do irreparable harm to that already controversial organization.

The Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine would like to thank Sen. Collins for her thoughtful and reasonable approach to Mr. Chipman’s nomination. We encourage Sen. King to do the same.

David Trahan,
Executive Director, Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, Augusta