Montana’s AG Opposing Radical Gun Control Activist at ATF

Montana's Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R-MT) weighed in against President Joe Biden's controversial nominee to head up the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Biden nominated David Chipman, an outspoken gun control lobbyist and activist to head up the ATF.

Here's what Knudsen had to say on the Montana Talks statewide radio show with Aaron Flint:

AG Austin Knudsen (R-MT): This guy is bad news for gun rights- period. This is a guy who is rabidly, openly anti- gun. I guess I give him credit for, you know, wearing who he is on his sleeve and not presenting a false front. But unfortunately, that wearing on his sleeve shows just how out of touch he is with the Second Amendment, with Montanans and Americans Constitutional rights. This is a guy that wants to register and confiscate AR 15s. There are more AR-15s in America than probably any other sporting rifle. They're very, very common and he wants them treated like a machine gun. This is just a blatantly bad move by the Biden Administration.

Montana Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) has also been weighing in against the nomination. Democrat Senator Jon Tester (D-MT), according to The Hill, "hasn’t staked out a position on Biden’s nominee." The Hill also reports that Montana's AG is calling on Tester to oppose the Chipman nomination.

Back on May 25th, Knudsen spearheaded a letter to Senate and Senate Judiciary Committee leadership, which was also signed by 20 attorneys general, in which they called on the Senate to block Chipman's nomination:

Mr. Chipman has a First Amendment right as a private citizen to work for these political organizations and to lobby for the taxation, registration, and even confiscation of firearms.  Americans likewise have the Second Amendment to protect their God-given rights to keep and bear arms. Accordingly, we ask you to oppose Mr. Chipman’s confirmation to this important position and demand President Biden nominate someone who is not hostile to our rights and way of life.