Since he was nominated, Chipman has suddenly become the face of a largely faceless agency that’s been locked in a decades-long cold war with the gun lobby and GOP, which has simmered pretty much since the ATF was made responsible for regulating firearms in America in 1968. The beleaguered agency has withstood abolition attempts by Republican presidents, been blocked from modernizing (for example, to this day, it relies on paper records to track firearm sales, since it’s been blocked from upgrading to modern systems), and hit with other rules that rendered it ineffective, as the New York Times recently laid out.
Powered by WPeMatico