ATF agents, fomer director concerned with Biden nominee David Chipman: 'A rabid partisan'

Lawyer and gun rights activist Colion Noir reacts to President's gun czar pick on 'Fox News Primetime'FIRST ON FOX: Several former and current members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) are sounding the alarm against President Biden's nomination to lead the agency.Former ATF Director Michael Sullivan, as well as a current ATF member involved in training and a retired ATF deputy director who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, expressed concern that Biden's nominee is too political to lead an unbiased agency."I am concerned that somebody who has taken such a strong and hostile position against the Second Amendment, as well as gun owners and some of the most popular firearms in the United States, would be viewed as a political leader for an agency that, I think, has worked extremely hard to build the American public confidence in its handling of interpreting both the Gun Control Act and the various regulations around it," Sullivan told Fox News.The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a vote on Chipman's nomination to lead the bureau on Thursday morning. "Those are the ones who would be adversely impacted by … the ability for the [ATF] director and the director's legal team to influence regulatory and enforcement decisions within the agency," Sullivan said.During his tenure at the ATF, Chipman "disrupted firearms trafficking operations in Virginia that were supplying illegal guns to New York City," and was named special agent in charge of ATF’s firearms programs, according to his bio on Giffords' website.BIDEN ATF PICK DAVID CHIPMAN ALARMS GUN RIGHTS GROUPSChipman also received the Attorney General’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Community Partnerships for Public Safety in 2005 for his efforts to combat local violent crime and served on the Firearms Committee of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.The current ATF member who spoke on the condition of anonymity described Chipman as a "bully" during his time in Detroit. "I’ve only known two ATF agents out of hundreds whom I would describe as being anti-gun, and Dave is one of them."The agent, who is involved in training for the agency, said later on that unlike the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), which regulates commodities that are always unlawful, American-owned guns "are more often than not legal."BIDEN TO TARGET 'GHOST GUNS,' STABILIZING BRACES IN NEW GUN CONTROL ACTIONS"To effectively enforce [gun] laws, you have to be unbiased and apolitical," he said. "I think you’re going to see a lot more intent to regulate [if he’s confirmed]."He added that if Congress is unable to pass gun reform policy, "the administration is then going to turn to ATF and expect them to execute regulatory functions that are probably beyond the scope of ATF’s legal authority potentially," which he said he think Chipman will "be quite willing to do."Sullivan said that he believes Chipman's intentions are clear: "To restrict the ability of the American public to get access to firearms."Chipman has expressed skepticism about the feasibility of confiscating assault weapons from their current owners.In an op-ed he penned in The Roanoke Times last year, Chipman described himself as a "proud gun owner" who has sometimes been "mischaracterized as a gun grabber." Chipman noted that he supports gun safety regulations that would "save lives" but wouldn’t take guns away from law-abiding citizens.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP"I am a proud and responsible gun owner, as are millions of Virginians," Chipman wrote.