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Mr. BRAUN. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to oppose the confirmation of David Chipman, President Biden's nominee for Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Many Hoosiers are concerned about the nomination of Mr. Chipman, and rightfully so. His statements have made one thing clear: If confirmed, he will fail to uphold the constitutional right to bear arms.
He has stated under oath that he supports mandatory Federal registration of common semiautomatic firearms and ultimately supports a ban on AR-15 rifles.
Semiautomatic sporting rifles can be found in the homes of millions of law-abiding Americans, Hoosiers included, who use them for hunting, recreational shooting, and defending their families.
The ATF has a responsibility to clearly articulate its decisions to the public. In his confirmation hearing, Mr. Chipman revealed that he is not able to articulate what an assault rifle even is. His beliefs represent, in my opinion, a direct attack on our Second Amendment rights.
It is no surprise that organizations that have never opposed an ATF nominee before are loudly opposing the nomination of David Chipman.
Mr. Chipman's nomination comes as the ATF is already in need of more accountability for politicized decisions. American gun owners, manufacturers, and small business owners deserve clarity and the right to appeal politicized decisions made by the ATF.
Currently, the ATF engages in a secretive, behind-the-scenes classification review process to decide if a firearm will be regulated by the National Firearms Act. No law-abiding American should have to wonder if they are going to suddenly be made a criminal by a bureaucratic decision. It doesn't make sense.
That is why I joined Representative Dan Crenshaw in the House to introduce the ATF Accountability Act. Law-abiding gun manufacturers and small businesses should be able to appeal the legal status of classifications within a regular timeframe.
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Mr. BRAUN. Mr. President, here in a moment, I am going to ask for unanimous consent on the ATF Accountability Act and the Protecting the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Act.
Governor Cuomo has declared gun violence a public health emergency in New York. ``We want to do with gun violence what we just did with COVID,'' Governor Cuomo says.
During the pandemic, Governor Cuomo and other elected officials used the public health emergency to infringe upon Americans' constitutional rights. They barred Americans from exercising their freedom of religion by closing churches. They infringed upon Americans' right to assemble by banning many gatherings, and now gun control activist organizations are pressuring President Biden to declare gun violence as a public health emergency.
Doing so would allow the administration to take Executive action to hold up gun sales.
Declaring a public health emergency should not give the executive branch the right to infringe upon our Second Amendment. This is why I introduced the Protecting the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Act to stop this. This bill would prevent the White House from declaring an emergency for the purpose of imposing gun control.
I took an oath to represent Hoosiers and protect their Second Amendment rights. That is why I will oppose the nomination of David Chipman and why I will ask for unanimous consent to pass the ATF Accountability Act and the Protecting the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Act.
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Mr. BRAUN. Madam President, a quick response to that before I ask unanimous consent on the next item is that that is an argument I hear so often, that the city that supports some of the toughest State gun laws and local laws that ends up having the statistics that no one would want to have across our country and then would try to cast that blame on a neighboring State tells me that you are looking in the wrong place to solve the problem.
The ATF here, we are just wanting clarity--that is the purpose of this act, and I suggest that my friend from Illinois look at some of the more basic issues that might be underlying what is happening there. Unanimous Consent Request--S. 1916
Madam President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S.
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