BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today is demanding an immediate investigation into allegations that David Chipman—nominated to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—made a derogatory comment about African American ATF agents “cheating” to pass an agency selection exam while he was serving with the agency in Detroit in 2007.

CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb said the allegations are “alarming and incredibly disturbing.”

“With the racist history of gun control and past racist enforcement practices going back to Reconstruction,” Gottlieb said, “the last thing we need is someone heading ATF who not only wants to ban black guns, but also denigrates black people, including his own colleagues.

“It’s impossible for the Biden administration to not have known about this,” he continued. “A watchdog group has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit concerning this allegation, and we believe this must be investigated, or Chipman’s nomination should be rejected immediately.”

According to a report at The Daily Caller, Chipman allegedly remarked to a fellow ATF agent in Detroit, “Wow, there were an unusually large number of African American agents that passed the exam this time. They must have been cheating.” The story said the alleged remark was reported to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the story said Chipman told Sen. Ted Cruz in writing that two EEOC complaints “had been resolved without any finding of discrimination and no disciplinary action was taken against me.”

“This is a serious issue,” Gottlieb stated, “and it needs to be investigated now, before the Senate is asked to take any action. If Chipman made such a statement, it’s a slap in the face to millions of African American gun owners, and Democrats should be ashamed and embarrassed that Biden nominated him for such an important position.

“Chipman’s nomination has already raised several red flags for America’s gun owners,” he noted, “but this new allegation is simply toxic and we cannot allow the Biden administration and Senate Democrats to just ignore it. If that’s the course they plan to take, then Chipman’s nomination must be rejected.”

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