Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Where I Stand:

Senate must confirm ATF nominee in short order

Editor’s note: As he traditionally does every August, Brian Greenspun is turning over his Where I Stand column to others this month. In presenting this year’s series of columns from community leaders, we feel it is important that our readers, trying to emerge from the ravages of the pandemic, hear from some of the people who can help guide us to better tomorrows. Today’s guest is Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson.

Until 2017, Oct. 1 was just another day of the year. Tragically, however, it is now synonymous with the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history — and it happened in our community.

While high-profile mass shootings get most of the media attention when it comes to gun violence, they actually make up a relatively small percentage of gun deaths. I don’t say this to suggest that mass shootings aren’t a tremendous and tragic problem, because they are. However, I think it is important to recognize that the scope of the gun violence crisis is so large that the number of casualties resulting from mass shootings is dwarfed by the thousands of Americans who lose their lives to firearm suicide, community and domestic violence, and unintentional shootings each year.

As the Clark County district attorney and a member of Prosecutors Against Gun Violence, I am deeply committed to improving the safety of my community, my state and my country, and one of my top priorities is to end the gun violence epidemic. There are many steps that we need to take to do this, but one of the easiest and most immediate is confirming a director to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).

This may not even be on the radar of many of those in our community, but this is an important position and it is critical that the right person be selected to lead the ATF. The president’s nominee, David Chipman, worked at ATF for 25 years. During that time, he served on the ATF’s version of SWAT and investigated the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. David has also investigated major firearms trafficking cases, including a crime ring that was transporting guns to New York from Virginia in exchange for drugs. Like me, David is a gun owner who respects the Second Amendment and also understands the importance of enforcing laws put in place to protect our citizens from gun violence.

When I look at David’s record, I see a dedicated public servant who, like me, has managed multimillion-dollar budgets and hundreds of employees. I see someone dedicated to making his community safer while respecting the rights of law-abiding gun owners. I don’t see the radical anti-gun crusader that some of the conspiracy theories circulating online make David out to be.

The job of an ATF agent isn’t an easy one — earlier this month, two ATF agents and a police officer were shot while in a car in Chicago. It’s concerning to me to see people in dark corners of the internet call into question David’s dedication to his country and to the job of keeping people safer when they themselves haven’t put their lives on the line day in and day out, as David and his fellow agents have.

The reality is that ATF is severely under-resourced and under-funded. The bureau’s funding hasn’t kept pace with rising gun sales, which skyrocketed over the course of the pandemic. Many licensed dealers aren’t receiving the regular inspections that they’re meant to receive, resulting in confusion over how to adequately follow the rules and regulations they’re meant to be adhering to.

This also means that the small number of corrupt dealers responsible for the majority of guns later used in crimes aren’t held accountable. Research has shown that undercover investigations by law enforcement can significantly curtail the flow of new guns into the illegal market.

ATF has had only one Senate-confirmed director since 2006, in large part due to the machinations and obstructions of powerful lobbyists. It’s common sense in the legal field that you don’t let an industry decide if and how much regulation it receives. The gun lobby is attempting to shield firearms manufacturers from regulation with no concern to the accompanying toll on public safety. This must end.

We can’t let the gun lobby sink the confirmation of a dedicated public servant whose entire career has pointed to this moment. I’m calling on the Senate to confirm David Chipman as soon as possible and give the ATF the leadership and tools it needs to do its job of protecting us all.