‘Tiger King’ diss haunts ATF pick

President Biden’s choice to head up the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives once mocked first-time gun buyers during the coronavirus pandemic as preparing for the zombie apocalypse and even compared them to the “Tiger King.”

David Chipman’s remarks were revealed in newly unearthed video from an April 2020 interview with Cheddar in which he talked about how gun sales were spiking during the pandemic and how people needed to take safety precautions.

“I understand the fear. I understand the concern. I have it myself,” he said. “But we don’t want to make rash decisions that place ourselves, our neighbors and our families more at risk than actually keeping them safe.”

Chipman, then the senior policy adviser at the Giffords Organization, which advocates for gun control, said there are risks for people who buy firearms during the coronavirus because they have no training.

“They might think that they’re ‘Die Hard,’ ready to go, but unfortunately they’re more like ‘Tiger King,’ and they’re putting themselves and their family in danger,” Chipman said, referring to Joe Exotic, the gun enthusiast spotlighted in the Netflix series “Tiger King.”

“What I would suggest: If they did go out and buy a gun, I would secure that gun, locked and unloaded, and hide it behind the cans of tuna and beef jerky that you’ve stored in the cabinet and only bring that out if the zombies start to appear,” Chipman mocked.

“I don’t think they are,” he continued.

Chipman, who previously worked at ATF for two decades, faced harsh criticism from Republicans during his confirmation hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee last month over his advocacy of gun control and opposition to assault weapons.

“Many see putting a committed gun control proponent like David Chipman in charge of ATF is like putting a tobacco executive in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services, or antifa in charge of the Portland Police Department,” said Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking Republican on the committee.

The panel eventually passed his nomination on a party-line vote.

A date for a confirmation vote on Chipman in the Senate hasn’t been scheduled yet.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) acknowledged that “there are a lot of issues” surrounding Chipman’s nomination.