by Lee Williams

Saturday was supposed to be a big sales day for Lock N’ Load Firearms, which is located in Southington, Connecticut. The gun shop has two major sales each year, and Saturday was its “Customer Appreciation Day.” The store spent a lot on advertising the event and on party goods. Several vendors came out for the sale.

The fun ended around 11:40 a.m., when the state’s computer system went down, and it stayed down throughout most of the day.

Josh, who works at the gun shop, estimates they lost thousands of dollars.

“Guns aren’t $200 or $300 anymore. They cost $600 or $800,” he said. “To set up an event like that, all the advertising, and then to not be able to sell firearms definitely hurt us. But here, it happens all of the time.”

The State of Connecticut does not allow gun dealers to run their own NICS computer checks. It insists on running the checks for them, as well as a half-dozen other state checks.

Josh said the state’s computer shutdowns are becoming far too common.

“I don’t know how to hold the state accountable,” he said. “I hate to think that a lawsuit is the answer, but that’s where we are at. We can’t flip the state reps and senators to get more fair representation at the state capitol.”

Matt, who works at The Gun Store in Waterbury, Connecticut, said the state’s computer shutdowns have become “random but consistent.”

“You can expect to go down every couple of days,” Matt said. “It’s more than I’ve ever experience in the past 20 years. I’m not saying that the State of Connecticut is intentionally doing it, but it’s been consistent enough lately. If only they used NICS and circumvented all the other six or seven checks they use. The problem is that the state legislature added all these checks. It’s created massive amounts of confusion.”

Common names, he said, like “John Smith” have become a serious issue for the state’s computer systems, which lack the clarity of a NICS Unique Personal Identification Number or UPIN, which gun owners can apply for.

“If they have a NICS UPIN, you find out quickly that it’s not the ‘John Smith’ wanted for murder in Idaho,” he said.

At Central Connecticut Arms in Portland, Connecticut, staffer Ronnie said the shop lost thousands of dollars.

“We couldn’t sell any firearms. It was not a very good day,” he said. “Some customers put their purchases on layaway, which helped.”

The state had another major shutdown just a few weeks ago, Ronnie said.

“We were down for three days. They don’t explain when it’s going to be back up,” he said. “We just sit around here hoping it will be back up soon. It’s a major pain in the ass, man.”

Holly Sullivan is president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League and serves on the board of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

She said there is growing speculation on whether the shutdown was an effort to prevent state residents from purchasing firearms.

“Unlike other states, FFLs are not allowed to use the NICS system themselves. The State of Connecticut acts as a middleman between the FFLs and the NICS system,” she said. “The state does NICS and state-level checks. Usually, if there’s an IT issue, every FFL gets an email. None were sent on Saturday. This ‘breakdown’ was unusual. Generally, the state will say it’s an IT issue, but they didn’t do that this time.”

Hundreds of Connecticut gun shops were affected, she said.

“This is a symptom of a much larger problem,” she said. “The state wants to control us, but they’re not adequately doing their job. They don’t trust FFLs to do their job. People are denied their Constitutional rights. Let’s say if someone works offshore, it could be months before they get this opportunity again. And besides, Saturday at noon is prime time to buy guns!”

The state has an extreme anti-gun history, Sullivan explained.

“Attorney General William Tong—his hobby is being anti-gun,” she said. “Every legislative session, every anti-gun bill was proposed by Tong. And then he’d bring in his Mom’s Demand action crew. It’s an ongoing problem. Dealers lost a lot of money.”

Neither Connecticut Attorney General Tong nor Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection commissioner Ronnell A. Higgins, whose office is responsible for conducting the background checks, returned calls seeking their comments for this story.

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by Lee Williams

Dave Adamiak, whose son Patrick “Tate” Adamiak has 17 more years left to serve in federal prison, is confused, perplexed and nearing his wit’s end.

While he appreciates all the support his son’s case has drawn—there are hundreds of videos and stories chronicled on his “Freedom for Tate” website—Tate remains is prison.

To date, there has been no formal move to secure his release—despite the kind words of more than a few elected officials.

Adamiak’s family sent a pardon request to Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Justice Department Pardon Attorney Edward J. Martin Jr., along with nearly 2,000 signatures of supporters, who all believe Tate should never have been charged with a crime.

Tate’s name remains on President Donald Trump’s pardon list, unlike hundreds of others. In addition to 301 pardon denials, the Pardon Attorney has said that 5,908 clemency applications were also rejected.

His 20-year prison sentence, too, has received scorn, even from ATF Director Robert Cekada.

Cekada believes Adamiak was mistreated and massively over-sentenced.

“On the facts of this case, the sentence Mr. Adamiak received is excessive. Mr. Adamiak had no prior criminal history. He dealt with these weapons as curios. We have no evidence that he intended to use the weapons unlawfully or that he was part of a criminal organization. The extremely high sentencing guidelines likely reflect the paradigmatic cases of individuals possessing destructive devices, such as grenade launchers, and normally involve terrorism or organized criminal activity. No such conduct was present here. For me, unlawful possession of National Firearms Act items sentences approximately in the three-to-five-year range are common,” he told me just over a month ago.

Cekada is not alone. Six Republican lawmakers sent their own letter to Blanche and Martin seeking Adamiak’s release.

Congresswoman Jen Kiggans along with Congressmen Eli Crane, Eric Burlison, Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S., Rob Bresnahan, Jr., and Daniel Webster were very clear as to their intent:

“We, the undersigned Members of Congress, respectfully request that you work with President Donald Trump to give fair consideration to a commutation request for Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak. We believe that certain inconsistencies in the regulatory framework applied in his case as well as the broader enforcement environment at the time warrant careful review and consideration for executive clemency,” the lawmakers wrote.

The Representatives were extremely clear about Adamiak’s innocence, stating he had “maintained a well‑documented interest in military history and the lawful collection of historic artifacts, replicas, and training devices.”

“The items of concern in his case were inert collector pieces, nonfunctional replicas, and training aids that were incapable of firing,” the letter states.

For reasons that neither he nor his family understand, Adamiak remains housed in the Western Tidewater Regional Jail in Suffolk, Virginia—a county jail and a dangerous hellhole with none of the amenities of a federal prison.

On the day he first arrived at Tidewater, two guards pepper-sprayed an inmate for little or no reason, rammed his head into a metal door, and then dragged him through the jail until his neck and hand were broken. The jail’s medical staff said the inmate was “unlikely to regain limb control.”

The two guards were later fired and charged with malicious wounding; a Class 3 felony in Virginia involving intentional injury with the intent to maim, disfigure, disable, or kill. They each face up to 20 years in prison and $100,000 in fines.

Attempts to contact Adamiak in this facility were unsuccessful.

Case history

Adamiak, who at the time was an active-duty Navy E-6, was arrested and charged by the ATF during the height of the Biden Administration’s war on guns, gun owners, gun rights and the Second Amendment.

Adamiak had been accepted to attend BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training). Had the ATF left him alone, he would likely be leading a Navy SEAL platoon.

After ATF agents kicked down his doors, they found nothing illegal or even suspected of being illegal. As a result, the ATF brought in a specialist, ATF Firearm Enforcement Officer Jeffrey R. Bodell, who discombobulated the actual items that the agents had found—all of which are still sold legally online, most do not even require an ID—and turned them into machineguns and destructive devices.

Adamiak was charged with illegally possessing a machinegun for a toy STEN submachinegun found during the search warrant. He paid $75 for the non-firing Spanish replica—or toy—which was made by Denix and is still sold online. Bodell inserted a real STEN barrel and receiver, neither Bodell nor his assistant could make it fire more than one round at a time. Despite their hard work, the toy STEN would not even accept a real magazine. Still, Bodell officially ruled that the toy was a machinegun.

Adamiak was charged with illegally possessing two destructive devices, two inert RPGs that had holes drilled into their receivers and were stripped of internal parts. ATF’s “expert” added parts from real RPGs until they would fire a single subcaliber 7.62x39mm round. As a result, he classified the RPGs as destructive devices. The inert RPGs are still legally sold today without an FFL or any other paperwork.

Takeaways

Adamiak and his father are very concerned about an upcoming hearing, which is scheduled for next month before Arenda L. Wright Allen, the federal judge who oversaw his trial and sentenced Adamiak to serve 20 years in prison.

They both doubt Judge Allen will give Tate a fair hearing. She has already precluded his attorney from rehashing much of anything from the trial. Adamiak could actually receive even more time behind bars.

Every day seems to be a constant battle, Dave Adamiak said. While Tate receives verbal support, nothing official is ever done.

Dozens of politicians have said Adamiak should never have been charged, yet he remains in prison.

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By Lee Williams

Ask any longtime shooter to name a single piece of gear available today that they wished they had when they first started shooting years ago. If they hear you correctly, and you don’t have to repeat yourself too many times, many will likely say, “suppressors.”

It doesn’t matter what you call them—silencers, cans, gun mufflers, whisper pickles or suppressors—they work extremely well, and dramatically reduce the decibels headed toward your ears.

Depending on the type of suppressor you’re using, the firearm, its caliber and ammunition, the results can be simply stunning, amazing in fact.

Today, suppressors are easier to purchase than ever before, although they still require federal oversight, which may soon be changing. Turnaround time from filing your federal paperwork to picking up your suppressor can be measured in days if not hours, as opposed to months or even years as seen when Joe Biden’s ATF was in charge. Also, they’re dropping in price.

More organizations are speaking out on behalf of the cans, telling anyone who cares about maintaining their hearing that suppressors are effective, which is not what the anti-gunners want to hear.

In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, through its the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, took a pro-suppressor position, stating suppressors offer, “effective engineering controls to reduce hazardous gunshot noise at the source, lowering peak sound pressure levels at the shooter’s ear by 17 to 26 decibels.”

In other words, cans are good, which is why they’re legal in 42 states.

Lifetime shooters struggling with hearing loss and tinnitus may actually become a thing of the past, but unfortunately a lot depends on where you live.

Suppressors remain prohibited in Hawaii, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Delaware, and the District of Columbia and, of course, California.

These deep blue states are apparently worried that hitmen, assassins or gangsters may go to a gun store, choose a suppressor, fill out the federal paperwork accurately—including their full name, address and other personal identifiers—wait until their suppressor purchase is approved, return to the gun store, pick it up and then sally forth and commit armed, albeit quieter, mayhem.

Timothy Wheeler, MD, is a retired surgeon and director emeritus of Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership—a project of the Second Amendment Foundation—and a nationwide network of physicians, health professionals and others who support the safe and lawful use of firearms.

The California Medical Association, Dr. Wheeler says, is “stubbornly refusing” to endorse suppressors as a way to reduce hearing loss, even after the CDC report said they function extremely well.

For Dr. Wheeler, who lives in southern California, the CMA’s rebuke was not a surprise.

The CMA did not respond to multiple phone calls or emails seeking information about their position on suppressors/silencers.

Their unwillingness to even discuss whatever issues they may have with modern suppressors was expected, of course. If you shoot a gun you deserve to lose your hearing, I’m sure they believe.

Hiram Percy Maxim—whose father Hiram Stevens Maxim invented the first machinegun—was granted the first American patent for a suppressor in 1909, which should have been enough time for the newness and scariness to have worn off.

Suppressors should be available without any paperwork—especially federal paperwork.

One should be in included in the box with every firearm purchased in every state—especially California.

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by Lee Williams

Deep inside the hills near Martinsburg, West Virginia, on a government base with incredible security, lies what may be one of the most impressive firearm collections in the entire world. It contains more than 17,000 individual firearms of nearly every type—from Oerlikon cannons, cane guns, internally-suppressed pistols, gold-plated AKs and thousands of machineguns to one or more examples of nearly every model of rifle, pistol and shotgun ever produced. This base houses ATF’s National Tracing Center, and the collection is called the National Reference Gun Vault or simply “The Vault.”

Those who have actually been inside the massive structure—at least the real gun guys—talk about it in hushed tones, for hours. They recall every firearm they saw, touched or picked up and especially those they had never seen before.

In the past, the vault was staffed by a half-dozen armorers most of whom had retired from the U.S. Marine Corps. They bore the title: ATF Firearms Enforcement Officer. Their job was to answer questions from ATF agents in the field. If they didn’t know the answer, they had more than 17,000 examples to check.

Not too long ago, for reasons unknown, the ATF decided to radically increase the number of Firearm Enforcement Officers, or FEOs, and station them not in the vault but at several regional ATF offices across the country.

Unlike Special Agents, FEOs are technical specialists rather than sworn law enforcement officers. They have no arrest authority; only supporting enforcement through technical expertise. They work closely with ATF special agents and local law enforcement to identify firearm-related evidence found during search warrants and investigations, classifying the crime guns to build legal cases.

This is where the problem starts. ATF answers directly to the Attorney General, who is the top law enforcement official in the country, and the Attorney General answers directly to the President. ATF cannot afford to have the FEOs give an opinion which differs from the position or feelings of the White House on firearm hot topics such as braces, forced-reset triggers, bump stocks or solvent traps, so FEOs are coached, if not ordered to provide an opinion in their reports, which aligns with those of the administration—especially an anti-gun administration.

This practice has been in place for so many years of anti-gun administrations that it has become the norm.

FEOs provide guidance to agents, who commonly need it because of their lack of training—when encountering anything beyond a modern firearm which bears markings indicating manufacturer, model, caliber, and serial number engraved on it—results in a need for further guidance.

Agents then take this guidance as reliable and accurate information to judges, who issue a search warrant based on this information. The agent then takes what is found in the search to a federal prosecutor who, knowing only what the agent tells them, files charges against the person who was searched. Obviously, the information provided to an agent by an FEO carries a lot of weight, and can have a serious negative effect on people’s lives if it isn’t accurate.

There are many examples of FEOs taking an oath and then testifying to supposed facts that they know to be untrue. The most recent was in ATF’s case against Rare Breed Triggers, whose trigger the FEOs claimed for four years was a “machinegun.”

These new FEOs will say anything and do anything that the ATF administrators want, and unfortunately, they’re used far too often. Any case that goes beyond a simple firearm calls for an FEO. Never mind reality or fairness. They aren’t impartial at all.

This, friends, has been going on for decades.

On paper, the FEOs, are “firearm experts trained in all aspects of firearm operation and identification.”

“They support multi-agency police responses to violent crimes across the country. FEOs work closely with ATF special agents and investigators, other federal agencies and local law enforcement to identify firearms-related evidence found during search warrants and investigations,” the ATF claims.

In actuality, the new FEOs will stretch the truth while under oath to support the agency’s bad investigators and their bad investigations.

They are a symptom of a much larger problem within the organization: ATF agents do not know or even understand guns, according to one former senior ATF official who has seen enough.

“The ATF would not need many FEOs if they would start teaching their agents what they need to know to be competent in the field,” said Daniel G. O’Kelly. “They don’t teach their people over half of what they need to know about guns, so ATF agents must rely on the FEOs. The FEOs get directed by the politically motivated, which results in people like Tate Adamiak sitting in jail for no reason. The ATF has had some people sitting in jail for no reason since 1992, when they became an agency.”

O’Kelly’s theory is simple: If ATF special agents were given a proper amount of firearm training, rather than the three days they currently receive in the academy, they would know guns well enough to recognize all violations and to not overlook violations and their agency would no longer need as many FEOs. These FEOs could be used merely as tutors that an agent could call upon for minor clarification when an obscure issue or firearm is encountered. Very little should be an obscure issue to the gun police in the most gun-prolific country in the world.

After all, O’Kelly estimates that 95% of what the ATF agents will do during their career is related to firearms. The remainder—alcohol, tobacco and explosives—amounts to only around 5% of an agent’s career.

“During my 23-year career I assisted with one tobacco case, never had a single alcohol case and did around 10 arson and bombing cases,” he said.

O’Kelly joined the ATF as a Special Agent in 1988 after serving 11 years as a police officer. He became a legend within the agency, including a stint as the lead instructor of Firearm Technology on staff at the ATF National Academy. O’Kelly is one of the country’s leading firearm experts, and a staunch Second Amendment supporter. After he retired from ATF, O’Kelly raised the bar of firearm knowledge nationwide, among police, the firearm industry, attorneys and the public by founding the International Firearm Specialist Academy, training thousands of law enforcement and industry professionals worldwide.

In an interview, O’Kelly said that ATF agents only receive three-and-a-half days of firearm training. If they understood firearms better, the agency could get rid of its FEOs, many of whom would not be needed.

On paper, FEOs are part of the ATF’s Firearms and Ammunition Technology Division, whose mission is, “to serve as ATF’s technical authority relating to firearms and their classification under Federal laws; to respond to law enforcement agencies requests to test, evaluate, and provide expert testimony on firearms and ammunition; and to provide technical services to the firearms industry and other members of the public.”

As stated, ATF considers its FEOs—not its special agents—the real “technical authority” on firearms and gun parts, who provide “expert testimony.”

In actuality, FEOs turn non-firearms including toys into firearms—even machineguns—and then testify, sometimes falsely, about their findings.

O’Kelly’s fix would be simple. He would rewrite the agents’ basic training to add more firearm training. Existing agents would go through additional in-service firearm training to be able to independently recognize what’s enforceable and what’s not, without the misdirection currently being given by FEOs. O’Kelly would be willing to teach the agents himself or help develop a new training curriculum.

“The biggest problem with the ATF is that agents do not receive enough training,” O’Kelly said. “None of this Tate stuff would have happened if they knew firearms as well as they could.”

Tate stuff

The ATF’s case against Patrick “Tate” Adamiak was led by two Assistant U.S. Attorneys, but their main witness became the real reason why a jury found Adamiak guilty, and a federal judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison, which he is currently serving.

To be clear, Adamiak was utterly railroaded by ATF Firearms Enforcement Officer Jeffrey R. Bodell, who works out of the ATF office in Martinsburg.

Bodell’s background is still suspect. He claimed to have worked for Lebo’s Gunsmithing in Shippensburg for 10 months, Legendary Arms Works in Harrisburg for 16 months, and then he ran his own gun shop called Bodell Custom, LLC, for 17 months in Shippensburg. After closing his own gun shop, Bodell went to work for the ATF.

Adamiak, who is now 31, was just 28-years-old and an active-duty E-6 in the U.S. Navy prior to his arrest. He enjoyed firearms and ran a private website that sold gun parts—not guns. He was always extremely careful about what he sold. After all, he had to protect his naval career, which was doing extremely well.

Adamiak was unprepared for Bodell or his incredible deceptions, which have become almost legendary. Bodell actually turned toys into firearms and legal semi-autos into machineguns.

When he took the stand to testify falsely about what he did to Adamiak’s firearms, Bodell had been an ATF employee for less than two years.

Most damning was the fact that this was the first time Bodell had ever testified at any trial.

Bodell told the jurors about how inserted a real STEN action and a real STEN barrel into Adamiak’s toy STEN submachinegun and got it to fire one round, even though the toy’s receiver wouldn’t accept a real STEN magazine. Bodell actually classified the toy, which are very popular, as a machinegun.

Bodell fired five of Adamiak’s very expensive and extremely collectible legal semi-autos, which fire from an open bolt. All the ATF technician could achieve was semi-auto fire, but that didn’t stop him. He classified all five highly sought after firearms as machineguns, despite the fact that publicly-known ATF Rulings in 1982 grandfathered these models as “not machineguns.”

Bodell ruled that several receivers (which don’t qualify as receivers according to the ATF written definition at that time) that had been cut in half were actually machineguns. The same parts are still legally sold online and do not require an FFL or any paperwork.

The worst thing Bodell told the court were his misconceptions about two inert RPGs, which Adamiak had purchased at a flea market in California.

Bodell took the inert rocket launchers to the ATF’s lab and added missing fire-control components including a firing pin from a functional RPG from the ATF’s collection. He also added a sub-caliber training device that resembles a warhead, which can fire 7.62x39mm rounds on its own without even loading it into an RPG. So, he inserted a firearm into a non-firearm, then called the non-firearm a rocket launcher.

“He fired a 7.62x39mm rifle cartridge through it utilizing the sub-caliber training device, which is a standalone rifle that can be fired independently on its own,” Adamiak said in a previous interview. (Adamiak is now being held in a Pennsylvania county jail and was not available for comment.)

Bodell falsely testified that the missing parts didn’t matter, legally.

“It doesn’t matter whether it fires or not, and if it’s missing some component parts, it wouldn’t be relevant to the classification of a destructive device,” Bodell told the court, which is not what the statute or case law state.

Bodell even made a video of him and an assistant firing one rifle round from Adamiak’s heavily converted RPG.

“An RPG is a very simple and crude device,” Adamiak previously said. “Taking a piece of metal pipe and hose clamping a fire control mechanism to it would effectively duplicate what Bodell did in his testing.”

Bodell’s six-page Curriculum Vitae is loaded with long lists of the firearms on which he was trained, but it is also chock-full of nonessential information, including legislation he has studied, historic information he received, museums he has toured, and trade shows he attended.

How to fix the ATF

O’Kelly’s plan for fixing the ATF should be required reading. Almost all of it is common sense. It calls for efforts affecting special agents, restructuring the agency and much more training.

Some highpoints include:

• Focus on the prevention and investigation of violent crime. End the weaponization of the agency. Become anti-crime, not anti-gun ownership toward law abiding citizens.

• Support and educate the firearm industry and the public, rather than persecuting them.

• As in ATF’s original position, stop treating items such as solvent traps and fuel filters as silencers, unless there is actual evidence of intent to use it to diminish the report of a firearm. Stop treating Forced Reset Triggers as machineguns, as they do not satisfy the statutory definition, and as in ATF’s original position, stop prosecuting braced-pistols as Short Barreled Rifles.

• Abandon the false narrative that “ghost guns” are evil and support the right of otherwise non-prohibited citizens to make and possess a privately-made firearm. Abandon the false narrative that buy-build-shoot kits are firearms, as they don’t satisfy the statutory definition.

• Stop treating gun parts which do not satisfy the statutory definition as firearm “receivers,” such as AR-15 lowers and FAL uppers.

• Stop pretending that the occasional sale of a firearm to enhance one’s collection is “dealing without a license” and allow the occasional sale to enhance one’s private collection.

• Start allowing Agents to do actual “police work” and abandon the Mon-Fri 8am-4pm mindset. Begin having them work various hours, like police officers, so they can actually catch violent criminals.

• Stop the false narrative about “ghost guns” (PMFs). Pre-1968 shotguns and .22 rifles have no serial numbers either and cannot be traced, yet ATF never rails about them because it would expose the falseness of the issue. The fact is that PMFs can only be prosecuted in State courts, and ATF needs federal statistics to justify budget increases.

• ATF has historically refused to teach their employees what they need to know to be fully competent about firearms. Begin teaching all Agents and Industry Operations Investigators a comprehensive program so that they are fully competent in the field.

“The fix is simple,” O’Kelly said. “All that’s needed is for ATF leadership to admit they dropped the ball. Once they do, they need to train existing agents and get their people to an acceptable level, so we could go back to the eight FEOs in the vault. We would no longer need these ‘liars for hire’ that the FEOs have become.”

Takeaways

Few believe we will see the same level of anti-gun zealotry by the ATF now the President Donald Trump and ATF Director Robert Cekada are in charge that we experienced when Joe Biden and Steve Dettelbach were calling the shots.

Still, elections happen every four years, and the ATF has proven to be overly accepting of presidential suggestions. Therefore, professionalizing the entire agency should be the goal.

We have all seen the horrors that can happen when ATF follows unlawful orders emanating directly from the White House.

Dave Adamiak, Tate’s father, has spent the past four years worrying about his son’s safety and trying to get him out of federal prison.

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by Lee Williams

A former ATF official reached out to me recently with a strong warning: The ATF is asking for information that could very easily be used against anyone who tries to make a homemade silencer lawfully.

If you answer certain questions on a digital Form 1, you may regret it.

In other words, your own honesty could lead to you own imprisonment.

The former ATF official said on the electronic ATF Form 1, which you need to complete to make a homemade silencer, there is an electronic documentation box, which states: “Please submit the following descriptive information: Pictures of the parts that you will use to make the silencer (the pictures should be clear and allow the identification of the parts photographed). Failure to upload additional documentation could lead to the Form 1 being Disapproved.”

This, the former ATF official said, is a classic example of the ATF’s NFA Division, “not having a clue about what the law says, which they’re supposed to enforce.”

The federal definition of a silencer at 18 USC 921(a)(24) not only includes completed silencers, but also includes “any combination of parts, designed or redesigned, and intended for use in assembling or fabricating a firearm silencer or firearm muffler, and any part intended only for use in such assembly or fabrication.”

Therefore, any photos of silencer parts that someone submits to ATF can be legally seen as pictures of silencers—for which the applicant does not yet have authorization to possess.

The first time the former ATF official heard about this was a few years ago.

“It started with the solvent trap,” the former ATF official said. “People decided to purchase a solvent trap and then do a Form 1. Once ATF learned about that they denied the registration, because the applicant’s intent was to make a silencer, but they were actually in possession of an unregistered silencer—exactly as the definition says.”

A lightbulb came on within ATF’s NFA Division, the former ATF official said, and they started asking questions of everyone who wants to make a silencer.

I asked the former ATF official what lawful applicant should put on the form.

He recommended this: “I don’t have any silencer parts because that would be a felony.”

“This can only work two ways,” the former ATF official said. “Either they’re playing entrapment and they want gun owners to send them ‘evidence,’ of their own crimes, or they’re complete numbskulls at the NFA Division and they don’t realize what they’re doing.”

ATF Director Robert Cekada said the real issue is solvent traps that are made cheaply overseas, but he was quick to point out that no one will be charged for complying with Form 1 as long as he is running the ATF.

“No will be arrested for photos. We’re trying not to register solvent traps,” he said Monday evening. “They are coming into this country illegally. We want to dissuade people from registering solvent traps, which are built overseas as suppressors without the hole, except for the part that says ‘drill here.’”

Cekada said ATF is in the process of modernizing all of its paperwork, including the Form 1.

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By Lee Williams

Robert Russ spent more than 20 years in the U.S. Air Force fixing fighter jets around the globe while away from his family.

His career took him to Texas, Japan, Korea, the United Kingdon, New Mexico, Nevada, the United Arab Emirates, Niger and even Turkey.

“I joined after 9/11 because I wanted to be in the fight,” Russ said this week.

He doesn’t have one specific event that sums up his time in uniform.

“Honestly, the whole experience did,” he said. “The people, responsibility, the mission and the community all became a big part of who I am. There were tough times being away from family, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything now. It was integrity and honor with a sense of duty.”

Russ served from 2002 to 2022 as an Aircraft Engine Mechanic, retiring as a master sergeant or E-7.

Money isn’t a huge issue for Russ and his family. He and his wife own a plumbing company where she serves as CEO. He now works as an aircraft mechanic for a private firm. Still, something was missing from his life.

“Like a lot of veterans, getting out was an adjustment. When you leave the military, you do not just leave a job. You lose a community and a shared sense of purpose that is hard to replace,” he said. “For a while, I kept coming back to the same question: how do I get back in the fight in a meaningful way?”

After a lot of thought and family discussions, he started Above Ground Gear just five months ago, for a myriad of good reasons.

“I wanted to build something that supports veterans, strengthens community and culture, and gives people a brand they can trust. I also wanted it to reflect the values I grew up with and carried through my service: integrity, service, family, faith, freedom, and pride in this country,” he said.

He chose the company name for a good reason: “Every day Above Ground is a good day,” he said.

Above Ground Gear offers “apparel for veterans and patriots who refuse to blend in. Apparel that stands for freedom, personal responsibility, and the unbreakable mindset forged through service—because being above ground means you’ve got another day to live it right.”

The firm offers t-shirts, hats, blankets and more, all of which bear patriotic and/or humors sayings and logos. The shirts are extremely high quality.

I am proud to name Russ’ firm Above Ground Gear as a new sponsor of this site.

He offers 15% off eligible apparel for TGW readers who use the code GUNWRITER15.

Thanks,

Lee

If you or your firm would like to help sponsor The Gun Writer, send me an email and I will be in touch.

By Lee Williams

When Dave Adamiak first heard that his son had been arrested by Joe Biden’s ATF, part of him thought he must have done something wrong. Perhaps ATF agents had found a dozen Glock switches or some other illegal device during their search warrant of his son’s home. Dave Adamiak, who will be 71 in October, grew up with the utmost respect for law enforcement, especially federal law enforcement, back when they arrested bad guys and protected the innocent from harm. The federal agents wouldn’t make a mistake, right?

But the ATF found absolutely nothing illegal in Patrick “Tate” Adamiak’s home, so agents concocted a myriad of fake charges for non-functional artifacts and gun parts that were purchased online—all of which remain legal to own.

When Dave Adamiak learned about how ATF agents chose to investigate his son—he had a popular website—how they bamboozled a judge into issuing a search warrant—agents falsely claimed he had a machinegun—and what they found—he had absolutely nothing illegal—his whole opinion changed about the ATF and federal law enforcement—especially if they’re working for Joe Biden.

The Adamiak family expected more from President Trump, who has been in office 555 days. Adamiak’s father was sure his son would be pardoned or somehow released, but Tate has remained in prison for 1,379 days.

After all, he did nothing wrong, yet a federal judge gave him a massive 20-year prison sentence, which even the current ATF Director, Robert Cekada, said was far too much.

Dave Adamiak believed Tate would be pardoned earlier this month, after media reports indicated that President Trump was going to pardon 250 inmates, but of course nothing happened. Tate remains locked inside a dangerous county jail, and no one will say why he wasn’t moved back to a federal prison.

“With all the attention that Tate’s case has received, I thought President Trump would have reacted in a positive way, especially after seeing what they did to Tate and how it’s so similar to what they did to him. But he—President Trump—had attorneys to keep him out of prison,” Dave Adamiak said. “With all the attention Tate’s receiving, I thought this would have gotten onto his radar, and that he would have done the right thing and pardoned Tate.”

Dave Adamiak still has nothing but respect for the president.

“I still hope he will do the right thing about Tate,” he said. “I’ve been fighting for my son for four years. We thought we were at a pretty good place when President Trump was elected, and this would have all been done. We’re getting close to September now. Another month has gone by and Tate’s in a dangerous county jail.”

Remaining positive

Matthew “Tucker” Adamiak, 39, is seven years older than his brother Tate. The two remain incredibly close.

“When Tate joined the Navy, it was always tough,” Tucker said. “I always looked forward to him coming home on leave. We would cram as much into those weeks as possible. That’s what I always looked forward to, or just working together at the house helping dad.”

Tucker got a call shortly after Tate’s arrest.

“We were blindsided by the entire thing from day one,” he said. “I was at work. I immediately drove over to my dad’s house, and we were like in shock for weeks until we found out what happened. Once we learned the details, we were relieved. We believed there’s no way that any of this would ever stick in court. When he had his trial, we were waiting for the call to hear he’d been found not guilty. When we heard he was found guilty, my heart just sunk. When the judge sentenced him to 240 months, when I realized that was 20 years, my jaw just hit the ground.”

Since Tate’s sentencing, Tucker has tried to stay positive even though it’s been extremely difficult.

“I think it’s important for people to know that we have court sentences there for a reason, but sometimes they get it wrong, and I 100-percent believe that’s what happened in Tate’s case. There are innocent people in prison and Tate is one of them,” Tucker said. “Throughout my life I’ve heard stories of people being incarcerated for crimes he didn’t commit and are later found not guilty. It never related to me until this whole ordeal began with Tate.”

His brother’s incarceration has impacted Tucker.

“It’s affected me in so many ways. When someone in your family is sick with cancer, your entire family is affected. Even though I’m not personally going through that, I would compare it to having someone incarcerated. Even though I’m not incarcerated with Tate, I’m in my own little prison. Everyone who’s going through this with him is in their own prison, too,” he said. “It makes me feel guilty just going through life, waking up next to someone you love, going to work, eating healthy meals—every time I think about my brother, I think how he’s missing that. I have remained positive, which is difficult. I’ve never lost hope that one day all of this will be corrected, and that one day I’ll be able to see my brother again, outside of prison.”

Tucker and Dave Adamiak were extremely grateful for the support they have received from the Second Amendment community.

“Tate has the most incredible crew of friends, starting with our dad, friends from childhood, the military, gun owners,” Tucker said. “He really didn’t even have to be there right now. He was offered plea deals, but he never took them. He stood up to the government. When he asked me what I thought he should do, deep down I hoped he would go against the government, but I was scared, especially with their unlimited resources. He didn’t want to give up his rights. To this day he remains innocent, in everyone’s eyes but the government’s.”

Tucker and his dad created “bug-out bags,” which they’ll grab and then jump in the car when Tate’s released from prison.

“They’re getting a bit dusty,” Dave Adamiak said.

Takeaways

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project sent an email to President Trump’s media team. It consisted of only one question: “Why hasn’t President Trump pardoned Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak?”

So far, the White House has not responded.

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By Lee Williams

A Sunday story published by Gannett’s USA Today seems to defy the newspaper’s blatant and longstanding anti-gun editorial stance—at least at first.

“What the Supreme Court’s test for gun rules could mean for AR-15s this year,” was written by Maureen Groppe, a reporter who covers the U.S. Supreme Court.

Groppe did not include much of her employer’s usual anti-gun caterwauling, which is unusual. Don’t forget USA Today allows anti-gun activists from The Trace—the propaganda arm of Everytown for Gun Safety—to write, supply photos and even edit its newspaper stories.

Instead, Groppe changed tactics: Out are the kids from the Trace. In are two new, more refined anti-gun voices, both law professors, in fact, cofounders of the Duke Center for Firearms Law.

Now, a brief segue about the Duke Center for Firearms Law and their extreme positions on firearms and firearms law. All you really need to know is that last December, the group welcomed a new executive director, Hayley Lawrence.

A press release sums up Lawrence and her professional history:

“Her pro bono practice focused on representing individuals in criminal justice matters and working with groups like Brady, Giffords, and Everytown to promote gun safety policies as amici before the federal courts of appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court,” the press release states.

The NRA published a story last December shortly after Lawrence took over: “Gun Control Advocate to Lead Duke Center for Firearms Law.”

NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action promised it will be keeping its eye on Ms. Lawrence, which was a worthy decision.

Now, back to Groppe’s Sunday tome.

The reporter actually made room for one pro-gun voice, a member of Gun Owners of America, but he only got one quote. I’d bet every one of my ARs that was done only to satisfy the longstanding journalism rule about including “both sides” of a story. Both sides are certainly included, but the remainder of the story—the vast majority of the space—went to anti-gun sources.

Douglas Letter, whom Groppe described as the “chief legal officer for the Brady gun violence prevention advocacy group,” was quoted as saying: “Obviously, there are disagreements on where that line should be drawn. We think it absolutely should be drawn so that assault weapons bans are constitutional.”

Joseph Blocher is a law professor at Duke University School of Law and cofounder of the Duke Center for Firearms Law, whom Groppe referred to as a “Second Amendment expert.”

Blocher has a history of anti-gun writings. He’s especially anti-Bruen.

In 2022, while testifying before the U.S. Senate’s Judiciary Committee, Blocher noted that the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision “introduced significant unpredictability into Second Amendment law going forward.”

In 2023, he and Professor Darrell A. H. Miller, a law professor at the University of Chicago School of Law who cofounded Duke Center for Firearms Law with Blocher, wrote that “guns can create fear, intimidation, and social trauma; deter civic participation and the exercise of constitutional rights; and further entrench racial inequality.”

Blocher was relatively mild in Groppe’s story, although he referred to legitimate gun ownership as a “debate” rather than a constitutional right.

“These weapons have become very, very wrapped up in identity on many sides of the debate,” Blocher said. “The stakes are high.”

Miller, too, emphasized this mythical debate over the Second Amendment.

“When they come down with decisions that ask questions like, `Is a modern jet airplane more like a horse, or is it more like a carriage, or is it more like a boat?’ I think people that are paying attention just feel a little bewildered,” Miller said. “It’s like, `What kind of odd, elite parlor game is happening up there?’”

The two professors are using that same tactic. Rather than admitting that Bruen is easy to decipher, far from complex and law, they describe it as bewildering and a debate. However, we shall see whether a majority of Supreme Court justices are able to somehow understand and grasp their previous decision, in about a year.

Groppe concludes her story by claiming that ARs are sometimes called “the iPhone of guns because of their popularity and how easy they are to customize.”

I somehow missed that.

I’ve never heard anyone refer to their AR as an iPhone, but then I’ve only been writing about guns for more than a dozen years, and I’m certainly not as well versed on the gun “debate” as any reporter working for USA Today.

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by Lee Williams

It’s hard not to smile or even giggle a little bit when you see how badly President Donald Trump is scaring the country’s paid anti-gun community, especially when you combine the President’s efforts with those of the United States Supreme Court.

No one is feeling this pro-gun heat more than the youngsters working at the Trace, the propaganda arm of former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s gun control empire, who want the public to believe it’s an actual newsroom comprised of actual journalists—a fiction they’ll go to great lengths to maintain.

The Trace kids are extremely busy trying to stop this Second Amendment tidal wave that’s washing across the entire country. They realize that they’re losing, so they’re rabidly coming up with new ideas to counter our coming freedom—and some of their ideas are absolutely crazy.

Two Tracers just released this tome: “New Jersey Just Lost Its Assault Weapons Ban. Here’s Why That Matters for the Rest of the Country.”

The story’s last line is bedeviling. It’s not a quote or taken from any report. It’s completely attributable to the story’s two anti-gun authors:

“If the Supreme Court strikes down assault weapons bans nationwide next year, states could try other strategies, including putting semiautomatic rifles behind a permitting process,” they actually wrote.

Can you actually imagine that?

The highest court in the country says you can legally possess ARs in every state and U.S. Territory, but then some blue state suddenly requires you to obtain a state permit—regardless of the Supreme Court decision?

Do they think that might actually work?

It’s a Second Amendment right, right?

It would be like requiring state permits before allowing someone to read a book or scour the internet, which are rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.

The Trace is redefining desperation.

I’m picturing five-gallon pails of Zoloft, Prozac and Xanax scattered throughout their newsroom, each with a “help yourself” label.

It actually gets even worse. They’ve actually run out of legitimate sources.

The two authors wrote this:

“It’s unclear whether rescinding the bans will cause an increase in gun violence — or mass shootings in particular. Assault weapons have been used in most of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history, and studies have found that assault weapons, combined with high-capacity magazines, may increase the death count in mass shootings,” the story claims.

The link takes you to another hilarious medical study, which falsely claimed that “state assault weapons bans are associated with fewer fatalities.” The study based its findings on one particular source: “Data were abstracted from the Gun Violence Archive, an independent online database of US gun violence incidents.”

We’ve nearly written volumes about the faulty data from the Gun Violence Archive—so much so that it’s hard not to laugh every time some academic clod uses it in their “research.” Suffice it to say, the GVA said there were 417 mass shootings in 2019. The FBI says there were 30, because it uses actual data and doesn’t make stuff up.

The two authors actually supported using the GVA’s faulty numbers.

“The Trace uses the Gun Violence Archive’s definition of mass shooting, which includes shootings resulting in four or more injuries or deaths, excluding the shooter,” they wrote.

Trace history

The Trace calls itself “The only newsroom dedicated to covering gun violence.” Its staff refer to themselves as journalists, rather than anti-gun activists who are paid by Bloomberg to write propaganda.

Since the Trace was founded about a decade ago, scores of newspapers, websites and other legacy media outlets have fallen victim to this ruse. What’s left of Gannett’s flagship newspaper, USA Today, has collaborated with the Trace multiple times, and has even allowed Trace activists to produce and edit content, which appeared in the newspaper under a joint byline.

“We have partnered with more than 170 national and local media organizations,” the Trace boasts on its website. “We’re always looking to start new partnerships.”

The Trace is nothing more than the propaganda arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, which is also funded by Bloomberg.

Both nonprofits share the same president, John Feinblatt. In fact, Feinblatt is also listed as the two nonprofits’ principal officer. Federal tax documents show that the Trace and Everytown also use the same phone number, 646-324-8250.

Both nonprofits were incorporated in Delaware, which is known for its stringent corporate privacy laws.

Takeaways

Now that New Jersey-compliant ARs are a thing of the past, and California-compliant ARs may soon follow, we should take a minute to relax, but only one minute, no more.

The Trace and its followers will certainly come up with more whacky ideas, but they live in states whose judges support whacky behavior, especially if it harms the Second Amendment.

We remain in a constant battle for our civil rights, and anything can still go wrong at any time, according to Murphy’s Law.

Col. Charlie Beckwith said that. He should certainly know.

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by Lee Williams

The Office of the Pardon Attorney, part of the U.S. Department of Justice, announced Tuesday that President Donald Trump had denied hundreds of pardon requests this week.

Patrick “Tate” Adamiak was not among the denials.

His father, Dave Adamiak, was at first extremely worried until he found that his son was not listed among those whose pardon requests had been rejected by President Trump.

“We still have hope,” Dave Adamiak said. “There’s still a chance that Tate may come home.”

In addition to the 301 pardon denials, the Pardon Attorney announced that 5,908 clemency applications had been rejected.

All of the denials are listed on the Pardon Attorney’s website.

The White House has been inundated with requests to pardon Adamiak, who has always maintained his innocence.

We have published more than 50 stories that show how Adamiak was mistreated by Joe Biden’s ATF.

Lawmakers, too, have heard about the mistreatment. Some have taken action.

Congresswoman Jen Kiggans along with Congressmen Eli Crane, Eric Burlison, Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S., Rob Bresnahan, Jr., and Daniel Webster recently sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Pardon Attorney Edward J. Martin Jr., asking that Adamiak be freed from his 20-year prison sentence.

The letter was the idea of Rep. Eli Crane, who recently questioned ATF Director Robert Cekada during a live congressional hearing about Adamiak’s incarceration.

The six U.S. Representatives were very clear as to their intent:

“We, the undersigned Members of Congress, respectfully request that you work with President Donald Trump to give fair consideration to a commutation request for Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak. We believe that certain inconsistencies in the regulatory framework applied in his case as well as the broader enforcement environment at the time warrant careful review and consideration for executive clemency,” the lawmakers wrote.

Adamiak has said he would prefer a pardon over a commutation because he is completely innocent.

Adamiak, who was an active-duty Navy E-6, was arrested more than four years ago. More than 40 law enforcement officers led by ATF agents kicked down his doors and ripped his home apart. They found nothing illegal yet he’s serving a 20-year federal prison sentence.

If Biden’s ATF had left him alone, Adamiak would likely be leading a SEAL platoon. He’d already been accepted to attend BUD/S.

“Tate did nothing wrong,” Dave Adamiak said. “He’s been in custody for four years, missed his mother’s funeral, missed his friends and family. He has been through enough.”

The fact that his son was not listed among those whose pardon requests were rejected gave Dave Adamiak some hope.

“He broke no laws. He committed no crime. He needs to come home,” his father said.

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by Lee Williams

On the very same day Patrick “Tate” Adamiak arrived at the Western Tidewater Regional Jail in Suffolk, Virginia, two guards pepper-sprayed an inmate for little or no reason, rammed his head into a metal door, and then dragged him through the jail until his neck and hand were broken. The jail’s medical staff said the inmate was “unlikely to regain limb control.”

The two guards were later fired and charged with malicious wounding; a Class 3 felony in Virginia involving intentional injury with the intent to maim, disfigure, disable, or kill. They each face up to 20 years in prison and $100,000 in fines.

Even though he’s a federal inmate and his resentencing hearing was cancelled, Adamiak was never returned to a federal prison. He still remains inside the Western Tidewater Regional Jail since he first arrived there June 16.

“It’s not safe,” his father, Dave Adamiak, said Monday. “From what Tate has told me, whenever there’s an issue the guards don’t intervene. Someone could be laying on the ground for quite a while.”

Contact with his son is sketchy at best.

“I can’t get a hold of him. He has to call out. There is no way to communicate,” Dave Adamiak said. “Every few days he’ll call. It’s dangerous—not a safe place. He just tries to mind his own business and stay out of trouble, but there is always trouble carrying on. People are screaming all of the time. It’s a hellhole.”

Adamik’s father is still in legal limbo.

“Why haven’t they moved him? That’s a good question. His next resentencing hearing isn’t until the end of September,” Dave Adamiak said. “Maybe the judge is trying to make it worse for him. I am worried about him in there. It’s something you have to think about quite often—his safety.”

Adamiak, who at the time was an active-duty Navy E-6, was arrested and charged by the ATF during the height of the Biden Administration’s war on guns, gun owners, gun rights and the Second Amendment.

Adamiak had been accepted to attend BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training). Had the ATF left him alone, he would likely be leading a Navy SEAL platoon.

After ATF agents kicked down his doors, they found nothing illegal or even suspected of being illegal. As a result, the ATF brought in a specialist, ATF Firearm Enforcement Officer Jeffrey R. Bodell, who discombobulated the actual items that the agents had found—all of which are still sold legally online, most do not even require an ID—and turned them into machineguns and destructive devices.

Adamiak was charged with illegally possessing a machinegun for a toy STEN submachinegun found during the search warrant. He paid $75 for the non-firing Spanish replica—or toy—which was made by Denix and is still sold online. Bodell inserted a real STEN barrel and receiver, neither Bodell nor his assistant could make it fire more than one round at a time. Despite their hard work, the toy STEN would not even accept a real magazine. Still, Bodell officially ruled that the toy was a machinegun.

Adamiak was charged with illegally possessing two destructive devices, two inert RPGs that had holes drilled into their receivers and were stripped of internal parts. ATF’s “expert” added parts from real RPGs until they would fire a single subcaliber 7.62x39mm round. As a result, he classified the RPGs as destructive devices. The inert RPGs are still legally sold today without an FFL or any other paperwork.

Arenda L. Wright Allen is the federal judge who oversaw the trial and sentenced Adamiak to serve 20 years in prison—a sentence that even the new ATF Director, Robert Cekada, believes was far too long.

“On the facts of this case, the sentence Mr. Adamiak received is excessive. Mr. Adamiak had no prior criminal history. He dealt with these weapons as curios. We have no evidence that he intended to use the weapons unlawfully or that he was part of a criminal organization. The extremely high sentencing guidelines likely reflect the paradigmatic cases of individuals possessing destructive devices, such as grenade launchers, and normally involve terrorism or organized criminal activity. No such conduct was present here. For me, unlawful possession of National Firearms Act items sentences approximately in the three-to-five-year range are common,” Cekada said in a previous interview.

Lawmakers concerned

Congresswoman Jen Kiggans along with Congressmen Eli Crane, Eric Burlison, Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S., Rob Bresnahan, Jr., and Daniel Webster recently sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Justice Department Pardon Attorney Edward J. Martin Jr., asking that Adamiak be freed from his 20-year prison sentence.

Cekada was also copied with the correspondence.

The letter was the idea of Rep. Eli Crane, who recently questioned Cekada during a live congressional hearing about Adamiak’s incarceration.

The six U.S. Representatives were very clear as to their intent:

“We, the undersigned Members of Congress, respectfully request that you work with President Donald Trump to give fair consideration to a commutation request for Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak. We believe that certain inconsistencies in the regulatory framework applied in his case as well as the broader enforcement environment at the time warrant careful review and consideration for executive clemency,” the lawmakers wrote.

Less time behind bars

Every Friday, ATF releases information about their current cases: arrests, pleas, sentences and more.

Even a modest look at these press releases shows how badly Adamiak—who had no prior criminal record—was treated. They show criminals who received much less time behind bars than the 20 years, or 240 months, Adamiak is currently serving.

Here are the latest examples that were released last week:

• Quentin Hall, 30, of Valdosta, Georgia with three prior felony convictions for drug distribution, was sentenced to serve 12 years in prison for armed drug distribution.

• Aquille Omar Johnson, 32, of Savannah, Georgia, was sentenced to 120 months in prison and a $1,200 fine followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

• Eric Lowe, 45, of Dublin, Georgia, was sentenced to 96 months in prison and a $1,500 fine followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

• Mark Anthony Cavello, 52, of Dallas, Texas, was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison. He had previously pleaded guilty on May 30, 2024, to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of meth, distribution of more than 50 grams of meth, and money laundering.

• Kevin Krebs, 32, of Malvern, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 37 months in prison and three years of supervised release by United States District Judge Mary Kay Costello for possessing unregistered explosive devices—specifically pipe bombs, and related materials, in a garage attached to the premises.

• Corey Adkins, 29, of Sharon, Pennsylvania, was sentenced in federal court to 84 months in prison, to be followed by six years of supervised release, on his conviction of drug trafficking and firearm crimes. Adkins engaged in armed cocaine trafficking from his Sharon residence, where Adkins’ girlfriend and a young child also resided and were present at the time. Adkins had been convicted twice for cocaine trafficking during the preceding eight years.

• Damian Barnett, 22, a felon residing in the District of Washington D.C., who was previously convicted of two attempted carjackings, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 28 months in prison for illegally possessing a loaded unholstered pistol in a residential neighborhood.

• Henry Holloway, 34, of Tallulah, Louisiana, was sentenced to over five years in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime.

• Terrance Long, 52, of Monroe, was sentenced to over eight years in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute controlled substances and possession of a firearm during a drug trafficking offense. When officers executed a search warrant at Long’s residence, investigators located a black pouch containing multiple individually wrapped bags of crack cocaine weighing approximately 15 grams and a loaded Taurus 9mm handgun.

• Tyrone Whittington, 41, of New Orleans, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after previously pleading guilty to two counts of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. According to court documents, Whittington was arrested by New Orleans Police Department officers on August 19, 2023, and by Louisiana State Police troopers on December 30, 2024. For each of those arrests, Whittington was in possession of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine that he intended to distribute, as well as two handguns that furthered those drug-trafficking crimes.

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by Lee Williams

Joe Biden’s ATF didn’t care about the law. They didn’t care about right or wrong. They didn’t care about evidence or proper procedure or telling the truth while asking the court for a search warrant while under oath. They didn’t even care about what was legal. All they cared about was terrifying gun owners, splashy headlines and making arrests regardless of the law.

Guns are bad, Joe Biden’s ATF believed. This untruth was reinforced by a team of anti-gunners working inside the White House and by others whom they collaborated with outside of the public eye.

While Biden napped, his ATF hit hard. They lied, kicked down doors, seized personal property for no legitimate reason, and they even took an innocent man’s life. In other words, they killed a man solely because of their own piss-poor planning.

ATF’s new director, Rob Cekada, is a good man who tells the truth and understands guns and gun owners, but the task in front of him is massive. He will certainly need help to fix the horrors Biden’s ATF left on his plate. If he can make the fixes, he will become a hero. If he ignores them, he will become just another in a long line of milquetoast ATF leaders who weren’t up to the job.

Here’s where he should start.

What follows are five leftover cases from Joe Biden’s ATF that should never have happened. Every single one violates federal law.

Bryan Malinowski

Bryan Malinowski was a lifelong collector. As a child he started collecting coins, a hobby he carried into his adulthood. Several years ago, his father handed down his gun collection, which sparked Bryan’s interest in firearms. He became a gun collector and hobbyist.

At the time of his death, Bryan was the highest paid city employee in the city of Little Rock as the Executive Director of the Little Rock Airport, where he earned an annual salary of more than $260,000.

In March 2024, federal regulations did not require an individual seller to hold a Federal Firearms License (FFL) unless that individual’s principal objective in selling firearms was livelihood and profit.

Bryan did not believe that by selling at gun shows he was engaging in conduct “with the principal objective of livelihood and profit,” and therefore did not believe he needed an FFL to sell firearms at gun shows.

In December 2023, the ATF opened an investigation and began following Bryan to and from work and on the weekends, placing a tracker on his car, and surveilling his daily activities.

During the investigation, at least two agents acting undercover interacted with Bryan at a gun show in Arkansas. Bryan answered one of the undercover agent’s inquiries by noting that he was a private seller, meaning he believed he did not need an FFL.

During their investigation, ATF learned a lot about Bryan. They knew he worked in a secure environment at the airport, where guns were not allowed.

They knew he had lived a law-abiding life with no criminal history, that he lived at home with his wife and two dogs, and that they kept a very regular schedule.

Bryan had no reason to believe that he was under investigation for violating the law. He never received a letter of inquiry, audit, personal visit, or request for information from the ATF; nor did he ever receive a target or subject letter from the Department of Justice notifying him that he was under investigation.

On March 6, 2024, ATF Special Agent Troy Dillard obtained two federal search warrants, which authorized federal agents to search the Malinowski home and Bryan’s vehicle for firearms, ammunition, electronics, sales records, and correspondence.

Importantly, it was not an arrest warrant. Nor did it set forth any facts that would lead any person to believe Mr. Malinowski would evade law enforcement, fail to cooperate, be dangerous, or pose a threat or risk of destroying evidence.

According to Special Agent Timothy Boles, the Arkansas ATF office is a small office, and “anytime anybody’s running an investigation, the other people know what’s going on.”

As lead investigator, Special Agent Troy Dillard drafted and submitted the ATF Operations Plan for the execution of the search warrant at the Malinowski home.

The Operations Plan was approved and signed by Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Clayton Merrill.

Nothing in the Operations Plan indicated Bryan posed a danger to himself or others, or that he was not expected to comply with law enforcement if he knew they were at his door.

The ATF agents including Agent Boles knew that Bryan did not pose a threat to their safety or the safety of others during the anticipated execution of the search warrant.

Specifically, ATF investigative officers would learn during their months long investigation leading up to Bryan’s death that Bryan did not pose an immediate threat to their safety or the safety of others during the search; that Bryan had no criminal history or history of violence; that Bryan had never threatened law enforcement officers; and that Bryan’s wife and dogs lived with him and would be present during a pre-dawn search warrant execution at the family home.

On the morning of March 19, 2024, the ATF agents on the entry team were all similarly dressed. They wore dark blue long-sleeved shirts, and any law enforcement insignia or identification on the front and back of their shirts were mostly or completely covered by their bulletproof vests.

Two agents wore tactical helmets without identifying insignia.

When the agents arrived at the Malinowski home before sunrise on March 19, 2024, their 10 vehicle caravan occupied the entirety of the cul-de-sac in front of the home.

It was still completely dark outside when agents arrived before 6:00 a.m.

The entry team was aware, or at least expected, that the Malinowski home had a video doorbell at the front door.

As agents approached the front door of the home, the first agent in the stack, Agent Bass, placed a piece of painter’s tape over the video doorbell camera, which was positioned just to the right of the front doors. This action disabled the camera and concealed the presence and identity of the armed team on the front porch.

The agents never rang the doorbell. Despite having Bryan Malinowski’s phone number and noting it in their Operations Plan, no one called to notify him of their presence.

No officer or agent attempted to announce their presence by using an electronic public announcement (PA) system, though the Operations Plan provided that a PA system would be used to announce their presence.

When forced entry is made and doors are rammed open, it is protocol at the Arkansas ATF office that agents automatically enter the home and execute a “limited penetration.” When executing a “limited penetration,” the person carrying the shield enters first.

In the process of breaking both sets of doors, the entry team became disorganized. According to Agent Sprinkles, “I think we were unprepared for the French doors.”

Bryan and his wife Maer, in bed in their room at the back of the house, never heard the police siren or any voices at their door.

Upon hearing loud banging at their front door and someone trying to get inside, Bryan scrambled out of the bed he shared with his wife. Their bedroom sat in the northwest corner of the house, down a hallway, past his home office, and a considerable distance from the home’s entryway.

Bryan quickly grabbed his handgun from the top drawer of his bedside table and went into the closet to retrieve a magazine. Mindful of his wife’s safety, Bryan motioned for his wife to stay back, pushing her down and out of the doorway.

Unbeknownst to Bryan, Maer refused to stay in the bedroom and followed him down the short hallway.

Bryan believed intruders were breaking into his home, and he was going to defend himself, his wife, and his home from the intruders.

Bryan fired his gun at the floor and hit one of the agents in the boot sole.

Agent Cowart, who entered second in the stack directly behind Agent Sprinkle, returned fire, pointing his rifle at Bryan’s head and pulling the trigger several times.

At 6:03:43 a.m., just 48 seconds after agents first approached his door to cover his doorbell, Bryan lay bleeding on the floor of his hallway, shot in the head.

Several ATF agents and task force officers who subsequently entered the Malinowski home noted that although Bryan laid on the floor with a gunshot wound to the head, they could hear him struggling to breathe yet offered no medical assistance because of the nature and extent of the bullet wound.

Bryan died two days later. He was 53 years old.

Byran’s widow filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against the ATF and every agent who was at her home. The massive document clearly shows a host of serious errors ATF agents committed, all of which contributed to her husband’s death.

The saddest part is that if ATF agents hadn’t committed just one or two of a long list of substantial errors, Bryan would likely be alive today.

ATF is fighting the lawsuit.

Pastor Russell Fincher

Pastor Russell Fincher was a high school history teacher, a Baptist minister and a parttime gun dealer. He also coached Little League in his hometown of Tuskahoma, Oklahoma, which has a population of around 151 souls.

Fincher, 53, had a Federal Firearm License for three years. He had no brick-and-mortar gun shop. He was what used to be called a “kitchen table FFL.” He sold most of his firearms at gun shows, including Wanenmacher’s Arms Show in Tulsa, one of the country’s largest.

In April 2023, Fincher received a call from the ATF. They wanted to do an inspection at his home.

“I told them they were welcome anytime,” Fincher told me in July 2023.

Two ATF inspectors arrived a few days later. They spent three hours in his home. They took pictures of his 4473s with their cell phones, which Fincher later learned is an illegal although common practice.

“Honestly, they were way nicer than I expected,” he said back then. “They said I had some guns that had traces on them, which concerned them. It concerned me too.”

The inspectors returned two weeks later. They had some “concerns” involving Fincher’s penmanship, which they couldn’t read on a couple forms. They also found he had juxtaposed the model number of a firearm with the weapon’s serial number, which Fincher was attempting to rectify.

On June 16, 2023, Fincher and his son were packing for the gun show in Tulsa when the phone rang. It was the ATF. They said they wanted to talk to him before he left for the gun show.

“We can come out to your house,” he recalled the agent saying. “I told them sure; I’d be home.”

Seven vehicles roared up to his home and disgorged a dozen ATF agents wearing tactical gear, armed with AR-15s.

“It was like the Trump raid. They called me out onto my deck and handcuffed me. My son was there and saw the whole thing. He’s 13 years old,” Fincher said. “They held me on the porch for about an hour. I was surrounded by agents. One by one, they yelled at me about what I was doing. In my mind I decided if they were going to beat me up over every little thing, I’m done. As soon as I said, ‘If you want my FFL, you can have it,’ one of the agents pulled out a piece of paper and said, ‘Well then sign here.’ He had made three copies in case I screwed one up. It was exactly what they wanted. I was shocked.”

As soon as Fincher relinquished his Federal Firearm License, the ATF began loading up his guns, including a Colt Commander, five Glocks and a mint AK—a Polytech pre-ban milled under-folder, which is worth thousands of dollars.

“They took more than 50 of my personal guns,” Fincher said. “I asked them why, and they said they were ‘evidence.’ I’d estimate they took $50,000 to $60,000 worth of guns.”

After ATF’s SWAT team cleared Fincher’s home, they called the agent in charge of the raid—Special Agent Theodore Mongell—and told him it was “safe to come up.”

“You’re done. We have to shut you down,” Fincher recalled Mongell saying. “You tell all your FFL buddies we are coming for them. We are shutting the gun shows down.”

“One agent told me they hate home FFLs,” Fincher said. “He said if I wanted to sell a Browning shotgun to someone at a gun show with no paperwork, that’s no problem, but when I sell a Glock or an AR lower that’s a ‘gangbanger.’ I asked him where it said that in the regs. He said no gangbanger would be shooting people with a $2,000 Benelli. To me, that was one of the dumbest statements he could have made.”

A federal grand jury issued a three-count indictment charging Fincher with two felonies and one misdemeanor:

• Count one: Engaging in the business of dealing firearms without a license, a felony.

• Count two: Selling ammunition to a prohibited person, a felony.

• Count three: Making false entry in records by a federal firearms dealer, a misdemeanor.

Fincher was arrested, booked and released, subject to a $10,000 unsecured bond.

Fincher’s Federal Public Defender negotiated a plea agreement, in which Fincher would plead guilty to selling ammunition to a prohibited person, which is punishable by up to 15 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss the two remaining charges once Fincher signed the plea agreement.

The deal kept Fincher out of prison. Both sides agreed that three years of probation would be “the appropriate disposition of the case.” The plea agreement also specified that Fincher would not contest the forfeiture of 39 firearms.

He remains on probation, unable to possess or sell guns.

Patrick “Tate” Adamiak

Patrick “Tate” Adamiak, an active-duty Navy E-6, was arrested more than four years ago even though he never committed any crime. More than 40 law enforcement officers led by ATF agents kicked down his doors and ripped his home apart.

They found nothing illegal—not a thing—yet he’s serving a 20-year federal prison sentence.

If Joe Biden’s ATF had left him alone, Tate would likely be leading a SEAL platoon. He’d already been accepted to attend BUD/S.

It’s not just Adamiak or his friends and family who believe Joe Biden’s ATF was far too harsh in their treatment of the young active-duty sailor.

ATF Director Cekada does not believe Adamiak was treated fairly by either Biden’s ATF or the Justice Department.

Instead, Cekada believes Adamiak was massively over-sentenced.

“On the facts of this case, the sentence Mr. Adamiak received is excessive. Mr. Adamiak had no prior criminal history. He dealt with these weapons as curios. We have no evidence that he intended to use the weapons unlawfully or that he was part of a criminal organization. The extremely high sentencing guidelines likely reflect the paradigmatic cases of individuals possessing destructive devices, such as grenade launchers, and normally involve terrorism or organized criminal activity. No such conduct was present here. For me, unlawful possession of National Firearms Act items sentences approximately in the three-to-five-year range are common,” he said last week.

He could not be more correct.

One thing is certain, the judge who sentenced Adamiak to two decades behind bars doesn’t want to hear anything about the case or her decision.

Senior United States District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen recently cancelled Adamiak’s resentencing hearing. She also barred his attorneys from addressing any issues they have with his sentence, the ATF investigation or the case itself.

Adamiak was not available for comment. He has been moved so frequently lately we’re not even sure where he is at.

An 81-year-old and a 75-year-old

According to an ATF press release:

“Aubrey Foxworthy, 81, of California, Missouri, was charged with dealing firearms in Morgan and Moniteau Counties from approximately June 2, 2023, through September 9, 2024. He did not have a federal firearms license to deal firearms. Foxworthy was also charged with possession of a rifle with a barrel length less than 16 inches and that rifle was not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record,” the press release states. “According to an indictment returned this week, Philip Leroy Rains, 75, of Popular Bluff, Missouri, was charged with dealing firearms in Morgan County from approximately April 1, 2023, through April 4, 2024. He did not have a federal firearms license to deal firearms.”

The ATF wanted 197 of Foxworthy’s personal firearms, according to a list attached to his indictment. The guns are about what you’d expect a lifelong gun owner to have in his safe. Almost all were American made: Ruger, Colt, Winchester, Savage, Browning, Remington, Marlin, Mossberg, Henry and Smith & Wesson. The ATF also wanted Foxworthy’s ammunition, and the list claimed he had more than 16,000 rounds.

Because the ATF prepared the list, there are four firearms identified as “machineguns,” but the type, manufacturer and calibers were listed as “unknown.” Also, Foxworthy was not charged with the illegal possession of any machineguns.

The list also shows that Foxworthy owned a dozen Winchester Model 94 rifles. The serial number of one rifle shows it was manufactured before 1896. Depriving the man of that rifle is almost a sin, especially since it will likely be kept or even resold by some nameless ATF agent.

Who hasn’t seen an old man at a flea market with a couple guns for sale either on a folding table or laying on a blanket in the bed of his pickup?

It’s classic Americana. There is certainly no crime or criminal intent.

Unfortunately, Joe Biden robbed us of this. Biden’s “engaged in the business” rule required anyone who made a profit on a single gun sale to obtain a federal firearm license.

Tom Harris

After an audit in 2022, the ATF asked Texas gun dealer Tom Harris some pointed questions about multiple firearms he sold to an individual.

“They put the squeeze on me, but I answered all their questions and gave them whatever they wanted,” Harris said at the time.

One of the ATF officials — Special Agent Aaron Loving — told Harris’ attorney he was cleared of any wrongdoing. Harris’ attorney documented this conversation in a letter.

“Agent Loving has informed me that you are no longer the target of any criminal investigation, and there will not be any criminal prosecutions forthcoming,” the letter states.

And then the ATF changed its mind.

A few months later, Special Agent Loving recontacted Harris’ attorney, stating “We need Tom to give up his license voluntarily. The bosses up the chain want him to turn in his license or face adverse actions,” Harris recalls his attorney saying.

“We thought this was all over,” Harris said.

In June 2023, Special Agent Loving and his partner personally served a Notice of Revocation to Harris, which contains two violations:

1. “On 10 occasions, Licensee willfully aided and abetted a non-licensee in dealing firearms without a license as required by the GCA…”

2. “On 46 occasions, Licensee willfully made a false statement or representation with respect to information required by the GCA …”

Harris learned that the individual to whom he sold the firearms was under investigation by the ATF.

“This individual was a customer of several FFLs,” Harris said. “The ATF had cleared me of any wrongdoing. They alleged I aided and abetted on 10 forms, but at the time the individual was actively being approved for his FFL. All of this was originally approved by the ATF.”

ATF put the smallest gun dealers—known as kitchen-table FFLs—through a special hell.

The vast majority of them “voluntarily” surrendered their FFLs after being threatened, like Pastor Fincher, with prison sentences.

Harris made the ATF take his FFL.

“In 2024, they would not renew my FFL,” Harris said this week. “The stuff they came up was all complete BS. The faces have changed.”

ATF’s Dallas DIO whose office was a mile from Harris’ home has moved on. The prosecutor retired. The ATF Special Agents have moved on.

Still, Harris is still waging a legal fight for the return on his FFL.

“I am stressed to the hilt,” he said. “The ATF is all gone. Their lawyers are all gone. I’m still waiting for the judge to give me a hearing on my FFL. Everything they did to me was crap.”

Harris said he has seen no changes since President Trump’s election.

“I’m not a gun dealer yet. I don’t know if I will be again. I’m just at my whit’s end,” he said. “The ATF has devastated me financially. I am a man of faith, but they really got me. I feel really let down by the DOJ and the Trump Administration.”

Takeaways

It must be difficult for current ATF agents to look back at the Biden years and point the finger at themselves. Their pride must be wounded. They must hope that the people whose lives they ruined will simply go away, but none are.

Instead, it is time for the ATF to do the right thing.

Settle with Harris, Foxworthy, Rains and Fincher. Renew their FFLs if that’s what they want, and return their firearms, including the dozen Winchester Model 94 rifles, especially the one that was manufactured before 1896.

Release Adamiak from his completely undeserved prison sentence. After all, he did nothing wrong.

And take care of Mrs. Malinowski. She does not need another court hearing.

That poor woman has been through enough.

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by Lee Williams

Travis E. Smith and a friend spent Sunday, July 5^th shooting at his grandma’s rural property in Southwest Florida, about an hour north of his home in Pinellas Park.

It was a good day, he thought. The pair set up their own targets and shot Smith’s two Glocks, a 12-gauge shotgun, a SAR USA 9mm pistol, a Ruger .22 pistol, an AR-10 Smith had built himself, and what he believed was a Springfield AR pistol.

After dropping his friend off, Smith said he was nearing his home around midnight when he was stopped by a Pinellas Park police officer. Smith pulled into a restaurant’s parking lot.

The officer told Smith he stopped him because he had a “dim tag light.” Smith didn’t say anything to the officer at the time, but he strongly disagrees. His station wagon is nearly 40 years old and uses a bulb as its tag light instead of a modern LED, which are much brighter.

Smith’s buddy, who has a valid Florida medical marijuana card, had left an empty marijuana container on the back seat, which the officer saw. He told Smith the container was his “probable cause,” and that he was going to search the vehicle with or without Smith’s consent.

Smith, 28, was ordered out of the vehicle and told to take a seat on the curb.

“He began to search and I was sitting there for nearly three hours,” Smith said. “I wasn’t worried. I had nothing to hide.”

The officer called for backup. Over the next several hours, nearly a dozen more officers arrived. Most wore uniforms except for one who wore civilian clothes, a face mask and a ballcap.

They ran the serial number of every weapon through their dispatcher to make sure none were stolen. None were.

Things changed when the officers found Smith’s AR pistol. They measured the weapon and the barrel with a tape measure. They opened it up, which Smith believes was to make sure it had not been converted to full-auto. It hadn’t.

After the officers had talked for hours, one walked over, handcuffed Smith and placed him in the back of a squad car.

“They read me Miranda and asked me a bunch of questions about the AR pistol,” Smith said. “I answered some. I didn’t know what the problem was.”

Smith had owned the AR pistol for nearly seven years. He found it on a website and had it shipped to his local gun dealer. He had mounted a red-dot sight and what he thought was an aftermarket brace.

“I was under the impression it was totally compliant,” Smith said. “The brace was actually smaller than the one it came with. I thought it was a brace, not a buttstock.”

An officer then told Smith he was under arrest for possessing an unlicensed short-barreled rifle, or SBR, as the other officers loaded up all of Smith’s remaining weapons.

“They took them all,” he said. “And all the ammo too.”

Before he was hauled away to jail, Smith said one of the officers told him: “Man, these are nice guns.”

At the county jail, Smith was stripped, searched, given a towel, a thin sleeping mat and sent to a cell.

While in jail, Smith said he heard from four other inmates who said they too were stopped for either a “dim tag light” or window tint that officers claimed was too dark.

The next day, he was represented by a public defender at his first court hearing.

Smith was charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana for his friend’s empty container, and possession of an unlicensed SBR—a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He also received two traffic tickets, one for not wearing a seatbelt and the other for “no tag light.”

All of the charges are for violating Florida state law. None were federal charges.

Before the hearing, Smith had no criminal history only a traffic ticket.

“I have never been in trouble with the law,” he said. “I’m a Christian. I believe in Jesus. I wasn’t rude to the officers. I was ‘yessir,’ ‘yessir’ the whole time.”

No comment

Pinellas Park Police Chief Adam Geissenberger was not willing to be interviewed for this story.

Chief Geisenberger tried to pass multiple interview requests to his Public Information Officer, Lt. John Shea, but a lieutenant is not responsible for the overall conduct of the department’s officers, which ultimately, is the responsibility of the chief-of-police.

“I have passed this along to Chief Geissenberger, and he has no statement on the incident,” Lt. Shea said in an email.

Brace or stock?

Chris Brooks is a longtime gunsmith and firearm expert who has held nearly every job in the retail firearm industry.

Smith works for one of Brooks’ friends, who texted him soon after Smith’s arrest.

“They reached out to me because they thought the cop was mistaken, that this was just a brace. They believed that Smith was in compliance. I may have burst their bubble, unfortunately,” Brooks said. “I can understand why they thought it was a brace, but it has some things that make it a stock. However, it’s a very grey area.”

Brooks classifies firearms and firearm parts for a major online retailer, but even he isn’t 100% sure that Smith had an SBR and not a pistol with a legal brace.

“I am not convinced that stock is a stock. It has an angle that makes it unique, brace-like. The portion that makes contact with your shoulder isn’t any larger than other braces. I am not convinced it could function like a stock. It’s more like a pistol brace,” Brooks said. “This arrest was not fair. It’s unusual. It seems like something that an officer would resort to if his intention was to make an arrest. I have never even heard of this. This gun was not altered in any way. It just has a different piece of plastic on back that can be removed without tools. I’ve probably sold more than 30,000 braced pistols over the years and this has never even come up.”

Brooks also took issue with the state charges.

“I wasn’t even aware of the Florida SBR statute until after all of this happened. The intent of the Florida law was likely to canonize the federal statute into state law, but they are a good three or four iterations behind federal law,” he said.

Reaction

Sarasota County (Florida) Sheriff Kurt Hoffman is also an attorney who served as general counsel for the department from 2005 until he became sheriff in 2021.

Hoffman believes that regardless of whether Smith had a legal AR pistol or an unlicensed SBR, the issue is whether his encounter with Pinellas Park police should have ended in arrest.

“When you have a citizen with no criminal history, who is not using firearms in an unlawful manner and you find what could be perhaps a technical violation, and it takes you three hours to determine whether you have a crime or not, perhaps the best thing to do is to take the offensive firearm part off the gun and then send the non-criminal on his way,” Sheriff Hoffman said. “I would like to think that law enforcement, when encountering someone who is not acting in a nefarious capacity, that we should not be going to the extreme. Certainly, the other firearms there were not illegal, so I don’t know what the intent was to seize them. Sometimes we’re our own worst enemy.”

Alan M. Gottlieb founded the Second Amendment Foundation more than 50 years ago and serves as its executive vice president.

Travis’ brother just created a Go Fund Me account, which he will need. Here’s a link: https://tinyurl.com/3yjenrsf

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

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by Lee Williams

At one point, former Tallahassee mayor and gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum was known nationally as a staunch anti-gunner and a rising star of the Democratic party, in a state where guns and gun rights are a massive part of our culture.

Gillum lost his 2018 gubernatorial bid to Florida’s current governor, Ron DeSantis, by only 0.4% of the vote. It was one of the closest races in history.

Gillum was arrested last week in Alabama by officers of the Daphne Police Department, who stopped him for erratic driving, noticed a glass narcotics pipe sitting on the car’s center console and conducted a search. They allegedly found marijuana, three packages of what later tested positive for methamphetamine and the glass pipe.

He was arrested, booked, jailed and released the next day. Gillum faces up to five years in an Alabama state prison for the charges.

This is not the first time that the married, 46-year-old father of three has been caught with methamphetamine.

In 2020, he was found naked and passed out in a Miami motel room. Another naked man who had also overdosed on meth was found in the same room. Small baggies, pipes and piles of crystal meth were scattered everywhere, but Gillum denied using any illegal drugs. He agreed to seek treatment—for alcoholism—and no charges were filed.

In 2022, Gillum was arrested and charged with public corruption, but even though three other officials were convicted, charges against Gillum were later dropped due to a hung jury.

Anti-gun history

During the 2018 gubernatorial race against DeSantis, Gillum made guns and gun rights some of his key points. He blasted the National Rifle Association and promised to ban “assault weapons,” standard-capacity magazines and bump stocks. He also promised to implement universal background checks—in Florida.

The NRA gave Gillum an “F” rating, while some locals said he should have received an F-minus. DeSantis received an “A” grade.

In 2017, Gillum wrote an editorial titled: “We beat the NRA and you can, too.” His column bashed Florida’s powerful preemption statute, which preempts local governments from regulating arms and ammunition. Any public official who violates the statute faces fines of up to $5,000.

“The gun lobby, like many special interests, supports something called preemption, where they spend lots of money on state lawmakers to circumvent and strip power from local government. These preemption laws can end up allowing fracking in your neighborhood, guns in public parks, discrimination, dirty water, and many other harmful developments,” Gillum wrote. “We didn’t back down at the threat of personal fines, two years of litigation, and an onslaught of attacks from right-wing, well-funded interest groups. We found great lawyers, great partners, and made an example of the NRA and their affiliates. We also founded LINK REMOVED.” (NOTE: Gillum’s link now takes readers to a Mexican gambling website.)

DeSantis, of course, opposed additional gun control, defining “gun violence” as “identifying the problem people rather than imposing blanket bans of the rights of law-abiding citizens.”

Gillum’s staunch anti-gun statements drew praise from the country’s anti-gun community.

“The choice is clear! Urge your family and friends to Vote for Gillum! The effects from Florida’s ‘Stand your Ground’ Law have been devastating!” wrote the Women’s National Democratic Club.

Everytown for Gun Safety spent $2 million supporting Gillum’s run for governor.

“In Florida, this election is about gun safety — not political partisanship,” John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety said in a 2018 press release. “The era of the NRA calling the shots is over.”

Neither the Women’s National Democratic Club nor Everytown for Gun Safety have issued a statement regarding Gillum’s latest arrest.

Takeaways

In 2018, had Gillum somehow managed to obtain a few thousand more voters, Florida would be a massively different place.

Gov. DeSantis and his team strongly support the Second Amendment, which Gillum would have desecrated.

Nowadays, Gillum co-hosts a podcast titled: “Native Land Pod.” Last year, the podcast received an NAACP Image Award.

It is not yet known whether Gillum’s current legal predicament will affect his podcasting.

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

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by Lee Williams

ATF Director Robert “Rob” Cekada has been busy making the rounds.

He’s a real gun owner who’s appearing on pro-gun YouTube shows practically every day. He knows guns, often better than the hosts.

He attended SHOT Show, NRA’s Annual Meetings and he will be speaking at the Second Amendment Foundation’s Gun Rights Policy Conference September 25–27, in Dallas, Texas.

Cekada introduced a package of proposed ATF/DOJ rules while surrounded by a roomful of pro-gun leaders, which rolled back regulations that had a negative impact on the Second Amendment.

He is focused on making life easier for both the gun industry and gun owners, while closely watching over the ATF Special Agents who, ultimately, all report to him.

He has shifted the agents’ focus in a good way. Gone are the days of targeting FFLs for no reason other than the fact they sell guns. Under Cekada, ATF agents are finally targeting bad guys with guns.

This is why the ATF was created—to hunt criminals—not to harass legitimate gun dealers and gun owners.

The difference between Cekada and Joe Biden’s second choice for ATF director, Steve Dettelbach, is massive.

Cekada first put an ATF badge in his billfold in 2005 and rose through the ranks. Dettelbach took over the agency after working on a private law firm’s white collar defense team. He has since returned to his old job.

The problem Cekada faces is simple. It was created and then handed over to him by Dettelbach’s out-of-control ATF, which perused the internet for gun dealers whom they targeted only because they sold guns or gun parts.

When he raised his right hand and recited the oath, Cekada became responsible for the innocent people Dettelbach’s goons imprisoned and/or killed, and for the civil rights they violated.

Two names certainly come to mind: Bryan Malinowski and Patrick “Tate” Adamiak.

Bryan Malinowski

At 6 a.m. on March 19, 2024, ATF agents knocked on the front door of Bryan Malinkowski’s West Little Rock home. They waited only 28 seconds before forcing their way in.

Malinowski—who served as Little Rock Airport’s executive director and earned an annual salary of more than $240,000—was sleeping with his wife when he heard the commotion. He thought burglars had entered his home, so he armed himself with a handgun, bravely entered the hallway outside his bedroom and fired to scare away the “burglars.”

An ATF agent armed with an AR-15 shot Malinowski in the head.

He died two days later.

Just two months after the killing, Pulaski County Prosecutor Will Jones said the shooting was justified.

One year later, Malinowski’s widow Maria “Maer” Malinowski filed a lawsuit against the ATF agents and local police officers who were involved in the killing.

Late last month, the federal judge in charge of the civil case said it would go forward.

Malinowski was only 53 years old when he was killed.

Patrick “Tate” Adamiak

Patrick “Tate” Adamiak, a former active-duty Navy E-6, was arrested more than four years ago even though he never committed any crime. More than 40 law enforcement officers led by ATF agents kicked down his doors and ripped his home apart.

They found nothing illegal—not a thing—yet he’s serving a 20-year federal prison sentence.

If Joe Biden’s ATF had left him alone, Adamiak would likely be leading a SEAL platoon. He’d already been accepted to BUD/S.

Cekada himself said Adamiak was massively over-sentenced.

Every single week, the ATF’s own press releases show how massively Adamiak was over-charged and over-sentenced. Real criminals committing real crimes receive much less time behind bars than the 20 years Adamiak is currently serving.

Last week was no exception.

• U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday sentenced four Tampa men for the armed robberies of two Tampa convenience stores. E’barous Harris (age 27) was sentenced to 14 years and 7 months in prison, Ronald Brown (age 25) to 15 years in prison, Jermaine Dawes (age 33) to 14 years and 10 months in prison, and Tra-Vontae Watson (age 32) to 20 years and 5 months in prison.

• Pensacola Outlaws Motorcycle Club Member Gregory E. Simonds Jr., 43, was sentenced to seven years in federal prison for arson by means of an explosive causing personal injury.

• Tresonda Benefield (26), Nathanial Carter (25), Jakeithiyan Daniel (25), and Jackeri Lewis (28), all residents of Jacksonville, have been sentenced by United States Judge Jordan E. Pratt to federal prison terms for their involvement in a series of armed robberies of retail stores in Jacksonville. Benefield, Carter, and Lewis were each sentenced to 16 years and 1 month in federal prison and Daniel was sentenced to 14 years and 6 months in federal prison. In addition to their prison sentences, they were also ordered to pay restitution for the money they stole.

• Michael Termaine Bell, of Marianna, Florida, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after previously pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and 50 grams or more of marijuana, possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and 50 grams or more of marijuana, possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking crimes, possession of firearms by a convicted felon, and possession with intent to distribute cocaine and 50 grams or more of marijuana.

• Columbia man sentenced to 16 years in federal prison for armed robbery with a machinegun.

Takeaways

Cekada needs to realize that the ATF did not start on April 30, 2026, when he was sworn in as director.

When he raised his right hand and took the oath, he became responsible for every action his agents have made, good and bad, past and future.

Malinowski’s widow is seeking relief for her husband’s killing, and Adamiak is rotting in federal prison, and neither should ever have happened.

Let’s hope Director Cekada will do what is needed for each family. He needs to take swift action. It’s not up to anyone else. If the U.S. Attorney won’t help, he needs to go up the chain of command. The responsibility belongs to him, not anyone else.

During a recent interview, Cekada said he is open to feedback, and that he wants to hear it.

“I look for people who have legit gripes,” he said. “Legit gripes I can fix. I will do the best I can.”

While what happened to the Malinowski and Adamiak families is far more than a “legit gripe,” but let’s hope Director Cekada will be true to his word and fix each of them.

“Justice delayed is justice denied.” British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone said that in the 1800s.

It’s especially true today.

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

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by Lee Williams

I have never understood why anyone would work for the anti-gun team—especially writers. It’s got to be incredibly maddening and extremely difficult given their complete disassociation from the truth.

They’ve been outed so many times for outright lies, fraudulent data, fake news stories and completely false claims—it’s a miracle anyone believes anything they put into print.

Everytown’s senior staffers—those above the age of 30—have got to be wondering one thing: How to make people actually believe their tripe is true.

After reading Everytown’s fictitious work: “Assault Weapons and High-Capacity Magazines,” which was recently updated and featured in their sister publication, The Smoking Gun, under a sexy headline: “New Report: Assault Weapons Lead to Surge in Mass Shooting Victims,” it became clear exactly what Everytown is using to regain the public’s trust.

Superscripts!

That’s right.

Superscripts.

Superscripts are tiny little numbers that are used to link academic footnotes, trademarks, supporting stories or other data into a story.

They ⁵⁶⁷ tend to make any bit of writing ⁵⁸⁹⁴³ appear much more scholarly ²³ and professional when they’re included in the report ⁹⁹.

And use the superscripts Everytown sure did. There are more than 75 of them in the story.

Many of them link to dead-ends, like “Everytown research” or some other mythical place.

Still, they change the mood of the piece and make the story seem more believable, which is why they’re used.

How else could they write fiction like this: “The evidence is clear: Assault weapons and high-capacity magazines are exceptionally dangerous and should be prohibited.”

Everytown authors

Those responsible for the story are almost as interesting as the craziness they cabled together. The main story was coauthored by Tannuja D. Rozario and Paige Tetens.

Ms. Rozario, who has a PhD, is Everytown’s Director of Research and Engagement. Before writing about guns she wrote about women, especially Caribbean women.

Her work includes: “HIV stigma beliefs in context: Country and regional variation in the effects of instrumental stigma beliefs on protective sexual behaviors in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Southern Africa,” and “Caribbean womanism: decolonial theorizing of Caribbean women’s oppression, survival, and resistance,” and “Indo-Caribbean Feminist Epistemology: A Personal and Scholarly Journey.”

She hasn’t written all that much about guns.

Ms. Tetens is Everytown’s Senior Research Associate. According to her LinkedIn page, she hasn’t worked anywhere else.

She started in 2018 while she was still a student at Rutgers University. She progressed from Research Intern to Junior Research Consultant, to Research Fellow, to Research Associate to her current position, Senior Research Associate.

She is one of Everytown’s most published writers.

Greg Lickenbrock wrote the Smoking Gun story about the other authors’ work.

For anyone who values the Second Amendment, Mr. Lickenbrock is a disappointment.

For the past six years he has worked as a Senior Firearms Analyst for Everytown, but before that he was a gun guy, at least on paper.

Lickenbrock spent years as an editor at several well-respected outdoor magazines. Then, for some unknown reason that probably involved more money, he switched teams.

Nowadays, his work includes anti-gun stories and even testimony, anti-gun of course.

“Lickenbrock isn’t an expert on anything. He’s gun control’s convenient fool,” the National Shooting Sports Foundation wrote about him in a 2025 story.

It’s still very true.

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by Lee Williams

It’s not just Patrick “Tate” Adamiak or his friends and family, or a reporter, who believe Joe Biden’s ATF was far too harsh in their treatment of the young active-duty sailor, who is starting the fourth year of his 20-year federal prison sentence even though he broke no law and did nothing wrong.

ATF Director Robert Cekada, who was handpicked by President Donald J. Trump, does not believe Adamiak was treated fairly by either Biden’s ATF or the Justice Department.

Instead, Cekada believes Adamiak was massively over-sentenced.

“On the facts of this case, the sentence Mr. Adamiak received is excessive. Mr. Adamiak had no prior criminal history. He dealt with these weapons as curios. We have no evidence that he intended to use the weapons unlawfully or that he was part of a criminal organization. The extremely high sentencing guidelines likely reflect the paradigmatic cases of individuals possessing destructive devices, such as grenade launchers, and normally involve terrorism or organized criminal activity. No such conduct was present here. For me, unlawful possession of National Firearms Act items sentences approximately in the three-to-five-year range are common,” he told me last week.

He could not be more correct. His own agency proves it every single week.

Cekada’s ATF regularly updates the public about its ongoing investigations. Every Friday, ATF officials publicize who’s been arrested by their agents and who’s been convicted, as well as the length of the criminal sentences the bad guys receive.

Even a modest look at these press releases reveals how badly Adamiak was treated. They show criminals—real criminals—who received far less time behind bars than the 240 months Adamiak is currently serving.

Here are some examples that were released last Friday:

A subway arsonist in New York was sentenced to 66 Months in prison for lighting a sleeping man on fire.

A Mexican national was sentenced to 48 months in prison for dealing methamphetamine while illegally possessing a loaded handgun and shotgun.

A Las Vegas man who had been previously convicted of convicted of possession of controlled substance for sale, unlawful possession or use of tear gas, felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a controlled substance while armed with a firearm and transportation, furnishing or sale of controlled substances in Los Angeles County, was sentenced to 80 months in prison after he was caught with an unserialized, privately made AR-15-pattern pistol.

A 32-year-old Minneapolis man was sentenced to 170 months in federal prison for possession of a firearm as a felon and for discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, namely, an armed carjacking in St. Paul, Minnesota. At the time of the offenses, he was serving a term of federal supervised release for a 2019 federal conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm, for which he had been previously sentenced to 90 months imprisonment. He brandished a firearm, carjacked an Uber driver, chased the victim on foot, and fired a round at him as the victim ran for his life, before driving away in the carjacked vehicle.

A 39-year-old woman was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for her role in trafficking methamphetamine to the IPO Blood criminal street gang operating in the Spokane area.

An Alexandria man was sentenced to 48 months in prison for possessing a machinegun. He was driving on the right shoulder of Interstate 95 at more than 100 miles per hour past heavy traffic in Fairfax County when he passed a Virginia State Trooper. The trooper activated his emergency equipment and pursued. The suspect crashed into a parked vehicle on the right shoulder and then struck two additional vehicles on the roadway. He then fled on foot and unsuccessfully attempted to enter two vehicles. He then tried to jump through the open passenger side window of a third vehicle, but the driver accelerated and the defendant was injured and apprehended. In 2022, the same defendant shot a victim at the Potomac Mills Mall and fled. He later pled guilty to unlawful discharge of a firearm within an occupied building, felony destruction of property, and carrying a concealed weapon and was sentenced to time served and an 11-year suspended sentence.

An Oregon man was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and for illegally possessing a firearm as a felon.

A California, man was sentenced to 220 months in prison for distributing, attempting to distribute, and conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl. He sold and distributed over 35.5 pounds of methamphetamine and 11.5 pounds of fentanyl and fentanyl-laced pills from his base of operations in California to a Hawaii purchaser, who was an undercover law enforcement employee. He sold the drugs to the undercover for approximately $118,050 and shipped them from California to Hawaii, concealing the drug shipments in canned goods labeled as hominy and condensed milk. He told the undercover he had a supplier in Mexico, traveled to Mexico during the timeframe of the conspiracy, and had access to other drugs, including oxycodone cocaine, and ketamine.

An Anchorage man was sentenced to 56 months in prison for trafficking firearms and illegally possessing a machine gun. According to court documents, he began communicating via text message with an individual to arrange the sale of firearms. On Jan. 31, 2025, he met with the individual and sold them two machine gun conversion devices for $1,000. He later sold the same individual 10 other conversion devices and a pistol with a silencer. Two days later, he sold the individual a 3D printed machinegun with a conversion device and ammunition for $700.

A Las Vegas man was sentenced to 30 months in prison for possessing 35 stolen firearms—including a semiautomatic rifle, semiautomatic pistols, and a long rifle—inside his residence in North Las Vegas. Many of the stolen firearms had price tags and descriptions attached to them from a licensed firearms dealer located in Southern California. He further admitted that he and his co-defendants exchanged a 5.56x45mm semiautomatic rifle and cash for two of the stolen pistols.

A Montana man who was caught selling methamphetamine while using a handgun for protection was sentenced to 180 months in prison. Officers found he was carrying a .22 caliber handgun, two bags containing 50 fentanyl pills, and a bag of meth. He told deputies he had more meth in the car. Deputies found three bags of meth, 17 zip lock bags, a digital scale, four syringes, and five cell phones.

A North Carolina gang member with prior convictions for selling heroin (2012), conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon (2015) and assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to kill as a habitual felon (2019) was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to two counts of distribution of fentanyl.

Takeaways

Lighting a sleeping man on fire, illegally selling meth while armed, illegally selling meth to gang members, illegally possessing and selling machineguns, illegally selling stolen firearms, and shooting at a fleeing Uber driver are all real crimes, not the made-up junk Adamiak faced. But Adamiak was sentenced to far more time behind bars than any of these real criminals, most of whom had previous felony convictions.

As Cekada said, “the sentence Mr. Adamiak received is excessive.”

It certainly is, but I tend to describe it with words that are not fit to print.

One thing is certain, the judge who sentenced Adamiak to two decades behind bars doesn’t want to hear anything about the case or her decision.

Last week, Senior United States District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen cancelled Adamiak’s resentencing hearing. She also barred his attorneys from addressing any issues they have with his sentence, the ATF investigation or the case itself.

Adamiak was not available for comment. He has been moved so frequently lately we’re not even sure where he is at.

We will let you know as soon as this changes, and what he will face next.

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Patrick “Tate” Adamiak, an active-duty Navy E-6, was arrested more than four years ago even though he never committed any crime. More than 40 law enforcement officers led by ATF agents kicked down his doors and ripped his home apart.

They found nothing illegal—not a thing—yet he’s serving a 20-year federal prison sentence.

If Joe Biden’s corrupt ATF had left him alone, Tate would likely be leading a SEAL platoon. He’d already been accepted to attend BUD/S.

Fifty stories may seem like a lot, but we will keep writing about his case until Tate is free.

For those of you who have asked, here’s Tate’s address:

Patrick Tate Adamiak
#95252-509
Federal Correctional Institution Fort Dix
PO Box 2000
Joint Base MDL NJ, 08640

Here are the stories:

Federal judge cancels Adamiak’s resentencing hearing, Jun 22, 2026

ATF Director: Adamiak’s sentence “excessive”, Jun 19, 2026

Recently demoted federal prosecutor now in charge of Adamiak case, Jun 16, 2026

Six Members of Congress want Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak freed Jun 09, 2026

OPINION: What should happen to the ATF staff who wrongfully imprisoned Adamiak May 29, 2026

Even ATF now admits Adamiak’s 20-year prison sentence was far too long, May 27, 2026

What Pennsylvania lawmakers are not doing for Patrick Tate Adamiak, May 19, 2026

Tate Adamiak’s letter to the new ATF director, May 13, 2026

Tate Adamiak’s upcoming ‘Diesel Therapy’ cancelled—he won, May 10, 2026

UPDATED: Tate Adamiak to receive 50 days of ‘Diesel Therapy’ punishment, May 06, 2026

SAF files amicus brief urging Supreme Court to review Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak’s case, May 04, 2026

How you can help free Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak, April 20, 2026

How Tate Adamiak’s 20-year sentence compares to 10 other ATF cases, Apr 14, 2026

It’s been four long years since ATF arrested Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak, Apr 08, 2026

An interview with The AK Guy, GOP candidate for U.S. House, Brandon Herrera, Apr 01, 2026

How President Trump’s ATF can help Tate Adamiak, Mar 12, 2026

Adamiak remains behind bars, guiltless but ignored by the Trump Administration, Feb 17, 2026

Behind bars: A day in the life of Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak, Dec 11, 2025

Expert firearm witness criticizes ATF’s treatment of Patrick “Tate” Adamiak, Nov 18, 2025

Even the ATF now admits inert RPGs—including Adamiak’s—are not firearms, Nov 11, 2025

How Adamiak received 20 years in prison for semi-auto Uzis and other legal guns, gun parts, Nov 04, 2025

Adamiak’s attorney strikes back at his criminal charges, Nov 01, 2025

Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak’s criminal case now depends on his appellate attorney, Oct 21, 2025

BREAKING: Appellate Court finds one of Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak’s convictions violated Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment, Oct 14, 2025

Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak’s appeal was quick, inconclusive, Sep 12, 2025

Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak’s appeal relies solely on the truth, Sep 09, 2025

While gun owners strongly support Adamiak, politicians don’t, Sep 04, 2025

Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak’s appeal will be heard in 10 days, Sep 02, 2025

Hey, ATF! Nothing you found in Tate Adamiak’s home is illegal, Aug 19, 2025

Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak’s asks President Trump for a pardon, July 30, 2025

Adamiak: ATF’s machinegun charges are complete fiction, July 8, 2025

Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak: ‘Thanks for the help, New Jersey!’ July 1, 2025

Former ATF official: ‘Adamiak should not be in prison’ Jun 26, 2025

ATF prepping the same untruths, toy guns for Adamiak’s appeal, Jun 24, 2025

Judge unknowingly admits Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak’s inert RPGs were legal Jun 10, 2025

How Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak received a 20-year prison sentence May 20, 2025

How ATF falsely charged former sailor with possessing destructive devices May 13, 2025

Former sailor should be pardoned, ATF agents should be charged Apr 29, 2025

Meet the man whose lies put an innocent sailor in prison for 20 years Apr 25, 2025

How ATF used inert RPGs to imprison American sailor for two decades Apr 22, 2025

ATF wanted former sailor to serve an additional 10 years in prison for 100% legal MAC flats Apr 15, 2025

Q&A: Former sailor discusses his 20-year prison sentence, the ATF and his hope for the future Apr 08, 2025

Federal prosecutors now using ATF’s lies and fake evidence to harm former sailor’s legal appeal Apr 01, 2025

Trump should pardon innocent sailor jailed by Biden administration for 20 years Mar 18, 2025

One of the worst things ATF has ever done Feb 24, 2025

Sailor serving 20-years in prison for legal semi-auto collectibles Feb 18, 2025

How a replica STEN gun led to a sailor’s 20-year prison sentence Feb 14, 2025

Free Patrick Tate Adamiak Jan 31, 2025

ATF lied to convict sailor now serving 20 years in prison for selling legal gun parts — A SPECIAL REPORT Jan 29, 2025

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by Lee Williams

Australians who defend themselves against an armed invader inside their own homes can be charged with a crime. That is how badly the laws have changed.

“We’ve had a massive increase of violent crime and we’re defenseless,” said Australian Topher Field.

Field is one of Australia’s leading Libertarian commentators. For more than 15 years he has used films, commentary and scores of public speaking events to inspire his countrymen to do what is right. He is up against one of the most civil rights-bending governments in this world, who instituted anti-gun laws at breakneck speed.

“We’re sick of gun control,” Fields said. “If a guy breaks into your home with a machete and you hit him with a bat you can be charged.”

To counter this, Field said, Australia’s One Nation party—a conservative political party launched in 1997 by Pauline Hanson—is growing in popularity.

“There’s a political awakening happening,” he said. “We’re famous for our rights attitude because we’ve been bitten on the bum. They’re now leading in the polls. Our candidate will be the next premier of Australia and will make it safer for Australians to use self-defense.”

Currently, anyone who wants to own a gun must first ask the police for permission and then pass a multitude of tests.

“If you want to own a firearm you must explain to the government why you need one, prove a lawful excuse and show you’re a member of a shooting club or have access to land where pests need to be controlled,” Field said. “The next step is a written application, which the police review. They call it their ‘fit and proper test.’ They decide if you’re fit and proper to own a firearm. In practice, that’s used as political leverage. I would never be granted a gun license in Australia.”

Australian police view any political dissent as a reason to bar someone from owning a firearm.

“During COVID, people would join our protests, which were more like rallies. Police would come in and use facial recognition cameras. If they found any protesters with a gun license, they would enter their homes and take their firearms. That amount of political leverage is scary,” Field said.

If an Australian gun license applicant passes all of the tests, they will be issued a license for a bolt action or single-shot rifle or shotgun. No semi-autos or even pump-actions are allowed. Licensees must store their weapons in a safe. Ammunition must be stored in a separate safe.

“The firing pin needs to be locked with the ammo,” Field said. “For all practical purposes the guns are not available for self-defense. If they are ever used for self-defense, all of the guns are taken by police.”

Legal handgun ownership is even more difficult.

“If you want to own a handgun, you’ve got to repeat the whole process and you’ve got to be a club member,” Field said. “If you cross all of those hurdles, once you’re permitted to acquire a handgun, it has to be locked up at your gun club for the first year of ownership. You can’t even take it home. It must be locked in the club’s safe. That’s the current situation. It’s so much worse than people think.”

As a result, if someone uses a firearm for self-defense in their home, police automatically assume the owner has been storing their weapon illegally.

One recent self-defense case has made news all over Australia. A farmer and his wife heard someone beating down their back door. They could see that the man was armed. The farmer grabbed his handgun from the gun safe while his firing pin and ammunition were still in their second safe. The farmer confronted the attacker with the unloaded pistol, and the suspect surrendered. The farmed then drove the suspect to the police department, which was 30 kilometers away.

“You would think that’s pretty clear-cut. The good guy didn’t hurt him,” Field said. “A couple weeks later police showed up at the house and investigated the farmer for a storage violation.”

Maduro diet

In 2015, Field spent a week in Caracas, Venezuela attending a friend’s wedding.

“It felt like Melbourne. There was beautiful architecture, people were friendly, birds were chirping,” he said. “It could have been Melbourne until I saw the breadlines. I was there for a friend’s wedding—a wealthy politically connected family. They had been stockpiling butter and flour for weeks. People call it the Maduro diet. People lost 25 pounds across the country.”

When he returned home, Field started thinking about the experience.

“We’re not special in Australia,” he said. “If we make the same mistakes, we’ll get the same results. If nothing changes, if we keep this government, where does it lead? It leads to Venezuela. I’m not being dramatic. There will be less ability to defend yourself. Functionally speaking, gun control in Australia is a government run protection racket for criminals. Criminals are protected by the government. Victims are punished.”

Said Field: “The road to Venezuela is paved with good intentions.”

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by Lee Williams

Patrick “Tate” Adamiak will not get a new hearing, during which he would finally have had the opportunity to introduce evidence as to his innocence.

Arenda L. Wright Allen, the federal judge in charge of his case, saw to that.

Adamiak and his attorney had been prepping for the important hearing, which was scheduled for Thursday of this week, but Judge Wright Allen cancelled the hearing with only a week’s notice.

In her written order, the judge wrote “his objections were previously addressed at his sentencing hearing and affirmed by the Fourth Circuit and cannot be re-raised at this resentencing hearing.”

“Accordingly, the Court is precluded from considering, and will not hear, any evidence or argument on the objections at the resentencing hearing,” Judge Wright Allen wrote.

The move stunned Adamiak, his friends and his father.

Adamiak remains at a federal holding facility where he was taken for the cancelled hearing. He was not available for comment.

The cancellation stunned another expert who has been involved in the case since the trial.

Retired ATF Senior Special Agent Daniel O’Kelly has personally examined more than 100,000 firearms and even more ammunition during his 33 years in law enforcement—10 years as a police officer and 23 years with the ATF.

O’Kelly started with the ATF as a Special Agent in 1988. He was responsible for investigating arson, bombings, explosives, organized crime and drug trafficking, but the agency soon realized he was capable of far more. O’Kelly was certified as an expert firearm witness in federal court in 1990. Ten year later, he was chosen to serve as ATF’s Resident Agent in Charge of the State of Delaware. He has served as the firearm instructor coordinator of ATF’s Tampa Field Division. He became the chief firearm technology instructor at ATF’s National Academy, where he wrote the firearm technology course for ATF personnel, which is still in use.

Today, O’Kelly is director of the International Firearm Specialist Academy located in Grand Island, Florida. His clients include prosecutors and defense attorneys, law enforcement agencies, gun dealers and firearm manufacturers, importers and collectors.

O’Kelly was hired by the defense attorneys who first represented Adamiak, but federal prosecutors blocked O’Kelly from testifying on nearly every issue. However, Adamiak’s original defense attorneys were able to get him on the stand to stop ATF’s untruths involving MAC flats—flat pieces of metal that are designed to be bent in a jig or welded to form the lower receiver of a MAC-style pistol or carbine.

After lengthy testimony, the judge sided with O’Kelly, and denied the prosecutors’ attempt to penalize Adamiak for the 977 flat pieces of metal prosecutors claimed were machineguns. The additional 10 years prosecutors wanted for the flats were not added to Adamiak’s 20-year sentence, thanks to O’Kelly.

Adamiak’s new defense team chose O’Kelly as an expert witness for the hearing that was just cancelled.

He remains completely sure of Adamiak’s innocence.

“There is nothing in the evidence I’ve examined that qualifies as a violation of the Gun Control Act or the National Firearms Act,” O’Kelly said Sunday afternoon.

I asked O’Kelly if Adamiak was an innocent man behind bars.

“Yes. I’ve seen no evidence of any violation of any gun laws. Given my 23 years of experience, in this case I don’t see any proof of a violation,” he said.

O’Kelly holds ATF Firearm Enforcement Officer Jeffrey Bodell responsible for Adamiak’s undeserved prison sentence.

“Bodell did great damage to Adamiak’s case either by intentionally misleading the courtroom or by incompetence, whatever the case is,” O’Kelly said. “As a result, he has cost the man three years of his life.”

Takeaways

Adamiak’s defense attorney, Calum Welch, wanted the ATF to answer longstanding questions about this case.

“We’re disappointed and would have liked the opportunity to address some of the underlying determinations at this resentencing, especially following some of the regulatory changes and recent Supreme Court decisions. Vanderstock does raise some context in how to re-estimate ATF’s authority. Some of the recent rule changes also merit further examination,” Welch said.

He added that the ATF’s own interpretations when applied to the items that Adamiak possessed were not consistent with their own regulations.

“We will now focus on getting Tate back home where he belongs,” Welch said.

The cancellation of the hearing hit Adamiak’s family hard, especially his father, Dave.

“We’re basically in limbo and Tate’s in purgatory,” Adamiak’s father said. “We don’t know what’s going on.”

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