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

SAF is joined in the amicus filing by a host of other pro-gun groups.

BELLEVUE, Wash. — May 4, 2026 — The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners have filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court urging review in Patrick Tate Adamiak v. United States, a case involving a decorated Navy veteran sentenced to 20 years in prison for possessing cut-up gun parts and two inert RPG-7 training dummies.

Adamiak enlisted in the United States Navy at 17 years old, serving in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Panama Canal. At the time of his arrest, he had orders to report to BUD/S and had completed the first phase of training on his way to becoming a Navy SEAL. He was also a gun collector who sold legal gun parts until a paid ATF informant falsely reported that he had a Mk-19 grenade launcher. After a search of his home and subsequent trial, Adamiak was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.

Editor of SAF’s Investigative Journalism Project, Lee Williams, has followed the case closely and has written more than 40 stories on Adamiak and his plight. The full list of stories can be found here.

SAF is joined in the amicus filing by the National Rifle Association, California Rifle & Pistol Association, Second Amendment Law Center, Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

“Lower courts continue to distort Bruen by turning the ‘plain text’ step into a restrictive Goldilocks test that lets the government evade its historical burden entirely,” said SAF Director of Legal Research and Education Kostas Moros. “If cut-up gun parts and inert training aids are being regulated as ‘firearms’ under the NFA, they are presumptively ‘arms’ under the Second Amendment and require historical analogues. Patrick Adamiak should not be spending decades in prison because, among other abuses, courts refuse to apply the Supreme Court’s precedents faithfully.”

SAF’s brief focuses on the Second Amendment aspects of the case, including what constitutes an “arm,” why the plain text of the Second Amendment is implicated, and why Bruen’s historical analysis may not be avoided.

“This case highlights the human cost of lower courts’ refusal to faithfully apply Bruen,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “A Navy veteran is behind bars over inert gun parts, yet his Second Amendment claim was never even heard on the merits. SAF and its partners are committed to defending the right to keep and bear arms against this kind of judicial abuse, and we believe the Supreme Court must intervene.”

For more information visit SAF.org.

The Second Amendment Foundation (saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group dedicated to safeguarding and promoting the fundamental rights of individuals enshrined in the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. SAF engages in aggressive legal action to ensure the principles of armed self-defense, personal liberty, and the ownership of arms are defended, secured, and restored. Through public education initiatives, SAF teaches the importance of the Second Amendment to promote a society that values and exercises the right to keep and bear arms.