The ATF is getting better, but ...
It is time for the new ATF Director to quit talking and act.
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.
“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.
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.
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He is a band-aid and no more, not because he is a bad guy necessarily but because his agency is rotten to the core. My individual interactions with local, front line ATF guys has been great but like most of the Federal leviathan the career people in middle and upper management have lost the narrative and seem more interested in cracking down on random people to make an example than they are with going after actual criminals.
We must accept the fact that the Deep State rules DC and our legal system. In their view, right or wrong, they must save face. It is an elitist system and will remain so until there is a true reckoning by the American people.
The Constitution sets in the waste basket of our government agencies, which Congress has allowed to essentially take over our nation.
I am a USMC vet, Legal And Civil Intelligence Investigator with 30 years of experience. In my own case that was levied against me because I discovered and disclosed a SexTrafficking operation along the Canadian border, Constitutional protections were totally ignored and the facts of law were discarded. It took 7 years to regain my freedoms, although I was not incarcerated for more than 30 days. I know the system well.
Law is irrelevant to these courts and agencies. Now Tate, you understand, was a Federal asset. This does make a difference, because now your dealing with a Federal jurisdiction in opposition to a Civil jurisdiction.
I’ve seen similar instances in the military. When a military individual is accused of anything that reaches superior oversight and UCMJ action, it’s like pulling teeth from a Rhinoceros to clear your name. You can pretty much assume your career is over.
So, Tates case is a bit more complicated than a civilian matter. The military should have intervened, but didn’t. That in itself is curious, but not surprising.
I need to say this even though it sounds unsupportive. When your in the military, you do need to be careful what you do in your private life. Tate didn’t break the law, but he did put himself in the radar of a very unconstitutional administration.
Now we have this new administration which has also proven my main point here. That is ; We do not have a Constitutional government at this time, nor have we had for the past several decades. Republicans versus Democrats is a false front. That’s just a gaming ploy to keep all the sheep busy fighting each other.
Have you watched the news lately? Looks what unfolding in America. Teen violence, even attacking LE officers, theft and growing political insurgency from several other groups and operations. We are in Deep Kimchi here folks. It was my job to track and dissect these subversive developments. Trouble is, few are listening.
Sorry to be so long, but Tate’s case is just another subversion in a long line of deconstructing operations against the Republic of the United States of America. Regardless of all the false positive propaganda from the Trump administration, we are in dire straits. We have been deceived on a grand scale and the hammer is falling right now.