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.

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.

Share

Leave a comment

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.

Share

Leave a comment

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.

Share

Leave a comment

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.

Share

Leave a comment

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.

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.

Share

Leave a comment

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.

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.

Share

Leave a comment

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

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.

Share

Leave a comment

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.”

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.

Share

Leave a comment

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.”

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.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

The first time ATF Firearm Enforcement Officer Jeffrey Bodell ever testified in a courtroom was October 20, 2022, during the criminal trial of Patrick “Tate” Adamiak.

At that time, Bodell had very little experience and had worked for the ATF for only two years.

“I attended Pennsylvania Gunsmith School where I, upon graduation I worked for a small gunsmithing shop for good, a year and a half, conducting general gunsmithing,” Bodell testified during the trial. “After that I worked for a semi-custom production bolt-action rifle company making rifles for a year and a half. And then after that I had my own gunsmithing business based out of my house.”

His lack of experience didn’t stop Bodell from making false claims about toys, air rifles and firearm parts ATF agents found during a search of Adamiak’s home, especially a toy Denix British STEN MK II non-firing replica machinegun.

“I examined the large black item in the photograph there. It’s marketed as a replica submachine gun, specifically a Sten Mk II, which was a World War II British submachine gun. My examination of that, I found it to be both a firearm under the Gun Control Act and a machine gun,” Bodell told the jury.

His statement, which was false, forced Adamiak’s attorney to quickly object, since the STEN and other items Bodell testified about were not included in the evidence that was admitted to the trial.

The prosecutor quickly told the judge that Bodell was a firearm “expert” and that he had the “background and expertise to talk about it.”

The judge allowed Bodell’s testimony to continue about the STEN and other items, which were not part of the case.

“It’s not a real Sten Mk II submachine gun. But I was able to fire a live cartridge out of it in approximately 15 minutes utilizing a machine gun barrel and a machine gun bolt, and because of that, it’s readily converted to be able to expel a projectile by action of an explosive and therefore it is a firearm.” Bodell said while under oath.

He also testified that an air rifle was also a machinegun, as were four MAC-type pistols, which only fired semi-automatically from an open bolt.

“They did not shoot automatically, and they weren’t converted to shoot automatically, but they are machine guns because they’re designed to shoot automatically,” Bodell told the jury.

Bodell’s testimony about the toys and legal weapons—though completely wrong—helped prosecutors secure their conviction, which led to a 20-year federal prison sentence. Adamiak is starting his fourth year behind bars.

Cekada

On Thursday, I asked ATF Director Robert Cekada a simple question: Is a Denix British STEN MK II non-firing replica a toy or a machinegun?

“It wasn’t charged as a machinegun, and I’m not looking at it as a machinegun, for sure,” Cekada said. “I know it wasn’t indicted as a machinegun. It wasn’t one of the indicted items.”

I reminded Director Cekada that one of his ATF experts told the jury while under oath that it was a machinegun, as he did other items that were never charged and were never part of the government’s evidence.

“I think there’s a lot to be discussed on that,” he replied. “The U.S. Attorney’s office didn’t proceed with that charge.”

Cekada mentioned the other evidence collected during the search warrant of Adamiak’s home: RPGs, machinegun parts and M79 and M203 grenade launchers, which he said were not demilled.

“The RPGs—there was a veiled attempt to demil those. You could argue that either way,” he said. “The M79 and M203 carry the most sentencing enhancements and put him in jeopardy.”

Cekada 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.

Takeaways

This is not the first time Cekada has commented about his agents or their ability to follow the law.

“There is ambiguity in the law, and I think it’s important for people to be able to follow the law, to understand to law, and when federal agents don’t understand the law themselves, that leaves all of us at risk, and there shouldn’t be any room there,” Cekada told Congressman Eli Crane during a recent hearing.

Adamiak said during an interview last month that he strongly agreed with Cekada’s comments, which was no surprise.

Most people do.

For this story, Adamiak was unavailable for comment.

He is being moved by the Federal Bureau of Prisons in preparation for a court hearing.

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.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

Editor’s note: As someone who has lived and worked in the United States Virgin Islands, I am never surprised by the way the V.I. government violates the civil rights of its 150,000 residents, who are all American citizens.

Once again, the V.I. government has very clearly violated the Constitution, by making it even more difficult for American citizens to exercise their Second Amendment rights. Bad guys there are not so encumbered. The U.S. Virgin Islands are in the middle of a major international narcotics trafficking zone, so every type of weapon is available on the black market for those who don’t care about the law. Uzis, STENs, full-auto AK-47s and belt-fed machineguns of all types are arming the criminals, while the V.I. government won’t allow law-abiding citizens to own a handgun to protect their loved ones. Virgin Islands police are no help. Most are corrupt. They have little choice. All major crime is run by the “Commission,” hardcore but well-organized gangsters who are headquartered on St. Croix, the largest of the three U.S. Virgin Islands.

Enter Kosei Ohno, founder of the Virgin Islands Safe Gun Owners, or VISGO. He is trying to make real, substantive changes, but he needs our help.

Here’s his latest editorial.

Veto This Bill: The Public Deserves to Know What Was Passed

by Kosei Ohno

The most disturbing part of the Legislature’s half-day firearm session is not only that Amendment 36-364 was rushed through without meaningful public review. It is that, even after the vote, many Virgin Islanders still do not know exactly what the Senate passed.

That is not transparency. That is not democracy. That is government by ambush.

A sweeping rewrite of the Territory’s firearm laws and criminal code should never be handled this way. Residents, citizens, and stakeholders were asked to testify on a bill they were not allowed to see. The public had no fair opportunity to study the text, understand the consequences, or compare it to constitutional alternatives. Yet the Police Department and government lawyers had access. The people being regulated were kept in the dark, while the agencies being sued helped shape the rules. That is like letting an agency accused of violating civil rights grade its own homework, rewrite the test, and hide the answer key from the public.

What was the rush? There was no public emergency requiring Chapter 5 to be overhauled overnight. If the bill is constitutional, fair, and necessary, why hide it? If VIPD’s licensing system is lawful and timely, it should not fear discovery in court.

The U.S. Virgin Islands has its own history, culture, and local self-government. But Virgin Islanders are not second-class citizens when it comes to the Bill of Rights. The Second Amendment, part of the Bill of Rights, commands: “...the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” That applies here. So does due process.

Due process requires fair, clear procedures before government can deprive people of liberty or property. A firearm license tied to a constitutional right is not a government favor. Vague sensitive-place traps, broad discretion, and forcing citizens to hire lawyers simply to make VIPD act raise due-process concerns as well.

This approach does not solve violent crime. Criminals do not register firearms, provide fingerprints, buy safes, pay fees, take classes, and wait months or years for VIPD approval. It burdens law-abiding citizens: fathers, single mothers, waitresses, small-business owners, homeowners, veterans, retirees, and licensed citizens trying to follow the law.

Worse, it creates traps. Expanding “sensitive places” without real security protocols does not make people safer. Declaring more places off limits without controlled entrances, metal detectors, security, or funding is not public safety. Words on paper and signs do not stop criminals; they disarm the person willing to obey.

Almost every concern Senators raised had already been addressed in VISGO Amendment A35, available to lawmakers and the public on VISGO340.org for months.

Senator Carla Joseph asked what happens if VIPD fails to issue a permit on time. The government’s practical answer was go pay for a lawyer and file a lawsuit. A35 provides a real answer: a hard deadline, and if VIPD does not act, the application is deemed approved. Rights should not depend on whether a citizen can afford to sue the government.

Senator Blyden raised another important concern: residents should not fear that voluntarily seeking mental-health care, family counseling, marriage counseling, or other mental-health support could be used to deny or revoke a firearm license. A35 addresses that concern too. We should encourage responsible people to seek help, not punish them for it.

Senator Heyliger asked how citizens are supposed to protect their hearing if suppressors are banned outright. A35 allows federally lawful NFA items through an enhanced background-check process.

Senator James noted that even a $400 firearm may be difficult for a working Virgin Islander to afford. Yet this bill preserves excessive costs: license fees, registration fees, safes or lock boxes, and recurring training. A35 reduces the burden to $25 for a five-year license and removes unnecessary recurring recertification. We do not charge citizens $150 every time they exercise their right to speak. The Second Amendment deserves the same respect as the First.

The Attorney General previously assured the public that Bill 36-0144 was constitutional. That assurance was wrong then. Repeating it now, while admitting the government had not prepared the historical analysis required to defend new firearm restrictions under the Supreme Court’s standard, is not enough. Passing first and researching later is not responsible governing.

This is especially dangerous because the Territory depends on roughly $20 billion-plus in federal recovery and reconstruction support, while the federal government is already challenging VIPD’s firearm practices. The Virgin Islands should not invite deeper conflict with the same United States government helping fund our recovery, schools, hospitals, roads, and infrastructure.

At a time when residents struggle with basic public services, including keeping the lights on, government should not waste money defending avoidable constitutional mistakes.

Governor Bryan should veto this bill. Before any firearm overhaul becomes law, the final text should be published, the public should review it, and witnesses should testify on what is actually being voted on. The Legislature should start over with Amendment A35 or a similar constitutionally drafted bill.

Public safety and constitutional rights can coexist. But secret bills, rushed votes, and unconstitutional shortcuts serve neither.

Kosei Ohno is founder/lead of Virgin Islands Safe Gun Owners (VISGO) and President and owner of Crown Bay Marina in St. Thomas, which has been engaged in the Virgin Islands community since 1998. He also leads Project Bleachers, a community initiative to restore public recreational facilities and create safe, supervised spaces for youth, families, mentorship, recreation, and positive alternatives to violence. He earned a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and previously worked as a real-estate investment banker with Salomon Brothers Inc and Lehman Brothers advising clients across the country.

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.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

Brian J. Samuels served as the criminal chief of the U.S. Justice Department’s Eastern Virginia office for nearly two decades, until he was demoted just a few months ago.

The main reason for Samuels’ demotion was never made entirely clear, but it may have involved a decision to not file charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey, each of whom tried to prosecute President Donald J. Trump.

Once responsible for management and major cases within the office, Samuels is now just an assistant U.S. attorney—the same title given to anyone who graduates law school and joins the Justice Department.

Samuels was recently put in charge of the Justice Department’s case against Patrick “Tate” Adamiak.

He released a document last week titled “Position of the United States with Respect to Sentencing Factors.”

Samuels did not respond to calls or emails requesting an interview about his document.

Quite frankly, Samuels’ assertions are farcical, but no different than anything else we’ve seen throughout this case.

He never once mentioned Joe Biden or how he was responsible for the out-of-control ATF and their massive stint of illegality that occurred during his presidency. In fact, Biden is mentioned only once in the entire document, by Adamiak’s father.

Samuels never once pointed out how stories written about the Justice Department’s bedevilment of the Second Amendment are protected by the First Amendment.

He ridicules everyone who has ever written a story about the Adamiak case, while ignoring how the U.S. Department of Justice lied in their own reporting of the case facts—reporting that was paid for by taxpayer dollars.

For example, the U.S. Department of Justice was less than truthful in all three of their press releases about the case:

“According to court records and evidence presented at trial, between approximately October 2021 and April 2022, Patrick Tate Adamiak, 28, was obtaining illegal machine guns that were not registered and he was selling these machine guns online. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) purchased eight machine guns from him through a confidential source. They then executed a search warrant at Adamiak’s residence and recovered 25 additional unregistered firearms. A search warrant at his residence found that Adamiak was in possession of two grenade launchers and two antitank missile launchers. Adamiak is a Master at Arms in the U.S. Navy,” states a press release issued on June 14, 2023.

Adamiak never owned a single machinegun—not one. Instead, Biden’s out-for-blood ATF alleged his legal gun parts were “machineguns,” as were legal semi-auto pistols and even an actual toy gun. The “antitank missile launchers” were DEWAT RPGs that Adamiak purchased in California.

Media accusations

Samuels’ opinion is visible throughout his 21-page document, especially when he addresses media stories about the case, which he calls “allegations in the public sphere.”

“The defendant was also entitled to advocate for his sentencing and present mitigation; he did so. He was entitled to appeal his convictions and sentence; he did and prevailed on his Double Jeopardy claim. But beyond making his case in the appropriate legal forum and through appropriate legal means, the defendant (and others on his behalf) have continued to make allegations in the public sphere in an effort to cast doubt on the fair treatment he has received,” Samuels wrote.

He cites several of the 50 stories we have written about Adamiak’s case in his court document.

“I never sold a single item that qualifies as a firearm or requires an FFL I only sold non-regulated gun parts,” Adamiak said this week. “It’s my opinion and my family’s that the ATF realized they messed up after they didn’t come up with a single illegal weapon, so they completely reinterpreted the statutes and implemented new rules to spin the jury and get a conviction. They manufactured crimes [to] convict me.”

The link Samuels supplied does not work. Here is the actual link: How Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak received a 20-year prison sentence.

Samuels even quotes Adamiak’s father.

“I am livid! This should have been fixed. Now my son has to drive around for months in a fu—ing van. They’re playing dirty pool. That’s how they roll. It’s not about what’s true. It’s so freaking horrible. I learned about it just an hour ago. For the first time ever, I couldn’t even talk to Tate. I was so boiling! His legal team has been looking at his case for three years now. There are a dozen ways he could get out. It’s horrible! We even laid off the pressure a bit. How many people have to call out how stupid their decisions are? All they have to do is drop Tate’s case! They don’t even want to help. It’s amazing they could bull—it us for so long. It’s horrible to have an innocent person in prison for four years and everybody knows the truth. They could put a hold on him. That would show some good faith, at least. Nothing’s materialized. On TV they’re saying they’re going to fix all of these Biden problems. Tate ranks right up there with Malinowski. The only difference is they didn’t kill Tate. He would not be where he is without these damn blue-state judges with too much power. Damn blue state judges. They disregard the First and Second Amendments. How is this America? What happened to this country? We need to get him out by whatever means we can. They need to admit they screwed up. They need to go after [ATF Firearms Enforcement Officer Jeffrey R.] Bodell. He’s the problem here. He made up all of this. Tate does not need to be on anyone’s back burner. This is horrible. He’s on notice and they’re not doing jack,” Dave Adamiak said.

Here’s a link to David Admaiak’s comments.

Samuels took issue with a letter Adamiak wrote to the new ATF director, Robert Cekada.

“On May 8, 2026, the defendant authored a letter to the new ATF Director where, among other things, he claimed. No American should have to guess where legality ends and a felony begins;” and leveled complaints against the ATF and the integrity of the investigation and also claimed he possessed non-functional, incomplete or legally exempt items.”

Here’s a link to the story about Adamiak’s letter to ATF Director Rob Cekada.

Samuels had a problem with Adamiak granting an interview with “Mr. Gunsngear,” who operates a YouTube channel.

“It is clear that this is still a source of advocacy for the defendant,” prosecutors wrote. “Documents related to the defendant’s appeal have been published and the September date of the appeal was discussed in an article that described rallies in support of the defendant.”

Samuels was most angered by Adamiak maintaining his innocence. He also took exception to Adamiak’s belief that the ATF investigators should be investigated for perjury and fired, and that the charges against him were politically motivated by the Biden Administration.

“This messaging extends beyond the defendant’s individual statements in articles and has encouraged supporters to argue and protest against what they claim is an unjust conviction,” the prosecutor alleged.

Samuels’ goal was clear.

“For the foregoing reasons and others to be provided during the resentencing hearing, the United States respectfully requests the Court impose a sentence of 240 months of incarceration,” he wrote.

Takeaways

Personally, I am thrilled that one of the Justice Department’s oldest and newest assistant U.S. attorneys is reading my work. Let me ask him this: If you truly believe Adamiak illegally possessed machineguns, prove it.

Let’s see any of Adamiak’s “machineguns” actually fire on their own. Let’s see either of his DEWAT RPGs lob a rocket downrange. Neither can happen. They’d have to be rebuilt, especially the RPGs, but a real round would kill whoever is unlucky enough to be chosen as the demonstrator. There are holes drilled into the pipe where the shooter’s head goes. A real rocket would likely remove the shooter’s head. Besides, none of the gun parts he’s accused of illegally possessing can ever fire a round—not one.

Patrick “Tate” Adamiak is serving 20 years in prison for legal gun parts. He was falsely arrested, charged and convicted by Joe Biden’s ATF and the U.S. Department of Justice.

It’s time to admit that mistakes were made, free Adamiak and make sure nothing like this can ever happen again.

That would be real justice, which this case has lacked from the beginning.

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.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

Given how he has restored the Second Amendment closer to the Founders’ original intent, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s short time in office has been simply incredible. In fact, he has become a one-man Second Amendment restorer for what used to be called the “Gunshine State.”

You need to understand how things used to work before Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Uthmeier, his former chief of staff and general counsel, as Attorney General in 2025.

Pro-gun groups had to thoroughly plan, raise funds and then lobby individual politicians in order to make pro-gun changes, which took forever and was never guaranteed, even in the state’s Republican-dominated legislature. The pro-gun team had to play nice and sometimes almost beg lawmakers to restore Floridians’ Second Amendment rights. A large group of RINOs in the Miami area always made any real changes extremely difficult, as did certain legislative leaders—anti-gun Muppets who decided on their own that the time was not “right” to restore their constituents’ Second Amendment rights.

Uthmeier changed all of this without involving a single lawmaker.

In September of last year, Uthmeier ended a Florida state law that criminalized open carry.

He restored the rights of millions of Floridians with a single post on X.

Once a Florida Court of Appeals ruled that the state’s open-carry ban was unconstitutional, Uthmeier posted an important announcement.

“I’m issuing guidance to Florida’s prosecutors and law enforcement in light of the 1st DCA’s decision in McDaniels v. State,” Uthmeier posted on X. “Because no other appellate court has considered the constitutionality of Florida’s open carry ban since the SCOTUS decision in Bruen, the 1st DCA’s decision is binding on all Florida’s trial courts. Meaning that as of last week, open carry is the law of the state.”

Everytown did some pretty interesting reporting of Uthmeier’s decision, which simply blew their minds.

“Attorney General Uthmeier is refusing to defend a critical law, going against the advice of state law enforcement and ultimately, putting our lives at risk,” Jennifer Massey, a volunteer with the Florida chapter of Moms Demand Action, said in an Everytown story. “This is a complete dereliction of duty and at the end of the day, our kids, communities and law enforcement will pay the price while we strip a decades-old law from the books meant to help keep us all safe.”

When Demanding Moms accuse you of “dereliction of duty” you must be doing something right, right?

Last week Uthmeier, who is only 38, did it again. He ended Florida’s three-day waiting period for firearm purchases made by those without a Florida concealed-carry license, and once again he announced the change on X.

“Every government office, including mine, exists to protect your God-given rights as enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. That’s why we’re settling a landmark federal case that declares Florida’s 3-day firearm purchase waiting period unconstitutional under the Second Amendment,” he posted on X.

Simply put, Uthmeier gave all Floridians equal rights regardless of whether they purchased any state-issued paperwork.

Gun rights for every adult

When Uthmeier defended the gun rights of 18, 19 and 20-year-old Floridians, anti-gun politicians, the legacy media and a Parkland parent went absolutely bonkers.

Uthmeier intervened in a teen’s criminal case by asking a state appeals court to uphold the defendant’s right to carry—a move that even the anti-gun media was forced to admit constituted a victory for Floridians’ gun rights.

At issue was a 1987 state law, which barred 18, 19 and 20-year-olds from carrying concealed firearms.

Uthmeier actually opposed state prosecutors, which mystified Florida’s anti-gun community, especially Broward County State Attorney Harold Pryor, who asked Uthmeier for permission to get involved in the case. Pryor, who was elected in 2020, frequently mentioned “gun violence” whenever he spoke publicly.

Uthmeier refused Pryor’s request, which further blew the anti-gunners’ minds. They, of course, quickly turned to the media to strike back.

Several media stories were soon published, which included interviews with Pryor, who attacked Uthmeier’s decision for a host of frivolous reasons, none of which made any legal sense.

One Democratic state representative even asked Governor DeSantis to intervene, but DeSantis gave no sign he disagreed or opposed his AG’s decision.

Parkland parent Fred Guttenberg—an anti-gun advocate and frequent Second Amendment critic—accused Uthmeier of “undermining public safety efforts.”

Nondangerous Felons

Christopher Morgan was convicted in Pennsylvania in 2007 after he was caught carrying a firearm without a state license. Fifteen years later, he was stopped by a Florida officer, whom he told of a pistol in the center console of his car. Morgan was charged in Florida with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He had no other criminal history.

Before his trial in Florida, Morgan’s defense team made a motion that the state firearm law is “unconstitutional both facially and as applied to him.” However, the trial court denied his motion. Morgan then pleaded no contest to the felon in possession Florida charges but appealed his conviction. He was sentenced to two days in jail and court costs.

Uthmeier issued a response to Morgan’s appeal, which said that his conviction for possessing a firearm by a felon violated the Second Amendment.

In fact, he actually agreed with Morgan’s legal team.

“On studied reflection, the Attorney General has concluded that the conviction does indeed infringe Morgan’s right, as a nondangerous felon, to keep and bear arms,” Uthmeier wrote. “The state must therefore confess error and urge this Court to reverse.”

In the court document, Uthmeier spelled out that he is Florida’s “Chief Legal Officer,” and that he swore an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution.

“It is thus the Attorney General’s duty to admit when he believes the State has obtained a conviction in violation of the Constitution,” he wrote.

Takeaways

So far, Uthmeier has restored the gun rights of nondangerous felons, 18, 19 and 20-year-olds, anyone who opts to carry a firearm either openly or concealed, and anyone who does not want to wait three days before buying a gun.

The Second Amendment has been a constitutional right since 1791. If any state officials now try and prevent someone from exercising their constitutional rights, they may soon find themselves in court, explaining why they decided it was okay to illegally violate someone’s constitutional rights.

Floridians have one man to thank for this—Attorney General James Uthmeier.

Let’s hope his conduct serves as an example for attorneys general in other states.

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.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

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 Patrick “Tate” Adamiak be freed from his 20-year prison sentence.

ATF Director Robert 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.

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.

The lawmakers pointed out that none of these items meet the “standard of a firearm,” and that ATF never alleged any violence or “the criminal misuse of any weapon.”

The six authors know who is to blame for Adamiak’s 20-year prison sentence.

“His prosecution occurred under the Biden Administration, when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) implemented a series of expanded and draconian regulatory approaches to firearm regulation. These shifts occurred at a time when legislative changes could not be secured through Congress, resulting in an administrative posture that was both unusually aggressive and rapidly changing. Under President Trump’s leadership, several of these policies have since been reconsidered, modified, or withdrawn. This evolution raises reasonable questions about whether Mr. Adamiak’s case may have been influenced by an enforcement environment that no longer reflects current federal policy or Priorities,” the letter states.

Crane, a U.S. Navy SEAL and combat veteran, pointed out that the Navy also had doubts about Adamiak’s guilt and allowed him to receive an honorable discharge while he was behind bars—an extremely unusual practice.

“This determination speaks highly of his character, service record, and standing within the military community,” the letter states.

Adamiak was extremely grateful for the letter and what it meant. He wrote the following response:

“I am deeply grateful and humbled by the support of Representatives Eli Crane, Paul Gosar, Eric Burlison, Daniel Webster, Jen Kiggans, and Rob Bresnahan for taking the time to review my case and lend their voices to this effort.

I also want to thank the countless supporters, veterans, Second Amendment advocates, journalists, and ordinary Americans who refused to let my case be forgotten. The fact that so many people took the time to speak up, write letters, share my story, and demand a closer look means more to me and my family than I can adequately express.

For someone sitting in a prison cell, it is easy to feel forgotten. This letter reminds me that there are still people willing to stand up when they believe something deserves a second look. I am truly humbled by that support.

My hope has always been simple: that the facts are examined fairly and objectively. I remain grateful to everyone who has helped bring attention to my case, and I thank these six Members of Congress for their leadership, their courage, and their willingness to stand behind a Navy veteran they believe deserves that review,” Adamiak wrote.

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.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, the last newspaper where I worked, regularly provided outstanding journalism until Gannett bought it in 2019.

Before the purchase, we had scores of reporters and dozens of editors. Our print edition could reach nearly 200,000 people on a Sunday.

My editors were smart and community focused. After all, they let me start a blog about guns and gun rights.

When Gannett bought us, everything changed. Massive layoffs and firings became the norm. They also deleted my entire gun blog.

Today, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune has a grand total of one editor and three reporters—one even lives in another state. Nearly all they write are press releases. Their print circulation is kept secret, but it’s probably less than 5,000.

That, friends, is my history with Gannett, the largest newspaper chain in the country and publisher of USA TODAY. I believe it’s important for you to know my experiences when you read this story.

On Monday morning, USA TODAY columnist Joel Burgess published this: “I like shooting guns, but I can never keep one in my home | Opinion.”

The entirely nonsensical headline was followed by this drivel: “My grandfather’s gun made nobody safer. My family’s experience with his suicide shows the potential dangers of a firearm in the home, particularly one that is unlocked and loaded.”

Before we look at his work, here’s a little about the columnist. According to his LinkedIn page, Burgess has been a USA TODAY columnist for less than two years.

Before becoming a columnist, he was a reporter at the Asheville Citizen-Times, which today has two editors and six reporters. Before that, he sold cycling parts for a North Carolina firm.

It shows.

He doesn’t hate guns, he claimed. “And I’ve fired some big ones, like a .357 magnum and an AR-15, starting when I was in Boy Scouts. But I still see firearms in a different way.”

I will leave his “big ones” comment alone. There are more important issues to address.

He mentions the “premier medical journal JAMA,” which posted a story claiming 7 million American kids live in a home with at least “one unlocked and loaded firearm.”

“Part of me says these are 7 million future catastrophes that can’t be avoided because we live in a country with an unrelenting firearms fetish,” Burgess actually wrote.

I should point out that a “fetish” is defined as “a sexual fixation on an object, body part, or situation that is not typically considered erotic. It also broadly refers to any object, idea, or behavior that is the focus of an irrational, obsessive, or unquestioning devotion.”

Perhaps he should have used another word.

As to his data, his JAMA’s numbers are not accurate. A story by NPR that Burgess even linked to admits it was the authors’ estimate.

Besides, many of us grew up in homes with loaded firearms. I have loaded firearms in my home right now. It’s totally safe. It’s not a “future catastrophe.” All it requires is some education and parental involvement. That’s it.

But Burgess is far from done. His anti-gun balderdash gets even deeper.

“A long-running cultural narrative says we should rely almost entirely on ourselves for safety. That would seem to mean having a gun in your house is necessary to stop bad guys from hurting you and your family, a message reinforced by the gun lobby and our entertainment industry,” he wrote.

Note: he hyperlinked “entertainment industry” to the 2013 film, “The Purge.” I cannot reckon why.

As to his comment, I do not know what crime is like in Asheville. Perhaps there aren’t any home invasions, burglaries or murders. Perhaps the criminals are a decent sort, who leave when so ordered and apologize, bow and lock your front door as they back out quietly.

Even if that’s the case in Asheville, I can guarantee that for the rest of our country, having access to a firearm is the ONLY sure way to stop a committed bad guy from hurting you and your family—the only way.

I’m not sure if “The Purge” movie reinforced this, but I know the “gun lobby” sure does, for one reason. It’s 100% true.

Guns save lives.

Anyone who says otherwise is an idiot, a liar or both.

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.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

Not too long ago, investigative reporters had to find their own information when they took on a story. Getting data was difficult but crucial. The other side—the subject of the investigation—fought throughout the entire process, since it usually proved they had screwed up, and loss of employment and/or prison were a consideration.

Nowadays, so-called investigative reporters have it a lot easier. There are organizations that will provide nearly everything they need for a story, including data, photos and quotes. The problem is that these groups are all politically connected. They all have a hefty axe to grind.

Very few groups are better at selling themselves to today’s media than the Trace, Michael Bloomberg’s fake reporters and fake newsroom. The Trace is paid to produce anti-gun propaganda. They’re propagandists not journalists, and they’ve certainly never had a real newsroom.

For an investigative reporter, using anything from the Trace comes with huge risks.

John Feinblatt is president of both the Trace and the largest anti-gun organization in the country, Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety.

To say that’s a conflict of interest is obvious. After all, you’ve got the Trace, which claims to be “the only newsroom dedicated to reporting on gun violence” overseen and paid for by “the largest gun violence prevention organization in America.”

Feinblatt even admitted he came up with the idea of the Trace after Everytown had problems obtaining access to government data. After discussing his idea with Bloomberg, the Trace was launched in 2015, and Everytown was its largest donor.

Today, I don’t think there’s too much difference between the two groups, other than what’s written on a staffer’s paycheck. They’re both seeking the same goal, total civilian disarmament, and they both take orders directly from Bloomberg.

For an investigative reporter to use such an obviously skewed source could be disastrous, at least it should be.

Enter ProPublica.

I remember when the journalism nonprofit first started in 2008. It hit hard, like a bullet. Over the years, I’ve known several of their reporters. One still works there. Today, they have more than 150 investigative reporters and database analysts whose work is mostly funded by donations.

I’m betting ProPublica’s funding process may have created a serious if not fatal problem, since Bloomberg has never been shy about donating cash.

His gifts always come with a steep price, for example writing a story about a former ATF official who now works for Bloomberg.

“Dettelbach’s puppet”

Marianna Mitchem spent 20 years at ATF, rising to Associate Assistant Director of Field Operations (Industry Operations).

Mitchem began her 20-year ATF career in 2005 as an IOI, an Industry Operations Investigator, who inspect gun shops to make sure their records and inventory are documented correctly. She worked unarmed and was never an ATF Special Agent, who are armed and charged with enforcing federal law.

She was promoted to field supervisor in 2011, and by 2014, was put in charge of Industry Operations for ATF’s Phoenix Field Division.

She moved to Washington D.C. in 2017, when she became ATF’s deputy chief of Field Management Staff. One year later, she was promoted to Chief.

In 2019, Mitchem became ATF’s deputy chief of staff, and reported to ATF’s director. Just one year later, she became the chief of the Firearms and Explosives Industry Division.

Mitchem held her final position as Associate Assistant Director of Field Operations (Industry Operations), from March 2024 until she left in May 2025.

A former ATF senior official who worked with Mitchem said she was smart, a good communicator but always extremely anti-gun.

When former President Joe Biden appointed Steve Dettelbach to run ATF, Mitchem was given more duties and responsibilities.

The former official described her as “Dettelbach’s puppet.” She was his “superstar,” and was responsible for ATF’s frame or receiver ruling and for going after “ghost guns.”

ProPublica’s story

On Monday, ProPublica published: “No One Is Watching”: How Trump Reversed Biden’s Crackdown on Gun Trafficking.

Mitchem is named in the lead of the story, is quoted throughout the piece and is definitely the star.

Guided by Mitchem, the story’s two authors examine a bit of ATF history, although it’s completely one-sided, flawed and terribly written.

“After 2021, the homicide rate started falling, which criminologists attributed to several factors, including repair of the social fabric since the coronavirus pandemic and a closing of the breach in police-community relations that followed the 2020 murder of George Floyd. One other factor got less attention: the clampdown on the illegal flow of firearms,” the authors actually wrote.

In addition to Mitchem’s self-serving quotes, the authors used data—a lot of data—and the data sources raise even more concerns.

The Trace. Everytown for Gun Safety and Everytown Research are cited frequently as the main data sources, as if they’re capable of actually producing believable data.

CNN and USA TODAY are the two largest news organizations quoted by the authors, and nowadays they’re about as bad as the Trace or Everytown.

The three main points of the story are actually pretty good, great in fact, but they were definitely not written that way.

The authors concluded that under President Donald J. Trump the ATF now refers 30% fewer gun-trafficking cases, sends ATF agents to help ICE make arrests at protests, and has reduced the number of gun dealers losing their licenses by 69%.

As to the rest, there’s not much that’s really new in the piece, other than the quotes from Mitchem.

It’s definitely anti-gun, which raises additional questions.

Takeaways

The authors’ story violates the top three rules of ProPublica’s own code of ethics, which states:

• Our facts are accurate and fairly presented.

• Our analyses represent our best independent judgments rather than our preferences or those of our sources.

• There are no hidden agendas in any of our journalistic undertakings.

The facts in the story were definitely unfair and unclear; both the analysis and judgement were anti-gun instead of independent, and the authors had a massive anti-gun agenda, which they were almost incapable of hiding.

Quite frankly, I expected more a lot more.

I’m accustomed to seeing local TV stations and newspapers duped by the Trace’s lies and manipulations, not ProPublica—one of the few investigative powerhouses still in operation.

Guns have always been the only issue where traditional journalism rules do not apply. Journalists can publish whatever they want about guns or gun owners, violating every ethical code and nothing will ever happen.

Why?

Well, the reason is very simple: Journalists don’t like guns. They don’t understand them. They think they’re evil, as is anyone who owns one. Anyone who advocates for guns or gun rights they believe is a “gun nut,” so their opinions are immediately discounted.

It’s sad but true.

Given the dire financial straits facing most of the traditional media, nonprofits like ProPublica have become even more important. So, it’s sad to see both the Trace and Everytown take control.

It proves the worth of an anonymous quote about how wealth or the desire to become wealthy can overshadow all else: “When money talks, nobody checks the grammar.”

As I said, it’s sad but true.

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.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

I haven’t been to a Publix grocery store since I learned that the massive southeastern grocery store chain doesn’t want its customers to carry firearms openly on its property or in its stores.

It doesn’t matter that I never carry openly. We have that specific right in Florida. If a store doesn’t want customers to exercise this right, we will shop elsewhere. It wasn’t a difficult decision, even though there are two Publix grocery stores within walking distance from my Sarasota home.

This policy is posted in a window and became well known: “Publix kindly asks that only law enforcement openly carry firearms in our stores.”

An X follower pointed out that Publix in Tennessee also banned open carry:

However, longtime friend, Richard Nascak, cofounder and executive director of Florida Carry, Inc., shared a post over the weekend showing how Publix’s decision to ban open carry appears to be geographically based.

A Publix store in Georgia does not ban open carry:

This is certainly strange. Publix may be enforcing an open-carry ban in just some of the eight states where it operates.

I definitely needed to know more, so I reached out the Lindsey Willis, Publix’s media relations manager for central and south Florida.

Ms. Willis did not respond to calls or emails seeking comments.

I then reached out to Hannah Herring, Publix’s media director for north and central Florida, southern Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.

Ms. Herring did not respond to calls or emails seeking comments.

Finally, I reached out to Maria Brous, the chain’s Director of Communications, who has worked for Publix for more than 35 years.

Like her two subordinates, Ms. Brous did not return calls or emails seeking comment.

Takeaways

Publix operates nearly 1,500 grocery stores in eight southeastern states. Florida, the chain’s home, has the most stores, more than 900.

Publix is one of the 10 largest grocery store chains in the country and employs more than a quarter-million people. Last year, its sales reached $62 billion.

Publix operates in states that strongly support their residents’ Second Amendment rights—absent the 24 properties in Virginia, at least for now.

So, why take away the right to openly carry firearms?

That remains a secret known only to a few upper-level staffers at the Publix headquarters in Lakeland, Florida.

Their response to the coverage of this massively important civil rights issue has been abysmal, but about what I expected.

To be clear, as store owners, they certainly have the right to ban the open carry of firearms at some of their properties, as well as the right to keep their reasons for the bans secret.

However, as customers, we certainly have the right to shop somewhere else, where the staff isn’t so afraid of a holstered firearm.

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.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

Patrick Tate Adamiak is starting his fourth year of a 20-year federal prison sentence even though he broke no law and committed no crime.

That sad fact leads almost every discussion about the 31-year-old who had no prior criminal history. The public’s attention has been rightfully focused on freeing him from his undeserved incarceration, not on the ATF agents who wrongfully put him in a prison cell for two decades.

As most of you know, Joe Biden’s ATF lied about what their confidential informant had purchased from Adamiak. They lied again to obtain a search warrant of Adamiak’s property. They found nothing illegal while executing their search warrant, so they lied yet again about the legal items they found in order to obtain a conviction.

These untruths, in my humble opinion, were made for three reasons: in order to stave off any claim that Adamiak’s civil rights were violated, to shield the ATF agents from how poorly they conducted the investigation, and to keep secret that fact that they simply can’t work a confidential informant.

The ATF’s lies were so profound they actually turned gun parts into machineguns. Their firearms “experts” even classified a toy as a machinegun—a toy! They misclassified two DEWAT RPGs as actual grenade launchers, which added 15 years to Adamiak’s sentence. An ATF expert even classified seven legal semi-auto handguns, which fire from an open bolt, as machineguns.

To be clear, this was a massively flawed investigation. It was fraudulent in more than a hundred different ways. And it was fraudulent from the very beginning.

This entire monstrosity started when the ATF sent a confidential informant to buy machineguns from Adamiak, who never sold any machineguns, of course. Adamiak never had any machineguns.

Instead, Adamiak sold the informant barrel shrouds, which were even cut up into pieces.

Barrel shrouds surround a machinegun barrel. They’re meant to keep a young soldier from burning their hands on a hot machinegun barrel. The weapon can fire full-auto with or without a shroud. They certainly aren’t vital parts. They definitely are not a “machinegun.”

Anyone who misclassifies cut up barrel shrouds as machineguns shouldn’t be working for the ATF, but that’s exactly what ATF Firearms Enforcement Officer Ronald K. Davis did. He put this deception into a report, which ATF Agent William S. Harston, Jr., quickly used as evidence to obtain a search warrant of Adamiak’s home. Hairston, the ATF’s lead case agent, even held up a toy during Adamiak’s trial, which of course was also classified as a machinegun.

“If they never lied about those shrouds, they never would have gotten a search warrant,” Adamiak said Wednesday.

During his trial, Adamiak’s defense team tried to argue that the barrel shrouds weren’t machineguns, so the search warrant was flawed, and the ATF’s entire “investigation” was based on lies, but the judge cut them right off.

Adamiak was calm when I asked about his years of mistreatment by the ATF. He pointed to what the new ATF director, Rob Cekada, recently said during a congressional hearing. He agrees with Cekada’s comments.

I asked Adamiak what he thinks should happen to the ATF staffers whose misdeeds got him arrested, which led to his 20-year sentence.

“That’s a good question,” he said. “They should be immediately fired, and I think they should be investigated for perjury.”

If the ATF kicked down my door for no reason, seized all my guns for no reason, lied under oath and sent me to prison for two decades, I would want more—much more—than perjury charges.

I truly believe Adamiak will be released, hopefully soon. He has a hearing next month and his new legal team is incredible. The public has mailed hundreds of “Free Tate” letters to the White House and other recipients. There are also other machinations occurring almost daily that could also lead to his release. Unfortunately, nothing happening now will hold anyone accountable for the more than 1,500 days Adamiak has spent behind bars or the 5,840 days he has left to serve.

As a result, the ATF agents who were involved with the Adamiak investigation believe they got away with it. They committed a massive civil rights violation solely to ingratiate themselves with the Biden administration, and are all still gainfully employed. These agents go to work every day as if they did nothing wrong.

In a perfect world, once Adamiak is freed, these agents will be held accountable. The current ATF leadership doesn’t get to simply ignore this group of miscreants. They need to be made an example of, so that their extreme misconduct never happens again. Trust me, unless these ATF staffers are held accountable for their misdeeds it all will happen again, especially when there’s another Democrat at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

What these agents did needs to be dissected. Those responsible need to be severely disciplined. It must not be overlooked by the current ATF leadership. The entire organization needs to look at this incident as it really is—a massive civil rights violation that merits penalties. No one who made a single decision about the case should ever receive another taxpayer dollar.

The U.S. Department of Justice and the ATF itself need to take a close, serious look at what they did to Patrick Tate Adamiak or it will happen again, especially when there’s another Dem calling the shots at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Once was enough.

Bottom line: If the ATF doesn’t hold itself fully accountable, we need to ask whether we even need the ATF.

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.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

ATF Director Rob Cekada recently acknowledged that the 20-year prison sentence brought by charges his agency presented to the U.S. Department of Justice against Patrick Tate Adamiak was far longer than anything he had ever seen.

“I think that the biggest challenge is the sentence Tate received. It’s a sentence I’ve not seen for a case like that. I’ve seen cases where folks with no criminal history are involved—and I’m not saying Tate… I’m not using any of my statements toward Tate negatively, for example—I’ve personally charged people for trafficking or dealing in firearms without a license. They were dealing firearms to gang members. They had no criminal history. We charged them. They went to trial. They got three years in jail,” Cekada said during a recent interview with Cam Edwards on Bearing Arms “Cam & Co.”

Cekada did take issue with some of the technical aspects of the gun parts ATF agents recovered during a search warrant of Adamiak’s home.

“ATF folks have told me they were not properly demilled and ultimately very easily were assembled to fall into what the law would call a machinegun” Cekada said.

He understands there’s a difference of opinion between “Tate’s perspective” and the that of the ATF. Cekada promised neither he nor the ATF will be “offended by the outcome of the courts,” because he wants to make sure that Adamiak was “appropriately sentenced.” The ATF director blamed the sentencing guidelines for Adamiak’s 20-year prison sentence, “not the actual firearms.”

However, he pointed out one of the biggest issues in the case.

The ATF shouldn’t have to look too hard to substantiate Cekada’s concerns.

Here’s a list of cases released Friday that prove exactly what the ATF director has observed.

Oscar Solano-Salinas, 44 years old, a citizen of Mexico, with two convictions for sexual battery was sentenced to 41 months in prison for possessing a rifle and ammunition and reentering the country for a third time after having been removed on two separate occasions.

Adamiak was sentenced to 240 months behind bars.

Donovan James Cartwright-Nye, 25, was sentenced on May 20, 2026, to 96 months of imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for possessing a firearm as a felon. Cartwright-Nye traded drugs for a firearm with an obliterated serial number and the following day fired several shots at another person in Rock Island, Illinois. Cartwright-Nye then fled the scene in his vehicle that he proceeded to crash several blocks away. He was apprehended on foot a short time later.

Adamiak was sentenced to 240 months behind bars.

Chanse Treyvon Burge, 32, of Oklahoma City, was sentenced to serve 137 months in federal prison for illegal possession of a firearm after a previous felony conviction, announced U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester. According to public records, on March 18, 2025, officers with the Oklahoma City Police Department responded to an armed robbery at a metro apartment. The victim reported that after a knock at the door, three individuals forced their way into the apartment. Burge held a firearm to the victim’s head while the other two searched the apartment. Burge also threatened to shoot the victim and struck her in the head multiple times with the firearm before the intruders fled. He was later arrested in a vehicle at a nearby hotel, where officers recovered a firearm.

Adamiak was sentenced to 240 months behind bars.

Gabriel Lebron Mejia, 27, of Beloit, Wisconsin, was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison for possessing 100 grams or more of heroin intended for distribution and maintaining a drug trafficking premises. Lebron Mejia pleaded guilty to these charges on March 13, 2026. Between January and August 2025, law enforcement conducted controlled purchases of heroin and fentanyl from Lebron Mejia. During his subsequent arrest on August 28, 2025, officers searched Lebron Mejia’s vehicle and found a hidden compartment behind the vehicle’s glove box. Inside, officers recovered 115 grams of a mixture containing heroin and fentanyl and 60 grams of cocaine. Officers also searched Lebron Mejia’s apartment and recovered 100 grams of fentanyl pills, a hydraulic pill press, a gas mask, cutting agents, and other tools and drug packaging material. Police also found a 9mm handgun, ammunition, and over $21,000 in cash.

Adamiak was sentenced to 240 months behind bars.

Binnie Y. Bryant Jr., 36, of Evansville, has been sentenced to 240 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession with intent to distribute heroin, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. On January 23, 2024, uniformed detectives approached Bryant as he walked near an intersection and attempted to stop him. Bryant immediately fled on foot and violently resisted arrest once apprehended. During the struggle, Bryant reached toward his waistband, grabbed the handle of a Glock pistol, and attempted to draw it. Detectives were able to disarm him and take him into custody without further incident. A search of Bryant’s pockets revealed 20.8 grams of heroin, 96.5 grams of THC, and two digital scales.

Adamiak was also sentenced to 240 months behind bars.

Douglas Scott Reeves, who has a lengthy criminal history, including a previous federal drug conviction, will spend the next 120 months in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl. Between 2021 and 2023, law enforcement officers received information that Reeves was obtaining fentanyl tablets and fentanyl powder, which he used to manufacture his own fentanyl tablets, for distribution. Officers conducted multiple controlled buys of fentanyl from Reeves at his residence in Russellville, which were recorded. On September 27, 2023, Reeves fled when officers executed a search warrant at his residence. During a search of Reeves’ residence, officers located fentanyl, psilocybin mushrooms, and drug distribution paraphernalia. Reeves admitted he distributed at least 280 grams of fentanyl and that he had used Narcan on at least 18 people while they were overdosing.

Adamiak was sentenced to 240 months behind bars.

Jafere Deshon Elliott, 23, and Korbynn Jevon Jackson, 23, both of Augusta, each pled guilty to Illegal Importation of Firearms or Ammunition and Illegal Possession of a Machinegun. U.S. District Court Judge Dudley H. Bowen sentenced both defendants to 48 months in prison, and each man also must pay a fine of $2,000 and serve three years of supervised release upon completion of their prison terms.

Adamiak was sentenced to 240 months behind bars.

Orville Andrew Pernell, an illegal alien from Jamaica charged with murder in Saint Lucia, has been sentenced to federal prison for possession of a firearm by an alien illegally or unlawfully present in the United States. Orville Andrew Pernell, a/k/a Oneil Christopher Reid, 33, of Saint Mary, Jamaica, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Tiffany R. Johnson to 33 months of imprisonment. After he serves his sentence in the United States, he will be subject to removal and extradition proceedings.

Adamiak was sentenced to 240 months behind bars.

James Cargill, 45, of Vacaville, was sentenced today by Senior U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez to 180 months in prison for possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. According to court documents, on Jan. 21, 2025, police officers found Cargill to be in possession of more than a pound of methamphetamine. Cargill was arrested and released on parole. He was arrested again on May 9, 2025, after police officers found him in possession of just under a half a pound of methamphetamine and a loaded Glock 20 semi-automatic pistol.

Adamiak was sentenced to 240 months behind bars.

Otha Gatlin, 48, was sentenced to over 180 months in federal prison for Selling Crack Cocaine, Possession with Intent to Sell a Quantity of Cocaine Base (Crack) and a Quantity of Cocaine, and Possession of Ammunition by a Felon. On February 9, 2026, Gatlin pleaded guilty to the charges without a plea agreement.

Adamiak was sentenced to 240 months behind bars.

Muhammad Ali Hasan, 52, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced on May 7, 2026, in federal court in Omaha for distribution of methamphetamine, possession of a firearm by a felon, and for possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. sentenced Hasan to 78 months’ imprisonment on the drug conviction and for possession of a firearm as a felon, each to run concurrently, and a consecutive 60 months’ imprisonment for the possession of a firearm during drug trafficking charge, for a total sentence of 138 months imprisonment.

Adamiak was sentenced to 240 months behind bars.

Takeaways

Everyone who has studied this case clearly understands that a single minute behind bars would have been far too excessive, because nothing Adamiak owned was illegal. His 20-year sentence is an abomination.

Adamiak was arrested, charged and convicted because Joe Biden’s ATF simply did not care about anyone’s guilt or innocence. Any mistake the agents made was simply overlooked, because the ATF was neck-deep in a national political fight against guns and gun owners.

Clearly, Cekada was correct about the sentences he has seen—is seeing—as a result of ATF investigations. Those who are illegally armed or who have been convicted of felony drug offenses, or resist arrest, or have long criminal records in addition to their most recent crimes, receive far less time behind bars than Adamiak received.

The data that was used for this story is released by the ATF every single week, and it clearly shows that no one with a spotless record like Adamiak’s receives a 20-year prison sentence.

The U.S. Department of Justice and the ATF itself need to take a close, serious look at exactly what happened to Patrick Tate Adamiak. Problems with the case began with a confidential informant who was facing charges himself, and were compounded by ATF’s “expert” witness who turned a toy into a machinegun, and who may have made false statements under oath about 100% legal gun parts.

It’s hard to believe that anything similar could occur under ATF’s current leadership, but Adamiak was imprisoned by the ATF, and the agency doesn’t get a do-over just because the current leadership now says they respect the Second Amendment. If they really do, Tate should be freed.

Cekada said “the biggest challenge is the sentence Tate received.”

Everyone who venerates the Second Amendment agrees, but we also believe it’s time to do something about this legal horror, because what happened to Patrick Tate Adamiak could happen to any legal gun owner.

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.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

Patrick “Tate” Adamiak was arrested more than four years ago even though he never committed any crime. More than 40 officers led by ATF Agents kicked down his doors and ripped apart his home.

They found nothing illegal—not a thing—yet he’s starting the fourth year of his 20-year federal prison sentence.

Bottom line: He is completely innocent.

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

So far, we’ve written 44 stories about Tate, his family and what they are facing.

Here they are:

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

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.

Share

Leave a comment