Patrick “Tate” Adamiak is a terrifying case. He didn’t break any laws. That’s obvious from the evidence for anyone who cares to look at it and knows anything about firearms. The ATF basically manipulated everything in the case to send an innocent Navy sailor to prison for 20 years, and we’ve looked at much of the evidence that shows it was nonsense.
But now, it seems even the ATF knows that at least one of the charges was bogus. They even admitted it, though not directly.
This comes to us from Lee Williams at The Gun Writer, who has been knee-deep in this case and bringing the facts of Adamiak’s plight to light. There, he’s got an interesting look at the RPGs that Adamiak had, which the ATF told the court was a destructive device, and what landed the man in prison.
Only, now they seem to admit that it’s not a destructive device at all.
ATF agents took two inert RPGs they had seized from Patrick “Tate” Adamiak’s home, inserted an RPG training device and a bunch of additional parts, fired a few 7.62x39mm rounds and classified them as Destructive Devices. Were it not for these charges, Adamiak would be a free man.
However, the agents never said in their reports or courtroom testimony that the RPG training device will fire rounds on its own—without an RPG even in the room. Also, agents never mentioned that the ATF itself classifies the RPG training device as a firearm, because it can shoot rifle rounds regardless of whether it’s attached to an RPG.
In a letter sent to someone not involved in Adamiak’s case, The ATF explained the RPG training devices.
“The sub-caliber RPG-7 training devices previously evaluated, like the ones you mention, typically contain a barrel chambered in 7.62x39mm, possess a firing mechanism including a striker, sear, and trigger device. Its intended use is as a subcaliber insert training device for the RPG-7 anti-armor projector. However, the design of the device also allows it to be fired without the use of an RPG-7,” the ATF said in the letter.
The ATF also never mentioned that the entire device—an RPG and the 7.62x39mm training device—were sold to the public on GunBroker.
“This one’s been modified a little to color within the lines of the National Firearms Act of 1934. First, it can’t load or fire a live PG-7V or other rocket-propelled grenade round, only the subcaliber device. Second, ATF interprets a subcaliber device as a ‘firearm,’ not any specific kind of firearm, but installing it in an RPG-7V, even one that’s been modified so that it cannot fire live rounds, creates a ‘short- barreled rifle,’” a Loadout Room story states.
This offer was not an experiment as to whether ATF would approve the sale. The entire device had been approved by ATF’s Firearm Technology Branch, and the seller had the ATF approval letter, which they included in the kit.
…
This shoots large holes into the ATF’s case against Adamiak.
First, the RPG training device will fire rifle rounds on its own, even without an RPG. Second, the ATF classified the device and an RPG as legal for civilian sales. Third, the kit even came with an ATF letter saying it was legal and “not a destructive device.”
Much of the case, and the resulting sentence, hinged on the RPG training aids being functional rocket launchers, or “destructive devices” as the ATF bills them. These were not. The ATF even stated they weren’t previously, and so Adamiak had absolutely no reason to doubt that he was buying a lawful item.
This is big because even if a semi-competent court accepted all of the other charges, this is the reason Adamiak is still in prison today. If this were tossed, he’d be free to go about his life. It might not allow him to rebuild his military career or continue his efforts to become a Navy SEAL, but it would at least let him breathe free air and come and go as he pleases.
Instead, he’s still rotting in prison.
The RPG training aids can’t be both firearms and destructive devices. They’re either one or the other, and the ATF already made its decision. While we know they can and do reverse decisions, there’s no evidence that the ATF letter isn’t the current interpretation, which means Adamiak should never have been charged with this.
So either the ATF agents who went after Adamiak knew it and concealed it from the court and from defense attorneys, in which case they committed a crime, or they were unaware of this previous ruling, in which case they were too incompetent to look for any such ruling.
Regardless of which it is, this shouldn’t have been a case at all.
Couple that with the fact that the supposed Sten machine gun Adamiak had is a legal replica that the ATF had to monkey with extensively to make it fire, but couldn’t get full-auto fire because their fix to get the magazine to fit in the mag well wouldn’t allow it to feed, or how perfectly legal, semi-auto MAC-10s were interepeted to be machine pistols, and you’re starting to see just how wrong every aspect of Adamiak’s prosecution really is.
Editor’s Note: After more than 40 days of screwing Americans, a few Dems have finally caved. The Schumer Shutdown was never about principle—just inflicting pain for political points.
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