President Trump acted on Friday to remedy a series of wrongs committed by a weaponized Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) employed by the former Biden administration, according to RedState. He issued pardons to four men convicted in firearms cases.
The first man pardoned was former Navy sailor Patrick “Tate” Adamiak. His 20-year sentence was wiped away by this order. Three other defendants also received pardons in this same order. George Peterson from Louisiana, along with Shane Cox and Jeremy Kettler from Kansas, are among those included.
Adamiak was an active-duty E-6 serving as a military policeman. Federal agents raided his home in Virginia Beach. Agents found cut-up and demilled parts kits in the search. They found inert RPG-7 launchers and M79/M203-related items inside the house. A Denix non-firing STEN replica was also found among the items.
Pre-ban open-bolt semi-auto MAC-style pistols and carbines were seized as well. Two IMI Uzi carbines with display barrels were taken by agents. Several unfinished MAC “flats” were also found during the raid. These flats are just sheet-metal pieces that cannot fire. There were no operational firearms found at the scene.
The government charged him with five counts in total. One count involved receiving or possessing an unregistered firearm. Another count tied the PPSh-41 parts to a machine gun charge. He also faced three counts of possessing unregistered destructive devices. The jury convicted him on all five charges.
The two machine-gun counts received consecutive sentences totaling 10 years. The destructive-device counts ran concurrently with the other sentences. A sum of 20 years plus three years of supervised release resulted from this.
In the hands of a rogue ATF, the replica arms were all treated as functional weapons. Adamiak was charged with multiple charges of machine gun possession. His parts were fitted to other parts he did not have. This was done to form a working gun for the charge. The pardons address the specific wrongs done to these four men. Accountability for the officials who built these cases remains unclear.
