By Lee Williams
SAF Investigative Journalism Project
The list of false claims and fake charges used to convict former sailor Patrick “Tate” Adamiak is nearly as lengthy as the 20-year prison sentence he received.
Federal prosecutors aided by the ATF convinced a jury to find the former U.S. Navy E-6 guilty of possessing two inert and nonfunctional RPGs, a toy submachinegun their ATF “expert” claimed was a real submachinegun after he got it to fire one round by using a real submachinegun barrel and receiver, and five very expensive and very legal handguns, which fired only semi-automatically from an open bolt, even though the ATF “expert” classified them as machineguns.
The jury was never told that all of these supposedly “illegal” arms are still sold online today, or that most don’t even require any paperwork to buy or sell.
But perhaps the prosecution’s greatest false claim were the two federal charges for what prosecutors falsely labeled as “unregistered destructive devices,” which Adamiak was convicted of possessing without the required federal registration.
However, these two “unregistered destructive devices” were in reality legal flare launchers, one an M79-style launcher and the other an M203-style launcher, which are sold online today without any paperwork. Each launcher had a legal 37mm barrel, which were not attached. Each of these launchers, according to ATF rules, is exempt from being classified as a destructive device as long as their owner had no anti-personnel ammunition. Adamiak had none.
Of all the false charges of which he was convicted, these were the worst and made for political reasons, Adamiak said.
“This is yet another instance of the ATF manipulating evidence and over-zealous prosecutors twisting facts to secure convictions. It is apparent to me that the U.S. Attorney’s Office and ATF will stop at nothing to justify budgets, make flashy headlines, and put feathers in their hats,” Adamiak said this week. “These replicas were a part of my collection for years and have completely solid non-functional receivers. Neither the dummy receivers or the barrels are subject to the (Gun Control Act) or the (National Firearm Act).”
All of what prosecutors and the ATF insisted were illegal items are still sold legally online: Inert RPGs, toy STENs, open-bolt semi-autos and especially inert M79s and M203s.
So, how was the former sailor convicted of possessing legal flare launchers?
Ultimately, that was the fault of the prosecutors, the judge and the ATF.
The charges
Three years ago, more than 40 federal agents and police officers raided Adamiak’s home and a rental property he owned. Agents came from the ATF, FBI, HSI, NCIS, SWAT, Bomb Squad and local police.
They seized about 35 replica firearms and parts from Adamiak’s personal collection and labeled them “suspected machineguns and destructive devices.”
The M79 and the M203 that agents seized were basically the same thing. Both are 37mm single-shot launchers, which are designed to fire flares, illumination rounds, smoke markers and non-lethal practice rounds, but not the 40mm high-explosive grenades that prosecutors claimed. It should be noted that 40mm high-explosive rounds are regulated individually by federal law and are nearly impossible for civilians to purchase legally.
“When the ATF raided my house, I voluntarily opened my safe where the M79 and M203 were stored. Right next to them were at least five other flare launchers, in addition to the 37mm barrels that I had for them,” Adamiak said. “The 37mm barrels are automatically exempt from (Destructive Device) regulation if not possessed with anti-personnel ammunition.”
As agents were in his home, Adamiak recalls them taking barrels off of his replica launchers, which are legal, and attempting to install the barrels on his Title 1 receivers, which are also legal. A person can buy an M79 or an M203 receiver as a Title 1 firearm just like a normal rifle or pistol, which is what Adamiak did.
“The ATF literally took two separate legal parts and reassembled them into an alleged illegal configuration so they could charge me,” he said. “It came out in the court proceedings that one of the barrels used to charge me was not designed to be compatible with the Title 1 receiver I had due to dimensional differences, and the other barrel was not manufactured by the same company as the launcher.”
During Adamiak’s trial, ATF Firearms Enforcement Officer Jeffrey R. Bodell testified about the M79 and M203 with about the same lack of candor as he had the inert RPGs, toy submachinegun and the open-bolt semi-autos.
Bodell ignored the exemptions that Congress had authorized and stated under oath that if the replica barrels were a millimeter smaller, they would not have been destructive devices under ATF’s own definition. Bodell never acknowledged that the manufacture of the M203 launchers stated in their advertisements that their receivers are not considered a destructive device until a barrel is mounted. Nor did he testify that it has been long settled by the courts – and even the ATF – that a person can possess various parts and not run afoul of the National Firearms Act unless such items are built or configured into a regulated item.
This unfairness hit Adamiak hard.
“Longtime NFA dealers are selling M79s with barrels not attached as non-Destructive Devices to this day, but to the ATF, mine were an illegal Destructive Device,” he said. “This demonstrates that the ATF is reinterpreting their own agency rules on these devices. It has been a longtime standard that a Destructive Device is not legally ‘made’ until final assembly.”
Adamiak fears the ATF changes could expose millions of American to felonious penalties anytime a prosecutor wants to infringe on someone’s rights.
“Any person that possesses a beer bottle, gasoline and an oily rag could be in possession of a Molotov cocktail, which is a Destructive Device. Any person who has a propellent and PVC pipe laying around could be in possession of a pipe bomb, which is a Destructive Device. Any person with a rifle and a hacksaw could be in possession of a Short Barreled Rifle,” Adamiak said. “Any person with an AR-15 pistol and an AR-15 rifle could be in possession of a Short Barreled Rifle, since the barrels can be swapped. Any person with a shotgun and a hacksaw could be in possession of a Short Barreled Shotgun, which is also technically a Destructive Device.”
Despite the ATF’s flawed testimony, Adamiak was convicted and sentenced to serve 20 years in prison. He spends his days in a federal prison in New Jersey as one of 20 inmates assigned to a large cell. He has retained a new attorney and is appealing his conviction.
Bodell did not respond to calls or emails seeking his comments for this story.
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