By Tanya Metaksa
What’s New— A Presidential pardon for Patrick “Tate” Adamiak: State Legislatures: California: In the final days of the session passed three more bills and has sent six anti-Second Amendment bills to Gov. Newsom; Remaining Primary Elections Calendar: September 8 & 9 primary elections with listing of endorsed candidates;
Presidential pardon for Patrict “Tate” Adamiak
At the beginning of September 2026, President Donald J. Trump granted Patrick “Tate” Adamiak a presidential pardon, effective immediately. Reporting on the action described the pardon’s operative language as extending clemency to Adamiak and ending the remaining portion of his 20-year federal sentence; Adamiak reportedly had about 16 years left to serve and was released from federal custody.
BREAKING: TATE ADAMIAK PARDONED!
A presidential pardon is an exercise of the President’s Article II clemency authority for federal offenses. It eliminates the legal penalties associated with the pardoned federal conviction, although it does not itself constitute a judicial finding that the prosecution lacked evidentiary support or that the defendant was factually innocent. In Adamiak’s case, the pardon superseded the practical effect of his prison term while leaving the judicial history of the prosecution and appeal important for understanding the controversy.
Patrick “Tate” Adamiak, a former Navy Master at Arms, was prosecuted in the Eastern District of Virginia on federal charges involving alleged unregistered machineguns and destructive devices. Prosecutors maintained that he acquired and transferred illegal weapons, including machineguns, and that searches of his home uncovered additional unregistered firearms and destructive devices. A federal jury convicted him in October 2022, and the district court imposed a 20-year sentence.
Adamiak’s defense disputed the legal characterization of the items at issue. He argued that many were nonfunctional military collectibles, replicas, demilitarized components, or parts rather than operational firearms or destructive devices within the relevant federal statutory definitions. His supporters further contended that ATF’s investigation and expert analysis converted inert items into allegedly operable weapons by adding functional components. The government’s account, by contrast, treated the evidence as establishing unlawful possession and transfer of federally regulated weapons.
In United States v. Adamiak, Case No. 23-4451, the Fourth Circuit largely rejected Adamiak’s appellate claims. He had challenged the sufficiency of the indictment and evidence, jury instructions, constitutional validity of the charges, and aspects of sentencing. The court did not accept his arguments that the firearms statutes were unconstitutionally vague or that the prosecution failed as a Second Amendment matter. It also declined to disturb the great majority of the convictions.
The Fourth Circuit did, however, find a discrete Double Jeopardy violation. The court concluded that two convictions imposed duplicative punishment for conduct involving the same weapon: one count for receiving and possessing an unregistered firearm, and another for possessing and transferring that firearm. Because the Double Jeopardy Clause generally bars multiple punishments for the same offense unless Congress has clearly authorized them, the court remanded with directions to vacate either Count One or Count Two and to resentence Adamiak.
Thus, the appellate decision itself offered narrow relief rather than complete exoneration. The subsequent presidential pardon changed the immediate legal consequences most dramatically by ending Adamiak’s incarceration. But the pardon should be distinguished from a merits reversal: it is an act of executive clemency, while the Fourth Circuit’s ruling remains the relevant judicial decision addressing the prosecution’s substantive and constitutional issues.
State Legislatures: Still in session:
States running through to Dec. 31: Michigan, New Jersey, and Ohio. Pennsylvania session runs through November 30, 2027.
California: Unfortunately, the legislature waiting to adjourn until September 1 and passed three more anti-Second Amendment bill in the final days. Those bills are:
- AB 2047: Restrict the sale or transfer of certain 3D printers unless they include “firearm blocking technology.” Opponents argue that the required technology is not currently feasible and argue that the measure could affect lawful uses of 3D-printing technology, including education, medicine, and manufacturing.
- AB 1974: Revises California’s voluntary firearm-storage framework and affects current procedures governing the custody and return of firearms placed in temporary safekeeping. This new law adds administrative requirements and makes recovery of voluntarily surrendered firearms more difficult or expensive.
- AB 1753: Applies existing Gun Violence Restraining Order procedures and penalties to ammunition possession, in addition to firearms. This expansion of the GVRO framework raises Second Amendment and due-process concerns.
The California legislature is the most creative legislature to develop and pass anti-Second Amendment laws.
Governor Newsom has six anti-Second Amendment bills awaiting his signature or veto.
Primaries – September 8, 2026 and September 9, 2026
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island
Massachusetts: (Sept. 8) With the exception of Representative Turco there are no other endorsements in Massachusetts.
State House: Suffolk District 19: Jeffrey Rosario Turco
New Hampshire: (Sept. 8)
U.S. Senate: This seat is important for the Republicans to hold the U.S. Senate in 2026. Among 12 candidates only John E. Sununu (R) received an A from the NRA-PVF. He is the son of former New Hampshire Governor and White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu and the brother of former Governor Chris Sununu. He served as a Republican former U.S. representative and senator from New Hampshire. Sununu was elected in 1996 to represent New Hampshire’s First Congressional District in the U.S. House, where he served three terms from 1997 to 2003. In 2002, he won election to the U.S. Senate, serving from 2003 through 2009; at age 38, he was the Senate’s youngest member throughout his term. He lost his 2008 reelection race to Jeanne Shaheen.
Governor: Current Governor Kelly Ayotte is endorsed for re-election.
Executive Council: Seat 4: John Stephen: A
U.S. Congress: District 1: Brian Cole: A; Anthony DiLorenzo: AQ
State Senate: District 16: Keith Murphy
State House: Belknap 2: Scott Walker; Belknap 4: Kevin M. Nugent, Jr.; Belknap 6: Rep. Glen Aldrich; Carroll 3 (pick 2): Richard R. Brown; Karel A. Crawford; Carroll 5: Jonathan H, Smith; Carroll 7: Dale Fincher; Carroll 8 (pick 2): Tammy Garthwaite; Colin Mitchell; Cheshire 17: Jennifer Rhodes; Grafton 3: Paul H. Schirduan; Hillsborough 1 (pick 4): Andrew Cavanagh; Deborah Kruzel; Tom Mannion; Hillsborough 13 (pick 6): Dillon Dumont, Cathy Kenny, Jeremy Slottje, Jordan Ulery, Bob Wherry; Hillsborough 19 (pick 2): Matt Drew; Hillsborough 38 (pick 2): Adam Havestock, Ted Trost; Merrimack 2: Gregory Hill: Merrimack 3 (pick 2): Ernesto L. Gonzalez, Werner D. Horn; Merrimack 4 (pick 2): Jose Eduardo Cambrils Michael Moffett; Merrimack 8 (pick 3): Natalie Wells; Merrimack 14: Gary Matteson; Rockingham 1 (pick 3): James Guzofski, Nick Hobart, Paul Tudor; Rockingham 4 (pick 3): Cindy Bennett; Michael Drago, Brian Nadeau; Rockingham 7: Laurence A. Miner; Rockingham 9 (pick 2): Don Selby, Matthew Brooks; Rockingham 10 (pick 10): Brian K. Chirichiello, Anthony Henry, Erica Layton, David C. Love, Stephen C. Pearson, John Potucek, Brandon Back, Stephen Langelier; Rockingham 15 (pick 2): Lilli Walsh; Rockingham 16 (pick 7): Ron Dunn, David Lundgren, Wayne D. MacDonald; Jeffrey McGraw, Sherman Packard. Moira Ryan, Moira Ryan, Gregory G. Carson; Rockingham 17 (pick 4): Bob Lynn, Chales E. McMahon, Daniel Popovici-Muller; Rockingham 25 (pick 9): John Janigan, Dennis Mannion, Valerie McDonnell, Joe Sweeney, Susan J. Vandecasteele; Rockingham 30 (pick 2): Aboul B. Khan, Matt Sabourin; Rockingham 34: Mark A. Pearson; Strafford1 (pick 2): Sue DeLemus, Andy Dow; Sillivan 8 (pick 2): Catherine Peschke, Jonathan F. Stone.
Rhode Island: (Sept. 9) There are no endorsements in this state
