The Case

ATF Allegations Statement of Facts

Tate’s Arrest: The ATF Sting Operation

At just 27 years old, Tate became the target of an ATF sting operation. He was indicted for allegedly dealing illegal machine guns and possessing grenade and rocket launchers. While the headlines were sensational, they failed to mention a crucial fact: none of the weapons were functional. Instead, they were cut-up, deactivated WWII relics and historical curios—items that had been legally imported and approved by the ATF for decades.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Victoria Liu led the prosecution, using tactics that misrepresented evidence and relied on misleading testimony to secure a conviction.

The Military Surplus Market: A Legal History

• Machine guns cannot be imported in their complete form.
• To make importation legal, the firearm’s receiver must be destroyed.
• Once destroyed, these parts hold no legal status as firearms and are sold as collectibles.
• The ATF has historically approved the importation and sale of hundreds of thousands of these parts.

Similarly, deactivated grenade and rocket launchers have long been classified as curios and are widely displayed in museums, VFW halls, and private collections.

Why Was Tate Targeted?

Tate’s case became even more complicated due to the ATF’s mishandling of a toy gun and the involvement of a confidential informant (CI), whose credibility was questionable.

According to Lee Williams, former sailor Patrick "Tate" Adamiak legally purchased a Denix replica STEN Mk. II submachine gun at a local gun show for $75. The Denix replica is a non-firing, zinc alloy-based toy, commonly sold online for hundreds of dollars. However, this toy gun became a focal point of the ATF’s case against Tate.

ATF Lead Agent William Hairston and Firearms Enforcement Officer Jeffrey Bodell attempted to modify the toy STEN to fire a real round, despite the fact that:

• The Denix replica STEN had no chamber or rifled barrel.
• Its magazine well was part of a single zinc alloy casting.
• No real ammunition could be fed into the gun without modification.

Bodell forcibly inserted a real machine gun bolt, swapped the fake barrel for a real one, and used electrical tape to make the barrel fit. Despite these modifications, no real magazine could fit into the toy.

To circumvent this, Bodell manually loaded a single round, fired it, and then claimed the toy gun was a machine gun. A former ATF official later reviewed these findings and pushed back against the ATF’s claims, stating that the Denix STEN lacked the components necessary to function as a firearm.

This toy was given more attention than any other piece of evidence in Tate’s trial.

The ATF’s Raid & The Government’s Case

During the ATF raid on Tate’s home, they seized:

• Legally imported, deactivated WWII relics
• Surplus military parts kits (available in open commerce)
• Replica firearms and collectibles (common in museums and historical collections)

Instead of recognizing these as legal, AUSA Victoria Liu and ATF Lead Agent William Hairston argued that because they “looked” like weapons, they were weapons.

The Trial: A Legal Nightmare

Judge Andrea Allen presided over Tate’s case, allowing misleading testimony from government witnesses while blocking critical Supreme Court precedents from being considered by the jury.

• Before Tate’s arrest, the ATF had consistently ruled these relics non-firearms.
• After his arrest, the ATF changed its stance and reclassified previously legal relics as firearms.
• The Denix STEN toy was given disproportionate weight in the prosecution's argument.
• Navy expert Clayton Alikfinkleman was called as a witness to support the government’s claims, despite his lack of qualifications on firearms classifications.
• The ATF’s confidential informant (CI) provided misleading testimony under government pressure.

Despite no evidence of illegal activity, Tate was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

A former ATF official later reviewed Bodell’s findings and determined:

"It is egregious to assert that this STEN replica is a machine gun when it cannot accept a magazine, as the magazine serves as the ammunition reservoir for a firearm. Without a magazine, it can only hold one cartridge at a time, making it impossible to ‘shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger, and therefore, impossible to be a machine gun.’"

A Dangerous Legal Precedent

• 🚨 If an item “looks” like a firearm, it can now be classified as a firearm.
• 🚨 The government can retroactively apply new rules to past legal behavior.
• 🚨 The ATF’s actions have already been ruled unlawful, yet Tate remains in prison.

Tate Needs Your Help

Despite federal courts ruling that the ATF overstepped its authority, Tate is still serving a 20-year sentence.

✋ This case isn’t over. We need your voice.

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