Freedom ForTate Arrested
Tate is arrested, and his home is raided by dozens of armed federal agents several days before Biden announces new gun part regulations to the public for the first time.
April 7th, 2022At 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.
Similarly, deactivated grenade and rocket launchers have long been classified as curios and are widely displayed in museums, VFW halls, and private collections.
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 and Firearms Enforcement Officer Jeffrey Bodell attempted to modify the toy STEN to fire a real round, despite the fact that:
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.
During the ATF raid on Tate’s home, they seized:
Instead of recognizing these as legal, AUSA Victoria Liu and ATF Lead Agent William argued that because they “looked” like weapons, they were weapons.
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.
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.’"
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.
Tate is arrested, and his home is raided by dozens of armed federal agents several days before Biden announces new gun part regulations to the public for the first time.
April 7th, 2022Biden holds press conference about ATF’s new priority to regulate gun parts.
April 11th, 2022Tate is convicted for possession of unregistered firearms (non-functional military replicas/various gun parts that were NOT covered by any federal statute prior to the new rule).
Oct 21st, 2022Federal court of appeals strikes down and vacates ATF's illegal rule.
November 9th, 2023Sadly, Tate is still in federal prison, the prime years of his adult life robbed, appeal pending in the 4th Circuit.
January 2025