Whipped Cream Difficulties

The airport director who was shot by BATFE has passed away.

Neither the ATF, state police nor federal prosecutors would provide details of what agents were looking for, citing an ongoing investigation.
Around 2:35 p.m., Little Rock firefighters carrying a power saw and a Halligan tool —a large pry bar— were seen walking toward the house. An ATF agent was overheard saying they were at the scene to help agents open a safe in Malinowski’s house, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.

Edited to add: the NYT published a story that includes information from a redacted version of the search warrant affidavit.

The authorities accused Mr. Malinowski of having purchased more than 100 guns in recent years and of illegally selling many of them, including at least three that were later found to be connected with a crime. Mr. Malinowski first bought the guns legally, checking a box on purchase forms stating that the guns were for himself, before selling them privately to individuals, the affidavit states.
He would go to gun shows, the affidavit said, including two in Arkansas and one in Tennessee, and sell guns to people “without asking for any identification or paperwork.”
Photographs included in the redacted affidavit show Mr. Malinowski at a gun show, standing behind a booth filled with firearms. The affidavit also states that Mr. Malinowski had sold guns to two undercover agents who were investigating him.

…

“At worst, Bryan Malinowski, a gun owner and gun enthusiast, stood accused of making private firearm sales to a person who may not have been legally entitled to purchase the guns,” the family said.

This raises all sorts of interesting questions which a) I don’t have time to go into right now, and II) other people have covered at length: what constitutes being a dealer? How many guns do you have to sell in a year before you have to get an FFL? How long do you have to keep a gun before you can resell it? How many years is “recent years”? How many guns can you buy in a year before triggering (ha!) BATFE suspicions? Does BATFE track how many purchases someone makes in a year, or at least how many background checks they have done? Isn’t that illegal? And what if you don’t have background checks done? (In Texas, I don’t have to have a background check done because I have a valid license to carry.)

And what prompted the shooting? Was this a no-knock warrant, and Mr. Malinowski thought someone was trying to rob him? Did BATFE knock and announce, or did they just start breaking down doors?

The Arkansas State Police said in a statement that the results of an investigation would be presented to a prosecuting attorney, who would “determine whether the use of deadly force was consistent with Arkansas law.”

I’m still thinking this is going to be swept under the rug.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 22nd, 2024 at 9:02 am and is filed under Guns, Law, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.