(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) President Donald Trump pardoned Friday Patrick “Tate” Adamiak, the former Navy sailor serving a 20-year federal prison sentence in a high-profile gun case that drew widespread condemnation from pro-Second Amendment organizations, activists and Republican lawmakers.
Adamiak, 32, of Virginia, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2023 after a federal jury convicted him of federal firearms offenses involving unregistered machine guns and so-called destructive devices. But the facts of the case were far more complicated than the government’s description suggested.
Adamiak’s family, alongside a coalition of pro-gun organizations, had advocated for his pardon since Trump took office in 2025.
“We haunted the halls of the White House, stopping everyone we could find who was willing to hear his story. We called on all of you to spread the word about the injustice this innocent Navy sailor faced,” the National Association of Gun Rights said in a statement.
Patrick Adamiak is PARDONED!
WE DID IT!We haunted the halls of the White House, stopping everyone we could find who was willing to hear his story. We called on all of you to spread the word about the injustice this innocent Navy sailor faced.
And it worked.
We cannot give… pic.twitter.com/L5HmsqbptY
— National Association for Gun Rights (@gunrights) September 4, 2026
Trump’s full and unconditional pardon frees Adamiak from the 16 years remaining in his sentence.
Adamiak’s case was triggered after the Biden-led ATF, through a controversial confidential informant, purchased gun parts and firearms from Adamiak. Adamiak’s defense attorneys and the pro-gun rights groups disputed the ATF’s assertions at trial.
The Second Amendment Foundation contended at the time that Adamiak never sold a single firearm. Instead, Adamiak’s hobby involved selling military memorabilia and lawful and dummy gun parts.
Federal prosecutors claimed that a PPSh-41 barrel shroud that Adamiak agreed to broker constituted a firearm.
The SAF said that the shroud never qualified as a firearm under federal regulations.
The informant also recalled seeing a grenade launcher and a machine gun in Adamiak’s possession despite Adamiak’s attorneys saying that the items were replicas and nonfunctional.
SAF noted that the ATF used these claims to apply for a search warrant.
“They manufactured crime to convict me,” Adamiak said in 2025, according to the Second Amendment Foundation.
During the trial, prosecutors claimed that Adamiak’s sentence should be increased because 1,012 items were seized. However, his defense argued that most of these items were flat pieces of sheet metal.
A page run by Adamiak’s family said he had no criminal history. Retired ATF agent Daniel G. O’Kelly also reportedly said that none of the items seized from Adamiak qualified as firearms.
The family noted that the ATF had failed to notify Adamiak that its new policy would criminalize the sale of the items. It also said that the items the ATF used to charge Adamiak remain available for sale on the firearms market.
Adamiak’s military service ended with a discharge with full honors after 10 years of active duty in the Navy.
Adamiak’s defenders raised more than $65,000 for his legal defense.
Headline USA has reached out to Adamiak’s family for comment on his plans now that he is free.
