WAS IT A RIGHTEOUS SHOOT?

“Body cams? We don’t need no stinkin’ body cams!”

And that just about depicts the ATF’s attitude towards rules, regulations, and decent law-abiding actions. We don’t know whether Bryan Malinowski was guilty of all the things the ATF has accused him of. We suspect the truth lies somewhere between the ATF and some questionable sales, but that’s not the issue here. We’ll never know if Bryan Malinwoski was guilty because the ATF killed him.

It may have been a righteous shoot or it may have been an execution. We’ll never know. The ATF conveniently didn’t wear body cameras, which would have shown their entrance, whether they warned sufficiently, and most important of all, who shot first. We’ll never know because the ATF didn’t feel they had to follow the rules; amazing, being they nit-pick FFLs, have no tolerance for even minor bookkeeping errors, and will try to strong-arm a gun dealer into surrendering their license rather than face the bureaucracy in full attack mode.

They just don’t follow their own rules.

Here’s a question I’d hope someone – maybe Senator Cotton or Senator Boozman – will ask Director Dettlebach if the ATF would allow agents to participate in a raid like the one on Malinowski’s home if they didn’t have a weapon or body armor. It seems to us that if the protocol involved having armor and a weapon and a body cam, then agents who aren’t fully kitted up shouldn’t risk their lives or careers needlessly by participating when they don’t have the proper gear.

And if all that isn’t enough, how about the valid criticism of the scheduling of the raid? The law allows the ATF to raid between 6am and 10pm. They raided Malinowski at 6:03am. Barely inside of the legal limits. We assume they were excited about starting the day with a paramilitary operation. A bit short-sighted in our opinion.

We know hindsight is 20-20, but it’s certainly worth noting that there were other, less dangerous options available to the ATF. They knew the route Malinowski took to work every day, and they had a tracker on his car. They could have intercepted him anywhere on his way to or from work. If the ATF thought Malinowski was smart enough to know it was them trying to do a traffic type stop on him, they could have called in the Little Rock PD and had them stop him, then taken custody of him. It’s a ploy that’s been used many times in the past, and it works. Forcible entry in the dark of night is the most dangerous way to serve a subpoena or warrant, yet that seems to be the ATF’s chosen method.

Sure, the ATF agents get be “operators,” getting into formation and attacking someone’s home to serve a search warrant, and that makes for a good story when you’re having some after-action adult beverages. Unfortunately they killed the suspect this time. The story isn’t so cool, especially when you can’t prove who shot first. We wonder how often these 6am raids result in death or injury? We’re sure the number is relatively low, but only one is too many.

We can’t continue without saying in the strongest words possible that we respect everyone in law enforcement. This isn’t about the people on the street, although they will get the blame. Our major question is who in ATF leadership – and it could have been the senior agent on scene or the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) in the district office responsible for Little Rock – allowed this team to go on a raid without body cams? We know from personal experience that before the operation starts the team is briefed. At that brief all the parameters, the rules of engagement (ROE), and equipment loadout are discussed and verified. The lack of body cams should result in severe sanctions or penalties or disciplinary actions taken against whoever was responsible for not requiring this equipment. A man was killed and someone, had they done their job, could have ensured the truth was known.

As it stands, those who think the penalty to Malinowski was more severe than he deserved will believe the ATF killed him. Those who believe Malinowski was a criminal and that he shot first will believe he got his just deserts.

As it is we probably will never know, or at least won’t be told, the truth. That seems to be a common thread in any activity of the government that is questioned. It’s time to enforce the laws as written or get them off the books.

It’s time to honor the Constitution and do those things, and run the government as depicted in that hallowed document – maybe even get rid of some federal agencies that are not in the Constitution, remembering that the Constitution limits the power of the Federal Government. If it’s not listed in the Constitution it should be the province of the states or the people.

The job of government according to the bureaucracy is to grow the government. Fortunately the Constitution doesn’t agree.

And no matter what he did or didn’t do, Bryan Malinowski deserved better.