A spokesman for the Second Amendment Foundation discusses a raid gone horribly wrong – and why the ATF needs to change in 2025.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has been making all sorts of controversial moves in 2024, under the guidance of current President Joe Biden. But the Second Amendment Foundation’s Lee Williams recently wrote an articlediscussing how the agency went too far with the raid of a person’s home, with them wrongfully labelling him a felon.
The report tells the story of Mark “Choppa” Manley, a gun collector and Second Amendment advocate who legally owns over 70 firearms in his home in Baltimore. On a morning in mid-November, dozens of armed ATF agents burst into his home, guns pointed at members of his family.
They were the targets of a mistaken raid, as Manley was wrongfully labeled as a “felon.”
“I have done nothing illegal,” Manley explained in the report. “I don’t sell guns. I don’t own any machine guns.” He also made it clear that he has no kind of felony record and, again, all his weapons are owned legally.
Despite the fact that Manley wasn’t charged, his home was damaged, forcing him to create a GoFundMe in an effort to try and compensate. He is also looking into legal means with several attorneys, though the ATF had no comment on the matter.
But this just shows how “Wild West” the ATF has become – and why it’s in need of dire change for the new year, under Donald Trump’s incoming Presidency.
Williams, or another member of the Second Amendment Foundation, join us now to discuss the tactics of the ATF – and what needs to happen next.
Q&A:
- How bad has the ATF become under the guidance of President Joe Biden?
- Why are they so concerned with far-fetched gun laws and trying to hunt down individually unlawfully, like they did with Manley?
- Shouldn’t the ATF pay for the damages caused by Manley’s home? Why are they refusing to respond to the situation that they ended up creating?
- What should happen to the ATF now? Should Trump take control and possibly dismantle the agency? Or put someone in charge that can take it in a better direction?
- Do you think any ATF agents should face charges given what happened with the Manley raid?
- Where can we learn more about the Second Amendment Foundation?
a. You can visit our official website at http://www.saf.org.
Second Amendment Foundation spokespersons available to be your guest:
ABOUT CHRIS CHENG (In Pacific Time)
Chris Cheng serves on the advisory council to the Second Amendment Foundation’s Board of Trustees. He is the History Channel’s Top Shot Season 4 Champion and author of the book “Shoot to Win.” Cheng is an Asian D&I advocate in the gun community; a former Google employee who went from self-taught amateur to pro shooter.
ABOUT MARK WALTERS (in Eastern Time):
Mark Walters is a member of the board of directors for the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. As a nationally syndicated host of two talk radio programs, Armed American Radio and Armed American Radio’s Daily Defense, Mark is heard on hundreds of stations weekly across the country. Mark is the co-founder of Armed American News and the recipient of the 2015 “Gun Rights Defender of the Year award.” In addition, Mark Walters is co-author of three books, including Lessons from Armed America, Lessons from Unarmed America, and Grilling While Armed.
ABOUT LEE WILLIAMS (In Eastern Time)
Lee Williams is also known as The Gun Writer and has been writing about the Second Amendment, firearms, the firearms industry, and the gun culture for more than ten years. He is the Chief Editor of the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Reporting Project and is a frequent contributor to Ammoland News and Armed American Radio. In addition, Lee serves as a board member of Florida Carry, Inc. He was also an editor for a daily newspaper in Florida. Before becoming a newspaper editor, Lee was an investigative reporter in three states and a U.S. Territory. Before becoming a journalist, he worked as a police officer. Before becoming a cop, Lee served in the Army. Lee has earned more than a dozen national journalism awards as a reporter and three medals of valor as a police officer.
ABOUT DAVE WORKMAN (In Pacific Time):
Dave Workman is an award-winning career journalist and senior editor of TheGunMag.com. He writes for Liberty Park Press, Conservative Firing Line, and is communications director for the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. He has authored Op-Ed pieces in several major newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, Seattle Times, and Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and co-authored seven books with Second Amendment Foundation Alan Gottlieb. Workman’s beat is firearms, from politics to the outdoors. He is widely considered an authority on firearms, concealed carry, and gun politics.
The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing, and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 700,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.
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