Patrick "Tate" Adamiak was convicted of possessing NFA devices, even though he and his attorneys have argued that none of those items were actually operable. Unfortunately the courts disagreed with their arguments and Adamiak was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He spent several years behind bars before he was recently pardoned by President Donald J. Trump; a pardon granted after dogged determination by Second Amendment Foundation Lee Williams to raise awareness of his plight.
A case out of the southern district of Illinois bears some resemblance to Adamiak's prosecution, at least on the surface. Yaroslav Vishnevski was recently sentenced to eight years in federal prison for operating what federal prosecutors called a “mini gun factory.”
While building your own firearm isn't illegal under federal law, Vishnevski was accused of producing two homemade short-barreled rifles, as well as illegally possessing two silencers and two additional modified firearms that prosecutors say should have been registered under the National Firearms Act.
Like Adamiak, Vishnevski had no prior criminal history, and though he was in the Individual Ready Reserve instead of active duty as Adamiak was, still had some connection to the military.
There's at least one important difference between the two cases, though. Adamiak maintains that nothing in his possession was illegal or restricted under the NFA, while Vishnevski argues that the charges he faced are unconstitutional.
“Really, I don’t feel like I deserve any time whatsoever for these changes. If anybody is the victim in this situation, it’s me,” he recently told Capitol News Illinois.
The raid of Vishnevski’s home came after customs officials in New York contacted the Illinois State Police Firearms Investigations Unit, notifying the agency they had intercepted a package containing two silencers mailed from China to Vishnevski. Ryan Propst, an ISP special agent with the Firearms Investigations Unit, testified during Vishnevski’s trial that a search warrant of his home was executed after Vishnevski accepted the package, delivered under surveillance.
Vishnevski did not testify at trial. But he addressed the judge in a short plea before sentencing, saying, “I have wronged no one. I have hurt no one. That is it.”
He previously told CNI that he is a survivalist who believes in self-sufficiency and emergency preparedness. He said he’d ordered a large number of gun-making components because he feared the government would soon crack down on people buying them. He said he’d never sold any of the weapons he made, nor committed any crimes with them, and did not face such charges.
A judge in Texas has granted an injunction against the NFA's registration requirement for silencers and short-barreled firearms, but that a) only applies to the plaintiffs in the case and their customers and b) wasn't in place at the time of Vishnevski's arrest. Still, assuming the DOJ doesn't appeal that decision, the injunction might help Vishnevski in his appeal.
The case against Vishnevski seems pretty cut-and-dried. Even if you don't like the NFA and believe it's unconstitutional, it has not been struck down by the courts as of yet. I do find it interesting, though, that Vishnevski was sentenced to less than half of what Adamiak received for allegedly possessing and trying to sell NFA items. That, to me, is yet another bit of evidence that the Biden-era ATF and DOJ were trying to make an example of him.
I'm also appalled by some of the comments the judge in Vishnevski's trial made during his sentencing.
U.S. District Judge Phil Gilbert noted that many mass shooters do not have criminal records before carrying out their attacks. He questioned what purpose Vishnevski had for “hoarding guns” and pointed to medical records showing a history of depression, anxiety and panic attacks, conditions which Gilbert noted appear in the medical histories of many mass shooters.
Gilbert repeatedly stressed that he was not saying Vishnevski intended to become a mass shooter. But he said he remained concerned by his mental health history coupled with the evidence presented in the case.
“I’m not saying you were on the road to being a mass shooter, but you check all the boxes,” Gilbert told him shortly before imposing the eight-year sentence.
Vishnevski pushed back on that characterization. He told the judge he was not mentally ill and said any situational anxiety or depression he experienced stemmed from the federal case against him. He said his panic attacks were limited to a brief period while he was attending medical school, which ceased after he dropped out.
There was simply no reason for Gilbert to compare Vishnevski to a mass shooter, especially when prosecutors hadn't presented any evidence or even made any assertions that Vishnevski intended to commit any kind of violent crime with his firearms. He was prosecuted for what are essentially paperwork crimes, but Gilbert makes it sound like Vishnevski was a dangerous man who might have gone on a rampage if he hadn't been arrested and charged.
Vishnevski told Capitol News Illinois that he believes the judge's comments may help in his appeal. I don't know about those ridiculous statements leading to a reversal of his conviction, but I'd say they absolutely should bear some weight if Vishnevski seeks a modification of his sentence.
Upon close reflection, there are more differences than similarities between Tate Adamiak's case and Yaroslav Vishnevski's. One thing both men have in common, though, is that the punishment they received doesn't really fit the crime. When I spoke to ATF Director Robert Cekada about Adamiak's case, he told me that a sentence of 4 to 5 years would be more appropriate given the charges and Adamiak's lack of a criminal history. I haven't had the opportunity to get his thoughts on Vishnevski's sentence, but it seems to me that eight years is still pretty extraordinary for the possessory offenses that led to his conviction.
