Sailor convicted of dealing arsenal of machine guns, grenade launchers

Grenade launchers? Check. Anti-tank missile launchers? Also check.

A U.S. Navy sailor who was building and selling a personal arsenal of heavy weaponry — one that could arguably rival what the U.S. is sending to Ukraine — is now behind bars.

Patrick Tate Adamiak, 28, was convicted on Oct. 21 on five counts of “receiving, possessing, and transferring” unregistered machine guns and other destructive devices after an undercover operation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives uncovered the scheme, according to a Department of Justice press release.

Between roughly Oct. 2021 and April 2022, Adamiak, a naval master-at-arms, obtained illegal, unregistered machine guns and sold them online.

Court documents show that, beginning in Oct. 2021, a confidential source with a history of felony convictions contacted Adamiak — at the direction ATF officials — to purchase a Thompson submachine gun. Over the course of the next six months the sailor sold thousands of dollars worth of weapons components via an email address from his company Black Dog Arsenal.

On April 7, shortly after ATF bought at least eight machine gun components from the sailor — including receivers for Polish PPS-43, Russian RPD and Polish PPSH machine guns — agents put an end to the illicit business.

A search of Adamiak’s residence in Virginia Beach unearthed another 25 unregistered machine guns, two grenade launchers and two anti-tank missile launchers, the press release said. Agents also found five improvised explosive devices, according to court records.

Adamiak’s service record, provided to Military Times, shows that he enlisted in the Navy in 2012. He is currently listed as active duty and was most recently assigned to the Gerald R. Ford class aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy.

Adamiak’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 31, 2023. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each of the five counts of his conviction.

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