Gunned Down
By: Conner Drigotas
The Hobby
Born in Easton, Pennsylvania, Bryan Malinowski was a highly successful airport executive at the Lehigh Valley International Airport, close to his birthplace, and also in Fort Lauderdale and El Paso. In 2019 he was appointed executive director of the Little Rock Arkansas’ Clinton National Airport.
In early 2024, things were going well for Bryan and his wife, Maer. He was one of the highest-paid city employees in Little Rock, earning more than $250,000 at his full-time job, was on the policy review committee for the American Association of Airport Executives and was a certified flight instructor with instrument and multi-engine ratings. He and Maer were in their 25th year of marriage.
In his free time, Bryan was also a collector. He had been collecting coins since childhood which, as a result of showing his coin collection at gun shows, led to collecting firearms as well.
It was this collection, and his occasional purchase and sale of guns, that led to unwanted attention from the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). At some point prior to 2024, agents took note of his presence and started investigating whether he had shifted from a “hobbyist” to someone “engaged in the business” of selling firearms, which would have required him to purchase an annual Federal Firearms License (FFL) for $65.
Instead of asking Malinowski a simple question about his hobby, however, agents went undercover, placed GPS trackers on his car, and obtained a warrant courtesy of Joe Volpe, a United States Magistrate Judge.
The warrant was granted, but it continues to be unclear whether even that bureaucratic step was justified. The information presented to Volpe by the ATF, stating that Malinowski had bought and sold 142 guns between 2019 and 2023, has been challenged by the Malinowski family attorney who says “the total number of firearms described as sold by Malinowski in the affidavit is less than a dozen.”
Even if he had been buying and selling guns beyond a legal threshold, there is no evidence that Malinowski was a threat to himself or others, no claim that he had been peacefully made aware there may be administrative paperwork required of him, and no path explored by the ATF for resolving these questions without initiating violence.
With so many other paths available, there is little doubt that decision-makers at every step of this process made the wrong choice to authorize what happened next.
The Raid
On March 19, 2024, ATF agents, along with officers from the Little Rock police department donned SWAT gear and arrived at the Malinowski residence before dawn. They cut power to the house and taped over the doorbell camera. Though the affidavit provided by the ATF to Congress says it was not a no-knock raid, it is unclear if agents knocked and how long they waited to enter. Less than a minute after the tape was placed over the camera that could have provided clarity, an ATF agent shot Bryan in the head.
While the initiation of violence is abhorrent on its own, ATF agents and local police may have also failed to follow proper procedure in killing Brian.
Part of the ensuing controversy about the roughly 57 seconds between the tape being placed over the camera and the shooting of Bryan is that the Malinowski’s doorbell camera should not have been the only footage of the event. Because ATF agents and local police were not wearing body cameras, in violation of both groups’ policies, the otherwise easy-to-understand details have been lost. The only direct witness to the events not wearing a badge is the deceased accused.
“There’s something fishy here. The ATF went after him in the worst possible way,” Bryan’s brother told NBC News. “There’s no reason why they couldn’t have arrested him at work at the airport… Something stinks to high hell.”
Bryan’s wife also suffered further harm at the hands of so-called law enforcement officials in the hours immediately following her becoming a widow. After shooting her husband, they forcibly took her outside in 34-degree weather, wearing only a nightgown, and kept her there for upwards of four hours.
According to attorney Ryan Cleckner, “In an audio recording from a police vehicle she can be heard sobbing, asking why they killed her husband, and insisting that the agents must have the wrong house because she and her husband are honest, law-abiding citizens.”
With so little evidence to justify the raid, the killing, and the mistreatment of Maer, it is not a stretch to imagine that this could have happened in your neighborhood, to your friends, or to your spouse. When questions arise and government officials feel compelled to get involved, they should exhaust peaceful options and seek to respect each person's innate value in the process.
The ATFermath
The initial and deadly violence was brief, but the ripple effect of the raid continues to grow. Legislators in Arkansas have been keen to understand what went wrong, and the issue has also been brought up before federal legislators – though neither state nor federal officials have done more than talk about possible accountability.
"An Arkansan was killed in his own home. The federal government kicked his door in and killed him.” Malinowski family Attorney Bud Cummins told Arkansas state lawmakers in an October 1, 2024, hearing, “Bryan Malinowski was an innocent man. He has not committed any crime, and ATF didn’t have evidence that he had committed a crime. Their methods and the tactics that they chose were the most aggressive possible for executing a search warrant for probably the lowest level alleged federal crime in the book.”
This is far from the first time that ATF agents have engaged in questionable behavior, from the well-publicized and now infamous murder of 82 people in Waco, Texas, to the less well-known executions of Craig Robertson, Sina Chohili Sobby, and many others.
According to an investigation by NBC News, 223 people were shot by officers working for or with the ATF, FBI, DEA and Marshals Service, in 216 different incidents between 2018 and 2022. Twenty-two of them were bystanders or not the intended target of the operation. Of the 144 investigations into 216 incidents, only two were found to be not justified.
Federal prosecutors have declined to bring charges against the ATF agents who raided the Malinowski’s home, leaving the door open for future raids against hobbyists and peaceful people - without regard for American’s Constitutional or human rights.
The same government that authorized the act is being tasked with identifying wrongdoing, and those footing the bill, the citizens of Little Rock, are left with redacted documents and an incomplete picture. The unredacted information has been requested by members of the Arkansas House delegation and House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jim Jordan, but it remains to be seen whether ATF officials will provide them willingly, or seek protection from the courts. Another Volpe-esq decision may wait in the wings.
So it is left to us, you and me, to remember and question and demand better. It is not enough to give away responsibility to a far distant decision-maker in an agency or courthouse and wash our hands of any responsibility for what comes next. As James Mill wrote in 1835, "Who are to watch the watchmen? —The people themselves"
As you read this on your screen, there is a value judgment to be made about the governance you’re paying for: Is the ATF protecting happiness, harmony, and prosperity – or initiating violence that undermines those vital elements of human flourishing?
Was $65 worth the loss of a life?
Bryan Malinowski was laid to rest on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, with a memorial service in Little Rock Arkansas. The ATF agents who killed him continue to put food on their table courtesy of your tax dollars.
