LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KAIT/KARK) – A shootout involving the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the executive director of Clinton National Airport has raised both questions and concerns.
Executive Director Bryan Malinowski died on Thursday, March 21 following a shootout with ATF agents on the morning of Tuesday, March 19 following a search of his home.
An unsealed affidavit after Malinowski’s death alleged he unlawfully sold guns without a license.
Content partner KARK-TV spoke with Attorney and gun laws expert Jeff Wankum, who said attorneys are familiar with private gun sales and what federal agents identified as part of the gun show loophole.
“There’s a lot of debate about what they call the ‘gun show loophole,’” he said.
Wankum explained gun show loopholes are essentially where a private gun seller becomes a business, and there is no set line for how many guns someone can sell a year in Arkansas.
The law indicates if a person is buying and selling frequently for profit, the ATF does not consider them a private seller anymore and is in violation because they do not have a license, resulting in the search warrant at Malinowski’s home. A federal firearms license would allow a person to sell guns commercially, but anyone could sell a gun privately.
Legal documents claim Malinowski bought as many as 24 guns at once, saying there were for him and he would then allegedly resell the guns in as few as 24 hours in some cases.
An affidavit said that as of February 2024, six of the more than 150 Malinowski guns purchased and often resold at the gun shows were seized in criminal activity.
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