Gun Rights Activist Claims ATF Raid Really Intimidation Tactic

There’s an old saying about the process being the punishment, and there’s a fair amount of truth to it. Many proceedings that may not actually result in someone going to jail can ruin a person who did nothing wrong. It’s not necessary to send someone to prison to destroy their life and punish them for any number of things.

And when you’re a vocal critic of the powers that be, well, it’s hard not to view some actions of those powers that be as an example of using the process as a punishment.

Additionally, some individuals can direct the authorities toward people who they disagree with or simply dislike in various ways. The process is called Swatting, where someone claims someone is killing and threatening people, thus prompting law enforcement to send a SWAT team. This can and has resulted in people being killed, but it doesn’t universally take this form. It can simply be a false “tip” that prompts police to investigate someon.

That’s what one Baltimore gun rights advocate claims happened to him.

A federal raid at the Baltimore home of a gun rights activist ended with no arrests, charges or weapons confiscations, leaving the local advocate wondering if the action was intended to intimidate lawful Black gun owners.

ATF agents announced themselves to Mark “Choppa” Manley and his family by tossing a flashbang into his living room and ordering everyone out at gunpoint during the predawn search days before Thanksgiving.

Hours later — after Mr. Manley said agents flipped his house upside down and checked the serial numbers on several of his firearms — authorities only took one of his cell phones for evidence.

The 35-year-old activist, who has brought together hundreds of gun owners for his “Choppa Days” events through social media, said the raid was based on “bad intel” from someone in Southern Maryland who told the feds he was involved in weapons and drug trafficking.

The ATF’s Baltimore Field Office told The Washington Times the search warrant is under seal and it has no comment on the case, but Mr. Manley said his phone was returned last week and he still hasn’t heard about any possible criminal action from his lawyer or authorities.

“I do feel like I was targeted. I do feel like the amount of guns I have made me a target and [put] me on their radar,” Mr. Manley told The Times. “Especially being a minority from the inner city.”

Manley is currently fundraising for legal expenses should the ATF decide to pursue charges, because as he told the Washington Times, “[T]he feds are known to bankrupt some of the richest people, and I just want to make sure that I’m protected.”

I don’t blame him.

Now, the question is just what happened here. Was it the ATF jumping at the opportunity to investigate a vocal critic of gun control, or what is someone more local deciding they’d try and shut up that critic?

We honestly can’t tell. We don’t have enough information to tell one way or another.

What I can tell, though, is that swatting someone like this is incredibly dangerous and problematic. Even if law enforcement does everything in absolutely good faith–and I’m not trusting enough of federal law enforcement to give that benefit of the doubt–it still creates an incredibly tense situation that could, hypothetically, result in someone getting killed.

Just look at what happened to Breonna Taylor, for a moment. No, she wasn’t the victim of swatting, but when law enforcement showed up at her home, she was killed in the crossfire as her boyfriend believed their home was being invaded. This isn’t something that would be unexpected in the raid of a gun rights advocate should it happen to someone like Manley in a similar manner.

Luckily, this time it didn’t, but there needs to be ramifications for false reporting if that’s what happened. I think it’s likely that it is and I think someone should go to prison for it. They endangered not just Manley’s life and the lives of anyone else in his home, but also federal law enforcement officers.