By: Gina Morelli

This could be an enormous problem for the ATF.

They are going to have to defend themselves in court.

And if they don’t succeed, things could get ugly for their agency.

The ATF got itself into trouble once again with its raid on the house of Bryan Malinowski, which tragically resulted in his death.

Of course, this is not the first time the agency has committed an act that led to such a tragedy, as they were famously the ones who set off the Waco tragedy in 1993 with a very unnecessary raid.

Now, as a result of their actions, they are going to have to go to court to defend themselves, as the widow of Malinowski is suing the agency.

She is attempting to have the guns and ammo that were seized from the house during the raid returned to the family.

If she succeeds in this effort, it will show that the entire raid was pointless to begin with, which would be a disaster for the ATF.

There is no way to undo the damage that was caused during this fatal tragedy, but perhaps if the ATF loses in court they’ll think twice before trying to pull another stunt like that.

According to KARK News, “Attorneys for the widow of airport executive Bryan Malinowski filed suit against the United States of America on Dec. 11.

“The suit calls for the government to return 35 firearms and approximately 22,032 rounds of ammunition seized during a March 19 raid on the Malinowski home. Malinowski was killed by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents executing a 6 a.m. search warrant on his home.”

While this raid resulted in the death of one person instead of the more than 70 who perished in the Waco fire, the commonality is that the ATF performed a highly aggressive raid where one was not needed.

This was not a hostage situation or anything like it. They did not need to invade the man’s house, startle him, and lead to a shootout that resulted in his death.

The article continues, “According to the suit, Malinowski exchanged fire with the agents ‘who appeared to be armed intruders.’ At the time, Malinowski was the executive director of Little Rock’s Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport.

“Affidavits filed with the search warrant maintained that Malinowski was selling guns at gun shows without a dealer’s license, contrary to federal law. Attorneys for the Malinowski family have maintained that he was selling the guns legally under the so-called gun show loophole rule that allows private sellers.”

This was quite literally a paperwork issue, and yet the ATF chose to engage in a raid that they had to know was likely to lead to a shootout.

It’s clear that there is a culture of aggression at the ATF that needs to be reined in before something like this happens again.

Maybe a big loss in court will be the thing that finally convinces them to cool their jets and stop causing so much harm.