Bryan Malinowski, executive director of Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, was fatally wounded in a shootout as ATF agents tried to serve a search warrant at his home.

An executive for the Little Rock, Arkansas, airport who was killed in a shootout with federal agents this week had been under investigation over gun sales, search warrant records unsealed Thursday show.

Bryan Malinowski, 53, who was executive director of Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport, was shot after he opened fire at federal agents who arrived to serve a warrant Tuesday morning, officials said.

Malinowski died Thursday, his family said. His brother has said he was shot in the head.

  • Maple Engineer@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    They is an important lesson in this. Taking up arms against the government has two possible outcomes.

    1. You end up in prison.

    2. You and up dead.

    You are one person with a small number of consumer firearms. The government can show up with a virtually unlimited number of people, with bigger guns, and weapons up to and including tanks, helicopters, and precision guided bombs.

    Whatever collective fantasy you have about you and a group of friends overthrowing the government with your AR15s end up with you in prison or dead.

    • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      That’s not how revolutions work…a large chunk of people will need to be basically homeless, hungry and jobless for everything to kick off. So long as people can still get their chicken nuggets and iPhones and they have a place to sleep, there will be no revolution. It’s ignorant to say that small arms can’t do anything, it’s how we lost Vietnam/Iraq/Afghanistan. All small arms, because bombs cannot patrol street corners, and if you start killing Americans, you’re going to just feed a revolution, remember you probably live right next to one of these so called gun nuts …and bombs don’t give a shit if his house explodes and showers yours with flaming debris.

      • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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        8 months ago

        It’s also not what the revolutionaries need. A revolution in America would need to target power actors (owner class, politicians would just get you more politicians paid for by the same billionaires), precisely and relatively quickly.

        Bombs and heavy or indiscriminate weapons would only harm that cause by turning the people against you. Honestly small fire arms and poisons would probably be the most effective weapon in a revolution that could actually lead to any real change.

        • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Yep, we the USA, literally created the terrorism we know today, via blowing up people there indiscriminately. How no one here gets that is beyond me.

        • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Yep. Keep the people fed, happy and you starve revolutions. It’s why China continues to give their population crumbs, it keeps them from uprising.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        a large chunk of people will need to be basically homeless, hungry and jobless for everything to kick off.

        Nah, you just need enough people armed, angry, and overconfident

        • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          I can’t tell if you’re joking or not, but no you absolutely do need people with nothing left to live for, we already have armed angry and overconfident people…

    • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      You say that but Clive Bundy, who had a stand off with the federal government because he didn’t feel like paying grazing fees on land that was not his, had his trial dismissed. His son, anarchist Ammon Bundy, who had an armed standoff against the federal government in Malheur Wildlife Refuge which resulted in a death, was acquitted.

      • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        And the people at Waco had their children burned to death.

        Almost as if the government can pick and choose when to unleash full force.

        • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          Yeah, I was going to make that point after I posted but got side tracked. I would have mentioned Rugby Ridge though.

      • Maple Engineer@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        If the government had wanted him and his people dead they would have been dead. The only reason they weren’t was that the government showed restraint. If you think they could have won had the government decided to end them you are delusional.

        • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          Given that Clive Bundy has 14 kids, there is a good chance that one of them is named Al and maybe even Ted.

    • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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      8 months ago

      Taking up arms against the government has two possible outcomes.

      Dunno, my grand-grandparents ended up old Bolsheviks with party membership since 1919.

      You are one person with a small number of consumer firearms. The government can show up with a virtually unlimited number of people, with bigger guns, and weapons up to and including tanks, helicopters, and precision guided bombs.

      Which is why taking up arms against the government should be approached like an engineering task and not like some impulsive action from Hollywood movies. But it sometimes happens.

      And what you are saying wasn’t very different even in 14xx-s, to be frank.

      • Maple Engineer@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        In the 14xxs the balance of power was fairly even. They didn’t have B52s dropping ninja bombs or A10s or helicopters with mini guns. Gravy Seals will die if they take on the government.

        • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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          No, it was absolutely the same. Professional soldiers and knights with good gear and lifetime experience would easily massacre any amateur force and they regularly did.

          It was less about technology (though a piece of that gear would cost a few villages with serfs, so technology too) and more about experience, but that’s the case now as well.

          • Maple Engineer@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            So you think that the difference between a farm implement and a sword and armour is the same as the difference between an AR15 and a B52 wirh a ninja bombs, an A10, and a helicopter with side mounted mini guns?

            Well then, by all means, have at 'er.

            • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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              8 months ago

              Doesn’t have to be the same. The distance from Earth to the Moon is not the same order of magnitude as the distance from the Moon to the Sun, but for many purposes could as well be.

              • Maple Engineer@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                That is utterly ridiculous. Literally worthy of ridicule.

                The peasant and knight could see each other. They had to be within a few yards of each other. The US government could take you out from an airplane 10 miles up and you would just end without knowing it was coming.

                But, as I say, by all means, bring it. The rest of us would like to have it over and get on with our lives.

                • nomous@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  Does the government just bombing poor farmers ever work though? Recent history indicates a handful of determined fighters stand a really good chance against the U.S. military. Actually, has a conventional force ever won against a local insurgency?

                • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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                  8 months ago

                  That is utterly ridiculous. Literally worthy of ridicule.

                  I think you’re the only thing here worth of ridicule.

                  The pleasant and knight could see each other. They had to be within a few yards of each other. The US government could take you out from an airplane 10 miles up and you would just end without knowing it was coming.

                  A cat and a mouse too, but I haven’t head of a mouse killing a cat.

                  The rest of us would like to have it over and get on with our lives.

                  That’s a good point, wasted enough of my time on a modern equivalent of that peasant.

    • rustydomino@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Beyond your point, I always felt that the Second Amendment, ostensibly for the purpose of overthrowing the government, is completely redundant. That is to say, if you’re plotting to overthrow the government by force of arms, whether your firearm is constitutionally protected is kind of moot by that point. Ergo, the 2A should have no relevance with regards to holding government tyranny in check.

      • Zaktor
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        2A for overthrow purposes means you and your militia buddies can build up an armory that the government can’t take away. Pre-overthrow you’re lawful citizens doing perfectly fine civilian stuff. It’s a just in case, probably not even going to be used. Once you’re rebels, sure, laws don’t matter, but if they make preparing yourself to be credible rebels illegal, then the rebellion never gets off the ground.

        • rustydomino@lemmy.world
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          There is literally zero evidence for that. In armed insurrections around the world where firearms are supposedly illegal for civilians to hold, rebels have never had trouble getting a hold of guns.

      • harrys_balzac@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2A is all about government tyranny - it was a concession to the slave states so they could have local organizations (militias) to prevent/eliminate slave uprisings and to pursue runaway slaves.

      • Maple Engineer@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        The balance of power is dramatically different now.

        Then the people had long sticks with sharp points, the government had long sticks with sharp points.

        Now the people have AR15s, the government had B52s that can drop Ninja bombs from 40,000 feet and kill you while you’re having a cigarette on your balcony.

        But by all means, get out your AR15s and give it a go.

      • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        You’re not even comparing apples and oranges here; it’s more like apples and Apple computers.

        He wasn’t part of a revolutionary army, he was an untrained lone gunman who was seriously outnumbered.

        Also, pretty much every successful revolution has had some outside force bearing down on the Establishment. Washington had the French Navy; the Viet Cong had Russia and China; Lenin had WW1 chaos on his side.

      • iegod@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        You are disproportionately wrong. Like several orders of magnitude wrong.

  • Zaktor
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    8 months ago

    But they also questioned why the ATF conducted what they characterized as a dawn raid on a private home that led to the gunfire.

    “Even if the allegations in the affidavit are true, they don’t begin to justify what happened,” the family said in the statement, released by an attorney acting as their spokesperson.

    Yuuup. Shitty gun nut giving guns to people without any sort of checks, but showing up at dawn doesn’t do anyone any good. There were so many other ways to handle this that didn’t invite chaos.

    • GooseFinger@lemmy.world
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      I wouldn’t trust what the ATF has said yet. They fabricated evidence that people at Waco were selling machine guns and explosives to justify their standoff and raid there, turns out all of that was a lie.

      They have all the incentive to take control of this story now so public opinion takes their side. Not unsurprisingly, they did the same thing after Waco and Ruby Ridge.

      Even if everything the ATF said here is proven completely true, I agree - fuck the ATF, there was no reason to surround this person’s house and start shooting. We should all expect much more out of our government than this. Disband these thugs.

      • Zaktor
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        8 months ago

        Never trust any cop’s version of a shooting. They lie, all the time, and then when they’re caught lying they “initiate an investigation” and then just wait for people to forget about it.

    • hypnotoad@lemmy.ml
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      Wait, serving a warrant needs to be done during business hours now? Do you all hear yourselves? When cops knock on your door, pulling a gun on them will always result in you getting shot at, be it at dawn, afternoon, or evening.

      Maybe just don’t pull a gun on the cops at your door and this doesn’t happen. Just a thought.

      • Zaktor
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        What benefit does a dawn raid provide over just showing up when he’s expected to be out of the house? It’s worse at protecting evidence, a harder tactical situation for the cops (entering a building where the target can ambush, easily access weaponry, and shoot from cover), and worse for the target making rational decisions (like not shooting at cops). Ignore the target, because you presumably think he got what he deserved. One of the agents got shot and they didn’t have to.

        This wasn’t an imminent danger situation where if they didn’t get him at 6 am he was going to set off a dirty bomb at 7 and disappear into the wind. He was going to go to work and then come home later to do the same slow and steady crime he’d been doing for months.

          • Zaktor
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            We don’t really know how aware he was that they were cops. Breonna Taylor died because her boyfriend didn’t know they were cops.

            Sure, this could just be a survivalist whacko taking his last stand once the gubmint finally came for him, but it also could be triggering someone’s fight or flight when they’ve surrounded themselves with tools for fighting and a fearful mindset. And again, a cop got shot. They should do stuff to avoid that.

            • hypnotoad@lemmy.ml
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              This was a guy performing career criminal moves. Totally different than Breonna Taylor (which is totally fucked for its own reasons, to be clear). But these are not the same. This guy knew exactly who was at his door, and what he was doing.

              • 5too@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                None of which answers the question - why did this need to be a dawn raid, instead of going in while he was out at work?

              • Zaktor
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                People doing “career criminal moves” (fucking copaganda bullshit framing making an unusual appearance against a white suspect for once) don’t have some magic cop-sense and often are worried about being the subject of violent crime. Doubly so if this was some rich white dude mainlining Fox News 24/7.

                You don’t know anything about what he knew or why he shot at them, but fuck it, go to the mat for the boys in blue like a good bootlicker.

      • cybervseas@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        When folks in black armor show up with guns at the crack of dawn (or the middle of the night, see Breonna Taylor), either pounding on the door or knocking it down, I think I’d be in a very weird headspace. Scared, angry, confused, maybe violent too idk. Whether they say they’re police, whether they actually are, and whether I’d be able to understand them screaming at me is all questionable.

        • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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          He was a college educated executive at an airport, which means he was interacting with the TSA and other law agencies on a daily basis. He knew that he was in violation of the law. He should have acted like a professional crook and had his lawyer’s number ready.

          If you read ‘The Autobiography of Malcolm X’ his advice to crooks was to cooperate with the police when they come for you. He knew what he was talking about, because he was a thief and drug dealer before finding religion in prison.

          • hypnotoad@lemmy.ml
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            8 months ago

            I love the defense of shooting at cops serving a legitimate warrant here, it’s absolutely wild

            • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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              MAGoo logic at it’s finest. Back the Blue, until they come for you!

              I just had an exchange with a fellow who claimed that Trump didn’t commit fraud because none of the banks complained.

  • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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    So, after being shot at, the agents decided to ‘stand their ground’ and return fire?

    If you think Kyle Rittenhouse was innocent, you should have no problem with this.

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    More evidence guns won’t help anyone one/couple people who think they can fight the whole federal government.

    • somethingchameleon@lemmy.ca
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      Yeah. The argument that the 2nd amendment is necessary to protect against tyranny only works when there is a collective effort to fight back.

      A handful of renegades weren’t going to topple colonial Britain, either.

      • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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        A handful of renegades weren’t going to topple colonial Britain, either.

        They never did.

        America had the French navy and the post WW2 anti-colonial forces were facing an exhausted foe with no will for a long battle.

  • Crank_it@lemmy.world
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    This guy was absolutely crushing it at life.

    Executive of an airport or illegal gun runner are both badass jobs. Having either of of them would be amazing.

    This absolute legend was doing BOTH.

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    You know how in the USA you’re supposedly innocent until PROVEN guilty? Yeah well being shot to death in your own house while being innocent in accordance of the law says you have no rights at all.

    He could have been guilty. We don’t know. He was never tried. He was executed in cold blood as an innocent man.

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      I am usually against gun violence in general but it’s hard to sympathise when you’re the first one to shoot someone. At least that has been the report so far and from what little his family had shared, it is likely the truth. He wasn’t executed but died to his own stupidity based on what we know as of now.

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        The ATF said that people at Waco and Ruby Ridge shot first too, turns out that was a lie.

        We shouldn’t believe a word they say about this case yet, wait for an investigation to take place. For some ungodly reason, they have a track record of fabricating gun charges against people, surrounding their home with armed men, and claiming they were shot at first when stories like this hit the news.

        • RogueBanana@lemmy.zip
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          That’s why I said as far as we know for now in multiple places. I am not saying I believe them either, quite the opposite actually. I don’t believe then but I wouldn’t disbelieve them and assume the victim is telling the truth. There are examples of both being wrong but some often make up their mind and blindly trust one party over other. You should always base it on the available information and change your opinion when something new comes to light.

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        Did Breonna Taylor die for her boyfriends “stupidity”? Police raids are often indistinguishable from a criminal invasion to a groggy target. “What we know right now” doesn’t tell us anything about the actions of the cops leading up to the shooting…

      • TechNerdWizard42@lemmy.world
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        Rednecks fought for the right to shoot an intruder in your house. It doesn’t matter if he was stupid or guilty. He shot someone breaking into his house with his legally acquired weapons while a completely innocent man.

        If that’s no longer allowed then let’s make it law. Because now, it’s just hypocrisy

        • rbesfe@lemmy.ca
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          Federal agents executing a search warrant are not “breaking in”. Are you being purposefully stupid or something?

            • RogueBanana@lemmy.zip
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              That’s rich coming from you, let’s leave it at that. This sound more and more like troll now.

    • derf82@lemmy.world
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      Then maybe don’t start shooting when agents come to your door with a valid search warrant.

      You challenge things in court, not with a gun.

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        That’s the opposite argument every weapon carrying redneck in America uses. You serve justice at the door, not the court.

        Serving a no knock at dawn by a paramilitary force is not something that happens in a free democracy.

        Fuck these and all police.