Senate committee hears hours of testimony on proposed 'Anti‑ATF Commandeering' bill after fatal Little Rock raid

Senator Stubblefield presented Senate Bill 399, described in committee as the "Anti‑ATF Commandeering Act," and the panel adopted an amendment before hearing more than two hours of testimony both supporting and opposing the legislation.

The bill and its amendment would bar state and local officials from providing material aid or support to federal enforcement of certain federal firearms regulations, rules, executive orders, treaties or administrative orders, while including limited exceptions (for example, where a suspect is not a state resident or is not present in the state).

Supporters told the committee that the legislation is intended to protect Arkansans from federal overreach and to prevent local law enforcement from being used to execute federal searches and enforcement actions they characterized as unnecessary or dangerous. Leah Herron, who identified herself as a member of the board of Gun Owners of Arkansas and a firearms instructor, said the bill would protect citizens after recounting the March raid that killed Brian Malinowski and injured officers. “I believe that this act is very important to protect citizens in Arkansas from these unwarranted, with cameras off, looking for evidence,” Herron said. Another supporter, Jessica Rhee, described worries about an unannounced early‑morning raid and said: “Mr. Malinowski wasn’t targeted for breaking laws, and if he was, there would have been an arrest warrant. And that wasn’t the case.”

Opponents — including elected prosecutors, the Arkansas State Police and associations representing chiefs and rank‑and‑file officers — said the bill would hamper investigations and remove tools used to prosecute violent crime. Bob McMahon, representing the Arkansas Prosecuting Attorneys Association and speaking for the attorney general’s office, said the association opposes SB399 because, in his view, the bill would restrict cooperation with federal partners (not only ATF but also the FBI, DEA, Homeland Security and the U.S. Attorney’s Office) and limit options prosecutors have used in successful federal‑state joint efforts. “The success of that initiative depends in large part on the state and local officials, both prosecutors and my law enforcement colleagues, to share ballistic evidence, ballistic information, firearm recovery data,” McMahon said.

Major Stacy Rhodes of the Arkansas State Police told the committee that some high‑profile investigations would have been more difficult without federal assistance, citing firearms tracing and the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), which the state police use to connect casings recovered in violent crimes. “Without access to the national integrated ballistics information system, we would not be able to connect weapons to gang members and to other homicides,” Rhodes said.

Police and law‑enforcement associations warned that the proposed restrictions would affect more than ATF cooperation. Michael Gibbons, vice president of the Arkansas Fraternal Order of Police, said the bill “will have lasting effects on local law enforcement” and highlighted investigations that rely on federal tools to connect crimes or to prosecute weapon‑related offenses under federal statutes. David Young, chief of police in Russellville and president of the Arkansas Association of Chiefs of Police, said smaller agencies rely on federal partnerships because they lack the resources to pursue certain kinds of investigations alone.

Many witnesses tied their testimony to the March Little Rock raid that resulted in Malinowski’s death. Supporters of SB399 described that raid as an example of unnecessary federal‑local cooperation; opponents said they could not comment on every detail of that single case but argued that criminal investigations and prosecutions often require state‑federal collaboration. Several speakers emphasized prosecutorial discretion and the many procedural safeguards that precede federal search warrants.

The committee voted earlier to adopt an amendment to SB399 offered by Senator Rice (motion and second recorded on the record) that refocused the text on “material aid and support” for federal enforcement of firearms rules and added clarifying exceptions. The amendment language added express exceptions where the suspect is not a state resident or is not present in the state and said the section would not prevent state law enforcement from accepting information from federal agencies for enforcing state laws.

No final committee vote on SB399 was recorded in the hearing transcript. Committee members asked numerous technical and policy questions about the scope of the proposed prohibition and its impact on local prosecutions, joint task forces and evidence‑sharing systems.

Why it matters: supporters described the bill as a state‑level check on federal enforcement methods after a raid that killed a resident; opponents argued it would remove cooperative tools that have assisted in prosecuting violent crime and terrorism‑related offenses and that state public‑safety agencies regularly rely on federal investigative resources and databases.

The committee’s record shows an amendment was adopted; the transcript does not show a final recorded passage or failure on SB399 during this hearing.