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.”
Mr. Manley grew up in the D.C. area and always had an interest in guns, but his path toward activism started in 2018 when the then-security guard shot and killed an armed robber trying to hold up a District vape shop.
The killing was ruled justified by Metropolitan Police, but because Mr. Manley was working as an unlicensed security guard — and used an unregistered weapon in the shooting — the license for his security company was revoked.
He said he educated himself on gun laws after the incident and then began sharing that information on social media. He now has over 94,000 followers on his “Mark Choppa” Instagram account alone.
Mr. Manley’s growing profile put him in a league of gun owners, dealers and advocates who have either been monitored, approached or, arguably, harassed by the ATF in recent years.
The ATF went viral in 2022 when several agents showed up at the door of a Delaware gun owner, without a warrant, and asked to verify the serial numbers on his weapons.
The agents told the gun owner they were investigating possible straw purchases, or someone who buys guns on behalf of a person who is not legally allowed to own a firearm. Agents said the gun owner caught their attention by buying multiple guns in six months.
A year later, former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican, said a gun dealer in his district was audited by the ATF — shortly after the gun dealer gave congressional testimony that criticized the agency.
Chris Smith of Gulf Coast Gun told lawmakers about how a customer, a Navy pilot, had a firearm purchase denied because his identity was mixed up with a New York man who shared the same name but had an arrest record.
“Chris has held a [federal firearm license] in Florida for years with no issues, and yet the ATF has aggressively audited him without merit and accused him of various clerical errors in an attempt to have his FFL revoked,” Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican, wrote to ATF Director Steve Dettelbach at the time.
But Maj Toure, who founded the Black Guns Matter movement, said the raid at Mr. Manley’s home puts him in the same category as gun hobbyist Dexter Taylor.
Taylor, who is Black, is currently serving 10 years in a maximum security prison for recreationally assembling “ghost” guns, or firearms without serial numbers, inside his Brooklyn home.
Taylor told WCBS the ATF took notice of him by issuing search warrants to gun part manufacturers and then collecting customer lists.
Mr. Toure said the raid at Mr. Manley’s home was likely done in hopes of provoking the advocate into doing something criminal. At the very least, he said the ATF is putting on a “poker face” to try and intimidate Mr. Manley from organizing gun owners in the future.
“What’s happening is they’re trying to scare people — bluff them — into thinking ‘I better not do this. I better be quiet about it.’” Mr. Toure said. “The wrong party here is the ATF. Not the Constitution, not the Bill of Rights, not the American people that are safe and responsible firearms owners.”
Mr. Manley said he is still putting together his “Choppa Days” events, where attendees can fire high-powered weapons in an undisclosed location in Maryland.
He also said he’s crowdfunding legal fees in the event the ATF does take legal action since, as he said, “the feds are known to bankrupt some of the richest people, and I just want to make sure that I’m protected.”
Those who are interested in donating can visit his GoFundMe page.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.