A Brooklyn man has been found guilty of 13 weapons charges after being arrested and charged in 2022 for building his own firearms.

Dexter Taylor, a 52-year-old New York City native and a software engineer, became fascinated with gunsmithing and weapons sciences and began building his firearms during the onset of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic lockdowns.

He ended up building multiple firearms, including six AR-style rifles and nine Glock-style pistols. Since then, he has taken up gunsmithing as a dedicated hobby that he plans to turn into a business.

“I found out that you can actually legally buy a receiver and you can machine that receiver to completion, and you buy your parts and you put them together and you’ve got a pistol or a rifle. And once I saw that I was hooked. I was like, ‘This is the coolest thing ever. This is the most cool thing you could possibly do in your machine shop,'” Taylor said in an interview before his conviction.

However, when a joint Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and New York Police Department task force discovered he was legally buying parts from different companies, they opened up an investigation that led to a Special Weapons and Tactics raid on his home and his subsequent arrest.

After being arrested and charged in 2022 for building his own firearms, the jury found Taylor guilty of second-degree criminal possession of a loaded weapon, four counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, five counts of criminal possession of a firearm, second-degree criminal possession of five or more firearms, unlawful possession of pistol ammunition violation of certificate of registration prohibition on unfinished frames or receivers.

The verdict, delivered on April 16, saw Taylor found guilty on most counts, with sentencing scheduled for May 13. Taylor is expected to face a prison term of between 10 and 18 years.

Judge says Second Amendment does not exist in NYC courtroom

Vinoo Varghese, the defense attorney representing Taylor, detailed a contentious narrative of bias against the defendant.

According to Varghese, Judge Abena Darkeh repeatedly disrupted his opening statement and hindered his efforts to establish Taylor’s defense. The judge explicitly instructed the defense to refrain from invoking the Second Amendment because it has no relevance in the New York City courtroom.

“Do not bring the Second Amendment into this courtroom. It doesn’t exist here. So you can’t argue Second Amendment. This is New York,” Varghese said, recounting Darkehh’s words. “She rejected these arguments and went out of her way to limit me.” (Related: RFK Jr. is pro-Second Amendment, pro-First Amendment, anti-war and pro-border security.)

Moreover, Varghese stated that there were attempts to portray Taylor as a dangerous individual involved in illicit firearms manufacturing in his basement. In turn, the prosecution did not allow Taylor’s family to show support in the courtroom, nor did they allow his neighbors, who knew about the hobby, to testify on his behalf. Varghese described the prosecutor’s opening statement:

“He opens up, and he says that Mr. Taylor had a parade of horror. He was building this horrible place. When they saw this horror that he was making under the noses of his neighbors because all of those guns intended to hit their targets, basically implying that he was going to do some harm with these things,” Varghese said.

Varghese repeatedly countered the narrative, but the judge interrupted him throughout the trial to shut down the argument. This led the jury to believe they must convict despite arguments for jury nullification.

“I actually argued that jury nullification is allowed because there is some law from the High Court of New York that talks about lawyers who made jury nullification arguments. And basically, they said that judges shouldn’t encourage it, but they can’t prevent it. I actually made a pitch directly to Judge Darkeh to allow me to argue during nullification. She, of course, rejected that. She basically said, ‘You must vote guilty’ without saying ‘you must vote guilty.'”

Learn more about the assault on gun rights in America at Guns.news.

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