Dexter Taylor is sitting in a maximum security prison in New York today, serving a ten-year sentence for the crime of making his own firearms. The Brooklyn software engineer was never charged using any of his guns in the commission of a crime, or selling his unserialized firearms on the black market. Simply for building and possessing his own unregistered firearms in violation of New York law, Taylor was given a tougher sentence than what some armed robbers receive in the Empire State.
Taylor may soon have company after police on Long Island busted a 67-year-old man for having his own home-built cache of firearms, along with several thousand rounds of ammunition and an illegal switch to convert semi-automatic firearms into full-auto machine guns.
An alleged online buying flurry of more than 110 gun parts in a year by 67-year-old Chou tipped off a multi-agency task force, according to authorities. On Tuesday, they executed a search warrant, and allegedly found a fully built, non-traceable ghost gun and nine other firearms.
“Assault rifles, a revolver … five completed lower frames for handguns and an AR-style weapon,” Nassau County DA Anne Donnelly said.
Donnelly said the guns were in all stages of construction.
… Chou’s neighbors said they heard nothing from outside his home on Marcellus Street in Mineola. The house backs against two school yards.
“Even more terrifying is this illegal, dangerous activity was happening steps away from several schools,” Donnelly said. “He had a birds-eye view of Chaminade High School.”
Donnelly’s comments are out of line, unless she has any evidence that Chou was planning on doing something nefarious with the firearms. His attorney says the senior citizen has no criminal history, and so far police have no evidence whatsoever that he planned on selling any of the guns he built.
Based on everything authorities have said to date, it sounds like Chou was a tinkerer who enjoyed building and shooting his own guns in the privacy of his own home (police discovered what they describe as a “makeshift shooting range” in Chou’s basement). I can’t say that it was the smartest decision to purchase or manufacture a switch, which is illegal under both state and federal law, but at this point there’s nothing to indicate that he had any nefarious intentions.
Of course, Dexter Taylor didn’t have any nefarious intentions either, but that didn’t matter to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, who bragged abut sending Taylor to prison for a decade.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “Ghost guns are a threat to New Yorkers everywhere, and my Office is working tirelessly with our partners in law enforcement to stop their proliferation. Today’s sentence should send a message to anyone who, like this defendant, would try to evade critically important background checks and registration requirements to manufacture and stockpile these dangerous weapons. Every ghost gun we take off the street is a win for public safety.”
Like Taylor, police on Long Island were apparently tipped off to Chou’s gun making though his online purchases of gun parts. And, like Taylor, Chou is now looking at spending a decade or more behind bars if convicted for the crime of assembling his own firearms without the permission of authorities.
I’d like to think that Chou’s age and lack of criminal history will result in the D.A. offering him a decent plea deal, but with Donnelly insinuating that he was an incipient school shooter who was thwarted by police she may very well try to make an example out of him instead, just like Gonzalez did with Taylor. With a potential 15-year sentence upon conviction, it’s entirely possible that the 67-year-old could spend the rest of his life behind bars for the victimless crime of building and possessing unregistered firearms, including a machine gun.
That would undoubtably send a message to other New Yorkers who might be thinking about building an unserialized firearm of their own, but it would also highlight the cruel and unusual nature of New York’s gun laws, and their enforcement, which includes classifying these possessory offenses as violent felonies. Chou may have broken the law (though of course he’s considered innocent until proven guilty), but to date authorities have presented no evidence that his activities put anyone at risk or that he had any violent intentions. Dexter Taylor’s ten-year sentence is an ongoing injustice as far as I’m concerned, and based on what we know so far, a lengthy prison term for Chou would be one as well.
Editor’s Note: The mainstream media continues to lie about gun owners and the Second Amendment.
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