Judge Says the Second Amendment Doesn’t Apply in New York

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(TargetDailyNews.com) – One NY Judge refused to let a man convicted of gun crimes raise the Second Amendment as a defense, telling the man’s lawyer in open court that the Second Amendment “doesn’t exist here. So you can’t argue [the] Second Amendment. This is New York.”

Dexter Taylor, 52, is a hobbyist and gunsmith who makes a regular practice of ordering gun parts from the internet and putting them together at his home. The parts are all lawfully sourced, but New York state stretched his construction of weapons into multiple felony charges which could result in a maximum penalty of 18 years behind bars.

Taylor is a father, and electrical engineer with 30 years of experience. He has no criminal record. The crux of the issue is the fact he was manufacturing his own firearms which the ATF claims require serialization and licensure. Federal law only requires those in cases where the manufacturer is selling the weapons which isn’t the case here. The ATF used financial records tied to his credit card to track the parts he ordered.

Taylor’s attorney, Vinoo Varghese complained to the media that he was interrupted multiple times during his opening statement by Judge Abena Darkeh. Darkeh refused to let Varghese argue the Second Amendment as a defense, and so he had to preserve the argument in court filings for appeal. Taylor was convicted on Monday, April 23rd. He’s yet to be sentenced, and an appeal will be forthcoming. His conviction guidelines set sentencing at 10-18 years. At a minimum, he’ll be behind bars for a decade for behavior that is constitutionally protected.

The state claimed Taylor should have gotten a permit for the manufacture of the weapons while in practice the state makes those licenses incredibly difficult to acquire. The text of the Second Amendment is clear. The rights of Americans to acquire, own, and operate firearms are protected nationwide by the Second Amendment.

It appears Darkeh is unfamiliar with a recent Supreme Court ruling that made it clear that the Second Amendment does exist in New York and every other state in the union.