Several weeks ago, reports circulated that reality TV show star Will Hayden of Discovery Channel’s Sons of Guns had been arrested on charges of child molestation. He was released on bail, only to be arrested again, this time on charges of aggravated rape.
Hayden is accused of raping a minor “almost daily” since March 2013 and taking her virginity when she was 11 years old. TMZ reports the girl is Hayden’s daughter.
Discovery channel has halted all future production of Sons of Guns due to the “serious and horrific nature of the charges” which is a pretty impressive statement from a PR flak. Additionally, Red Jacket Firearms has severed all ties with Hayden, likely because having a dude on staff accused of constant child rape is bad for business. Of course, I must now pay lip service to innocent until proven guilty, because these are just charges at this point. But it’s worth noting that the cops decided that they didn’t want him running around in the wild anymore, so they locked him up again.
Quick recap of the facts: Will Hayden has been arrested again for molesting a child, Red Jacket has cut all ties with him, and Discovery has cancelled Sons of Guns. Regardless of Will’s eventual guilt or innocence, it looks like Sons of Guns is (finally) done.
Where there’s smoke…there’s fire
Do not be too quick to judge here. Lot of reasons to try and pin this on him even by his own family.
Watched last season hoping for the show to get back on track. Now I don’t have to waste any more time on wishful thinking. Now to concentrate on the Cubs winning the world series this year.
If it’s true, may he suffer immensely the rest of his days (which are hopefully short). If not, may he find justice and restoration.
And this whole time I thought he was the owner of Red Jacket.
Nope, he hasn’t been the owner of Red Jacket since they switched corporate structures to an LLC so they could keep an FFL license. Will actually lost his FFL way back in 2010 for losing guns.
Losing guns, eh? Any idea what type? I wonder if he lost some select fire weapons.
The way I understood it, it was something more like they had destroyed some AR lowers and hadn’t documented it properly, so the ATF thought they still existed.
Given the rather idiotic regulations/interpretations regarding correcting errors in a bound book, it’s surprising that there aren’t MORE licensees that have “missing” firearms.
If a firearm is incorrectly entered, and the mistake is not caught, then as far as BATFE is concerned, a non-existent firearm is “missing.”
If a firearm is not properly logged out of the bound book, then a firearm that was [presumably] transferred lawfully is “missing.”
The way the regs are written, an FFL can be pulled for a single “violation”; Given the sheer number of ways that a violation can occur, the effective result is that the BATFE could theoretically shut down any firearm dealer that they wanted to.
You know, I actually thought it was probably just a vengeful ex- when this started. Now? Yeah, looking FAR more substantiated. . .
As far as charges go, I’ve been accused of a minor crime I didnt commit and the aggrieved party, knowing I was innocent, had to petition the court more than once to get them to drop my charges. This was done with the promise of an expunged record (They “forgot” to expunge my arrest, and its on my record to this day.) “So what, you were absolved?” Well on a carry license application in my state it doesn’t ask you if you’ve ever commited and been convicted of a crime-It asks if you’ve been arrested and what for. JUST THE ARREST can disqualify you, even if YOU ARE innocent.
I hope Will is innocent. If he is not, I hope HE BURNS IN HELL and spends LIFE IN PRISON. But if he IS innocent, even the arrests can damage him for the rest of his life. It ALREADY KILLED THE SHOW and he hasn’t BEEN CONVICTED. Whether or not Will is guilty the sytem is broken and we need to use the framework of Government and the Constitution to fix it. And I’m sorry to see this TV show go. I wouldnt put it past certain officials to level charges just to kill the show, but I think that PROBABLY DID NOT HAPPEN HERE.
Politics of the situation aside, I’m sad to see the show go. They had some really cool custom builds go through the shop and they put on a great presentation. It’s a shame they can’t continue the show without him, since Joe Meaux was in control in the last episode.
Question is, though, since they’ve legally separated themselves from him, will they be keeping the Red Jacket name (since they said in the season 1 finale that that’s what his native American name translates to).
As for the charges, who knows what’s the truth. At first, the daughter said there was no truth to it, now she is substantiating the claims. From what I read in another article, she supposedly lied during the first arrest because she was afraid of him then (but not anymore). For all we know, the mother’s coercing her into saying this now.
“Now to concentrate on the Cubs winning the world series this year.”
YOU FOOL YOU’LL DOOM US ALL
That converted Mac-11 they stuck on as an underbarrel attachment was the highlight of last season. I swear that thing must have had a cyclic rate of about 2000, and I’m sure it will beat itself to death after 500 rounds, but it was sure a riot to see.
Never saw the show, but, now I want to find copies of all the previous shows. Probley find them on UTube. or other.
I got my Glock Mod 20 through a dealer that logged the wrong gun in FFL Book. I bought fixed sight version and picked up adj. sight version. Store almost lost FFL License; manager got fired and the salesman too. Was major familiar name Sporting goods Chain. Fact, not Fiction.
Child molestation? Neva been dun befo!
He’s ruined either way, its very (as in painfully) hard to gain the trust of the public back after something like this (which is why the producers decided to sever while the severing was good).
Let the man have his day(s) in court.
Gentlemen, whatever happened to “innocent until proven guilty beyond the shadow of a doubt”?