The punishment for one hobbyist gun builder has been harsher than that of many violent criminals in New York City.

Dexter Taylor, the 53-year-old Brooklyn resident and software engineer who built his own firearms, received a 10-year prison sentence from Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Abena Darkeh on Monday. Taylor was convicted of two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, three counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, five counts of criminal possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of pistol ammunition, and “prohibition on unfinished frames or receivers.”

Those convictions—the majority of which New York law deems violent felonies despite the absence of actual violence—stemmed from Taylor’s infatuation with amateur gunsmithing.

“Ever since I was a kid, I was really, like most red-blooded American kids, I was interested in guns and tanks and fighter planes because it was cool,” he told RedState in an interview last year. “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.'”

He experimented with the hobby for a couple of years before a SWAT team raided his Brooklyn apartment in 2022 and recovered four AR-15s, five handguns, four rifles, 50 rounds of ammunition, a 3D printer, and various firearm components and accessories. He had a clean criminal history and was not accused of using the firearms he assembled to harm anyone. Nor was he accused of trying to sell or traffic his homemade weapons. Despite that, he was vigorously prosecuted and is likely to spend the next decade in jail–far more than those convicted of more serious crimes in the same jurisdiction often see.

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez (D.), whose office filed the charges against Taylor, is a self-described “progressive prosecutor” who has prioritized resolving cases without jail time to combat “mass incarceration” and “overcriminalization.” Despite that background and the facts of the case, his office celebrated the lengthy prison sentence for Taylor’s gun building.

“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,” Gonzalez said. “Every ghost gun we take off the street is a win for public safety.”

A Reload review of his office’s recent convictions shows several violent criminals getting shorter sentences. That includes an 8-year sentence for an ex-cop who molested a child, a three-to-nine-year sentence for a man convicted of second-degree manslaughter, and a nine-year sentence for a man convicted of attempted murder after shooting two teenagers in a crowded mall. The Reload also found a seven-year sentence for a man who repeatedly sexually assaulted a young girl, and a nine-and-a-half-year sentence for a man who shot an occupied police car, just to name a few.

The tradition of privately manufacturing firearms dates back before this nation’s founding and remains legal both federally and in the vast majority of states. In Taylor’s case, the difference between that experience and a 10-year prison sentence came down to a simple matter of political geography. Taylor believes that distinction is wrong and unconstitutional, which is why he’s decided to continue fighting his charges in court.

“Today we enter the next phase in the fight to protect our God-given rights from a government that wishes to take them from us and grant us mere privileges in return,” he said, according to a transcript of the hearing. “To quote another patriot from another place and time, ‘This is not the end. This is not even the beginning of the end. This is perhaps, the end of the beginning.’ And so, as we enter this new phase, there should be no question in the mind of any patriotic American as to why we fight. After all, only slaves lack the right to armed self-defense and we are no slaves, but free citizens of a great republic…”

It remains to be seen what, if anything, will result from Taylor’s appeals process and how broader legal developments related to the constitutionality of various gun restrictions may impact the sentence he received. However, it will likely take many years to find out for sure.

In the meantime, what is now a certainty is that he will spend at least part of a decade-long sentence in Rikers for something lawful citizens are free to do without incident in neighboring states. As New York City now has demonstrated a pattern of charging otherwise law-abiding gun owners with violent felonies for what are essentially paperwork violations, expect national attention on the case to continue to build.