U.S.A. — “Mother of 6-year-old who shot Richneck Elementary teacher to plead guilty to federal gun charges,” 13News Now reported from Newport News Monday. “25-year-old Deja Taylor was charged with being an unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm and making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm.”
“According to court documents filed Monday, Taylor made a false claim on the firearms transaction form she filled out when she bought a 9mm handgun in 2022.” The report elaborated. “Section G of that form asks, ‘Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?’”
“Prosecutors said Taylor lied when she answered no, and that she was actually a marijuana user,” the report explains.
So, they’re going after her for that. Of significance, although it shouldn’t be: Ms. Taylor is black.
Because does what she’s accused of remind you of anyone?
This column has been calling attention to President Joe Biden’s son Hunter evidently doing the same thing – and using controlled substances much more hardcore than marijuana, which happens to be legal in Virginia. Our efforts have been rejected by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive, the Department of Justice, and ultimately the judge hearing our legal complaint. The excuse has been Biden’s privacy interests outweigh everything else.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers are also now looking at a 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruling “that it was unconstitutional for a Pennsylvania man to be denied… the ability to purchase a gun because of the man’s previous conviction for lying on a food stamp application” due to the Supreme Court ruling in Bruen will give him an out. Maybe, in this case, his father won’t think it “an affront to ‘common sense and the Constitution.’”
His latest excuse: He “believed he was sober” the day he bought the gun. Disregard that “Photos published by the New York Post show Hunter Biden asleep with a crack pipe in his mouth on Oct. 8. A few days after he purchased the gun, on Oct. 19, Hallie Biden texted him a photo of crack cocaine paraphernalia forgotten on a table in an unknown location.”
Meanwhile, ATF has an excuse of its own:
“Officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were reportedly ‘skeptical’ of bringing gun-related charges against Hunter Biden due to his having no prior criminal history.”
No wonder, with federal agents and courts running cover for him, and the media doing its utmost to ignore the Biden crime family corruption while focusing instead on the DOJ going after Donald Trump over documents it refuses to identify.
And think about this: The fact that she was able to pass the NICS check and obtain a gun means that Deja Taylor also had no prior criminal history. Yet no one was “skeptical” about bringing charges against her.
If the issue is marijuana, and ATF is going all out to reassert its authority to bar everyone who uses it from owning a gun in the wake of states legalizing it, then why the blind eye for Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried, who brags about being a gun owner and a user? What did she answer on her Form 4473 when asked about controlled substance use?
In the land of supposed equal protection under the law, are she and Hunter Biden somehow better than black mother Deja Taylor, or just better connected? And why is it that when searching for disparities in how the law is applied, another case that stands out involves the prosecution of a black man:
Jakobe McCray Woullard, 19, “pled guilty … to being an unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm.” Woullard was found to be in possession of “one” round of ammunition, he was charged for that and sentenced to “115 months of confinement on his new offense and 24 months for violating his federal supervised release” for his previous offense of smoking marijuana and being in possession of a firearm.
And then there’s the case of Kenta Quenshawn Hopson Jr., a “known marijuana user [who] marked that he was not a marijuana user on the form.” He’s also black.
It’s more than a bit curious that the disparities seem to be falling the way that they are, along racial lines, particularly under a president who notoriously claimed, “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
Just to be clear: Pointing out hypocrisy is not the same as endorsing “gun control” for substance abusers, and in an Oklahoma case, a U.S. District Court judge ruled the ban on marijuana users conflicts with the Supreme Court’s Bruen ruling and is unconstitutional. It clearly is.
It’s also not inconsistent to observe that unwittingly allowing her six-year-old to get her gun and take it to school and shoot his teacher is unacceptable and inexcusable, and there should be serious consequences aimed at deterrence and restitution.
That said, it’s also entirely appropriate to show how the so-called “justice system” treats the president’s son and a highly connected Democrat apparatchik differently than it does people of modest means and people of color FOR THE SAME CHARGE. Especially if lying on a 4473 can result in 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine – for anybody.
In Taylor’s case, the way her defense attorney characterized the agreement with the feds as “fair to all parties” and ended up “thank[ing] the US Attorney’s office for its good faith participation in discussions” means she got a deal in exchange for a plea (they wouldn’t dare do otherwise), but even that’s not acceptable if Biden and Fried don’t have to worry about cutting influence-free deals of their own.
“@Blklivesmatter are you going to stand for this injustice?” I asked via Twitter, admittedly trying to stir the pot a bit and recruit some outrage. That they, or NAACP, or any other minority rights group, or the Congressional Black Caucus aren’t going to lift a finger shows the feds are not the only hypocrites on guns.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
