Sons of Guns

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Sons of Guns
Format Reality television
Starring

Will Hayden
Stephanie Ford
Kris Ford
Joe Meaux
Charlie Watson
Glenn Fleming
Vince Buckles

Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 4
No. of episodes 56 (as of June 7, 2013) (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Stephen Land
Producer(s) Dane Walker Chase
Location(s) Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Running time 30 minutes with commercials (season 1),
60 minutes with commercials (season 2–)
Production company(s) Jupiter Entertainment
Broadcast
Original channel Discovery Channel
Original run January 26, 2011 – present
External links
Website

Sons of Guns is a reality television series that airs on the Discovery Channel.[1] The series centers on Red Jacket Firearms LLC, a Louisiana-based business that manufactures and sells custom weapons. Will Hayden is the founder and owner of the shop, while his daughter and business partner Stephanie manages the office.

As on the Discovery Channel series MythBusters, this show practices a degree of self-censorship and safety-consciousness. Each episode begins with a staff member (usually Will) warning viewers not to try anything demonstrated on the show at home. In addition, during scenes of catastrophic failure, the crew will remind the audience not to try anything at home. The program also makes a noted point to avoid showing specific detail of how weapon modifications or fabrications are performed.

Cast

Red Jacket staff

  • Will Hayden – Founder
  • Stephanie (Hayden) Ford– Office Manager (Will's daughter[2] [3])
  • Kris Ford – Production Manager (Stephanie's husband, Will's Son in Law)
  • Joe Meaux – COO/Chief Machinist/Webmaster[4]
  • Charlie Watson – Forensic Firearms Expert/Marketing Manager
  • Christopher Michael "Mikey" Wallace – Shop Mechanic
  • "The Minions" (Hal and Tony)[5] - Lower rung employees at Red Jacket; Tony first appeared in Season 3.
    • In addition to their listed roles, all staff members also work as gunsmiths.

Recurring clients and experts

  • Marco – SWAT consultant/security contractor
  • Glenn Harrison – Antiques collector/history enthusiast
  • Barry Borum - Gun manufacturer (also assists the crew in some builds as an outside contractor)
  • David P. Michaels - Flamethrower expert
  • Ira Sellers - Heavy weapons expert
  • Jim Fuller - Rifle Dynamics[6]
  • Billy Cho - Rifle Dynamics[7]
  • Chris Ledford - Alias "The King of Guns"[8]
  • Natalie Foster - Girl's Guide to Guns[9]

Former staff

  • Vince Buckles - Former shop manager/head gunsmith who resigned at the end of season 2, and briefly returned as an outside contractor for part of season 3. As of season 4, Vince is still featured on the show as he has opened his own gun shop (Mesa Kinetic Research or MKR) near Red Jacket.[10]
  • Glenn "Flem" Fleming – Former Shop Welder
  • Thomas - former Minion. Did not work for MKR outside a few minutes of "TV" time, specified on Mesa Kinetic Research's Facebook page.

Other Appearances

  • The staff of Red Jacket also made an appearance in the second episode of the second season of American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior, asking Paul Jr. Designs to help them with a dragon-themed machine gun design.
  • Will Hayden and Rich Wyatt (of American Guns) hosted the Discovery Channel special Top 10 Shootouts in which they discussed and demonstrated firearms used in events of American History.[11] Will Hayden also made an appearance in another Discovery Channel documentary, How We Invented: Guns, which aired following the season 4 finale episode.

Production

Sons of Guns first aired on the Discovery Channel on January 26, 2011 with the pilot episode “Civil War Cannon, Shotgun silencer.” The series began filming on July 15th, 2013 [12] for its fifth season of production at Jupiter Entertainment.

Series Credits:

  • Stephen Land (executive producer)
  • Patrick Leigh-Bell (co-executive producer)
  • Stephanie Buxbaum (co-executive producer)
  • Dolores Gavin (executive producer for Discovery Channel)
  • Zac McFarlane (director/cinematography)
  • David Vanacore (music)
  • Eric Johannsen (editor)
  • Todd Beabout (editor)
  • Edward Klau (editor)
  • Mike Le (editor)

Legal trouble

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms settlement

According to TMZ.com, during a routine inspection by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) in 2009, Red Jacket could not account for ten registered guns. In a settlement, William Hayden and Stephanie Hayden surrendered their gun-making licenses and were allowed to choose a licensed individual to control Red Jacket. Initially, that person was Vincent Buckles, but Buckles has left the company and now two other individuals control the company.[13]

In a WBRZ article, Attorney Craig Davidson, Jr., said that 10 guns did not go missing from the shop. Instead, one or two guns were stolen during 2001–2008. Davidson claimed the rest of the missing guns were receivers that were thrown away or destroyed when gunsmiths made mistakes. Although Davidson characterized the lost weapons as "simple bookkeeping errors", the ATF requires serial numbered parts to be tracked. Will and Stephanie Hayden did not keep track, so, according to Davidson, Hayden and the ATF mutually agreed to shut down Red Jacket, Inc. The WBRZ article is silent about Will and Stephanie Hayden surrendering any federal firearms licenses.[14]

Davidson further stated that at that time, Hayden was already in discussions with the Discovery Channel about the show and had plans to start another business, Red Jacket Firearms, L.L.C.[15] Will Hayden is not an officer of Red Jacket Firearms, L.L.C. When Davidson was asked why Hayden was not an officer, Davidson stated the reason was a "confidential business decision".[14]

Several "Red Jacket" entities are registered in Louisiana. The first is Red Jacket, Inc. (filed April 6, 1999).[16] The officer is William M. Hayden, but the corporation is not in good standing because it failed to file an annual report. The second is Red Jacket Firearms, L.L.C. (filed May 7, 2010).[17] As of January 7, 2012, the listed officers of the LLC are Joseph Whitney Meaux, Vincent Gordon Buckles, and Charles Riley Watson; neither Will Hayden nor Stephanie Hayden are listed as officers; records show that the listed officers were amended on 7/30/2010 and 6/8/2011.[17] A third entity is Red Jacket International, L.L.C. (filed April 6, 2011).[18] The officer is William M. Hayden. Other "Red Jacket" entities appear to be unrelated.

ATF has issued a federal firearms license (FFL) to Red Jacket Firearms, L.L.C.[19]

Dallas Fort Worth airport incident

In September 2011, Jupiter Entertainment, the Sons of Guns production company, made the evening news when its staff member, on the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, parked a rental truck, containing automatic weapons and pyrotechnics, outside the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport while waiting for a colleague. Part of Terminal B was closed for several hours while the FBI investigated but found no wrongdoing. An executive of the production company said he regretted the incident and blamed it on "a simple yet colossal error in judgement by a member of our staff."[20]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hibberd, James (December 16, 2010). "Discovery Orders Hidden Treasure Reality Shows, Renews Three Others". The Hollywood Reporter. 
  2. ↑ Hayden, Stephanie (February 29, 2012). "Facebook posting". Self-published. Retrieved April 4, 2012. "Yes. I am Mrs Ford :) !" 
  3. ↑ "Red Jacket staff biographies". Discovery Channel official show website. 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2013. 
  4. ↑ Staff. "Joe Meaux". Sons of Guns biographies. Discovery Channel. Retrieved April 4, 2012. 
  5. ↑ Episode 401: minions sprayed in test of water cannon
  6. ↑ Episode 307 about Desert AR; episode ? lending Cho to RJF
  7. ↑ Episode 40? helping out at the shop
  8. ↑ Episode ? auction bidding; episode 403 buying Nambu parts and pistol
  9. ↑ Episode 303 discussing products with Stephanie; episode 404?(37) mailbag.
  10. ↑ http://vincentbuckles.com/about-me
  11. ↑ "Rich and Will's Top 10 Shootouts". IMDb. February 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2013. 
  12. ↑ RJF Official Facebook Page
  13. ↑ Staff (December 23, 2011). "'Sons of Guns' Stars Punished by the Feds for Major Firearms Violations". TMZ. EHM Productions, Inc. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Ryan, Stephanie (December 27, 2011). "Stars of "Sons of Guns" dispute TMZ report". Baton Rouge, LA: WBRZ-TV. 
  15. ↑ The WBRZ article refers to Red Jacket, LLC, but the actual name from Louisiana Secretary of State records is Red Jacket Firearms, L.L.C.
  16. ↑ Commercial Division. "Registration for Red Jacket, Inc.". Secretary of State of Louisiana. Retrieved April 4, 2012. 
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Commercial Division. "Registration for Red Jacket Firearms, L.L.C.". Secretary of State of Louisiana. Retrieved April 4, 2012. 
  18. ↑ Commercial Division. "Registration for Red Jacket International, L.L.C.". Secretary of State of Louisiana. Retrieved April 4, 2012. 
  19. ↑ The license may be checked by entering the (partial) license number 5-72-xxx-xx-xx-03043 at Staff. "FFLeZCheck 3.1.2: Federal Firearms License Search". Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Retrieved April 4, 2012. 
  20. ↑ Gordon, Scott; Sakmar, Elvira (September 12, 2011). "Security Scare Closed DFW's Terminal B Temporarily". Dallas-Fort Worth, TX: KXAS-TV. Associated Press. "An executive of the production company said he regretted the incident and blamed it on 'a simple yet colossal error in judgement by a member of our staff'." 

External links

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