‘Sons of Guns’ canceled by Discovery after star Will Hayden charged with rape

The following story is unbelievably horrific, and one that we never like to report.

After being charged this week with child rape following allegations of raping his 12-year old daughter, Will Hayden’s Discovery series “Sons of Guns” has been canceled. The show lasted for multiple seasons on the air, and focused on the business Red Jacket Firearms, which was run by Hayden and his older daughter Stephanie. There are some further details out there about the allegations, but we’ll spare some of them here since they are beyond disturbing.

This news was first reported by TMZ, and Discovery issued a quick statement confirming that the series will be canceled immediately and no further episodes will be produced:

“Given the serious and horrific nature of the charges against Will Hayden, we have decided to halt further production of Sons of Guns and cancel the series.”

“Horrific” really is the right word to describe this story, since this is the sort of thing that most likely impacts not only the victim in this case, but everyone around Hayden and his show. The actions he has been accused of will impact jobs of everyone who works close to him, and undoubtedly cast a dark light on his company. Red Jacket Firearms has announced that they are severing ties with Hayden, but given his presence there, this may be a difficult thing for them to shake.

The show first aired in January of 2011, and the last new episodes ran on Discovery this past May. We would imagine that any repeat airings will be pulled from the network as soon as possible, much in the same way that other series in the past have when one of their stars is charged with any sort of crime of this nature.

We will have some further updates on this story as they come out, but for the time being our thoughts our with everyone affected by these unspeakable accusations.

Photo: Discovery