A sprawling community known as 'guntube' — firearms channels on Youtube that have tactical training tips, firearm reviews, and test gear— is attracting a sprawling community of younger, more racially diverse gun owners.
The content has garnered more than 29 billion views on YouTube, according to unpublished data from researchers at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.
“It has this gigantic audience that until recently we haven’t tried to understand,” said Jared Holt, a senior researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank that researches technology’s impact on political and social issues.
Some guntubers have cult followings, and there is an industry awards event known as the Gundies, a riff on the Dundies from the sitcom “The Office.” The firearms industry sponsors content creators — who help sell guns and countless accessories — and much like video game streamers, some guntube stars make thousands of dollars per video, the New York Times reports. One even ran for political office.
Some see guntube, and it's expanding community, as an outgrowth of video games that feature firearms, such as Call of Duty.
“Video games became realistic, we were at war as a nation, and this content was available on DVDs, and you could find it on the internet,” said Lucas Botkin, founder of the channel T. Rex Arms,. “Practical training stopped being secret knowledge and it started being widely accessible.”
For the guntuber Chris Charles, video games were a gateway from digital shooting to shouldering a real rifle.
“Call of Duty 4, that was huge,” said Charles, 26, who lives in the Atlanta suburb of Stockbridge, where he works as a car emissions inspector and studies digital media at Mercer University. “That’s what brought all the guns, all the attachments, and that’s what changed everything.”
The content appears to appeal both aspiring law enforcement officers, along with those with criminal intentions.
President Trump’s would-be assassin in July was wearing a popular guntube channel T-shirt when he was killed by a Secret Service sniper. Before murdering 10 people in a Buffalo supermarket in 2022, Payton S. Gendron said on social media that he watched tactical firearm-related training videos on YouTube.
For guntuber Tim Stuckey, who is religious and hoping to become a police officer, gun ownership and the Second Amendment are rooted in “life preservation.” Currently a steel worker, he hopes to become a police officers. He makes videos to help other gun owners learn from his mistakes, he said. His channel includes content such as how to piece together an AR-15 or pick the right scope mount.
“I mean, you have the ability to kill somebody, so that kind of is the back of mind too,” said Grace Stuckey, his wife. “But I think the thing about it is, he’s helping people. Like yesterday, he showed me his little comments that he gets on Facebook, and he’s like, ‘I’m actually helping someone right now.’”
Comments