‘Cool for active shooter stuff’ – online gun video with 1 million subscribers is just one of many
- As Americans reel from repeated mass shootings, law enforcement officials are taking notice of the sprawling online spaces devoted to guns and gun rights
- After the Columbine school shooting in 1999, firearms manufacturing in the US tripled to about 400 million guns – more than one for every person
The young man in the jeans and sunglasses proudly shows off his gun in the YouTube video, then instructs his 1 million subscribers how to fit an extra clip in his gun belt, and offers a chilling observation.
“Pretty cool for active shooter stuff, if you need extra mags.”
It’s a typical video, one of thousands teaching military-style training and tactics to civilian gun owners, offering instructions on silencers and grenade launchers, on shooting from vehicles or into buildings. Other websites sell ghost gun kits, gas masks and body armour.
“You shouldn’t be scared of the NRA. You should be scared of us,” one online ghost gun dealer Tweeted last week.
As Americans reel from repeated mass shootings, law enforcement officials and experts on extremism are taking increasing notice of the sprawling online space devoted to guns and gun rights.
Millions of people click on to gun forums, tactical training videos, websites that sell unregistered gun kits and social media platforms where far-right gun owners swap practical tips with talk of dark plots to take their weapons.
