In the latest censorship effort to demonize self-defense tools, five Democratic Party senators are pressuring YouTube to remove “ghost gun” videos.
“Ghost guns are unserialized firearms that anyone can get their hands on—without a background check—and put together themselves with a 3D-printer or a do-it-yourself gun-making kit purchased from an unlicensed seller,” the five senators, led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), wrote in the letter to YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. “As a result, ghost guns have become the weapon of choice for gun traffickers and convicted felons as well as domestic violent extremists and foreign terrorists.”
The senators insisted that the gun assembly videos violated YouTube’s guidelines and needed to be taken down, asserting “ghost guns” “pose a dangerous and deadly threat to communities.”
Statistics undercut claims from Democrats about the threat of ghost guns. The evidence shows that “ghost guns” account for a very small percentage of weapons seized by law enforcement. For instance, Chicago saw a significantly higher proportion of ghost guns seized in 2020. Still, only 139 out of the 11,258 seized firearms were “ghost guns,” about 1.2 percent of the total, according to The Washington Times. “A 2019 Department of Justice study found that 43% of criminals purchased guns on the black market, but none made their weapons at home,” The Washington Times reported.
The senators cited YouTube’s Community Guidelines, which say, “Content intended to sell firearms, instruct viewers on how to make firearms, ammunition and certain accessories or instruct viewers on how to install those accessories is not allowed on YouTube.”
In this case, Second Amendment supporters might question how restrictive YouTube’s own policy is; similar to the video platform’s incredibly restrictive COVID-19 “misinformation” policy. The guidelines for the latter might cause someone, in theory, to be banned for reading an official Jan. 3 letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which requires Pfizer to evaluate deaths potentially linked to the company’s COVID-19 vaccine. YouTube does not allow anyone to imply death will result from COVID-19 vaccines.
The Washington Examiner explained that the “ghost guns” are “not classified by the government as firearms because they are not fully functioning guns when sold in kits,” meaning that they lack traceable serial numbers. Pro-gun activists see the senators’ demand of YouTube as an attack on the Second Amendment, The Examiner noted.
The senators who signed the letter with its many detailed questions, besides Blumenthal, were Democrat Sens. Ed Markey (MA), Cory Booker (NJ), Robert Menendez (NJ) and Christopher Murphy (CT).
Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) recently said in a Senate speech that Democrats are doing two things about crime: “They’re making it worse and they’re trying to avoid being blamed for what they’re causing.”
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand they support free speech. Big Tech giants should afford their users nothing less than the free speech embodied in the First Amendment. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
