New Everytown Report Exposes How Gun Industry Money Built “Guntube,” Fueling Gun Sales, Violence, and Extremism

NEW YORK – A new Everytown for Gun Safety report, Loaded Content, released today, details how the firearms industry has actively funded a powerful marketing ecosystem of online content creators, known as “guntubers,” to promote their firearms directly to millions of viewers on YouTube. The report examines how gun manufacturers and retailers use influencer marketing to sidestep advertising bans, how guntubers amplify dangerous weapons and political extremism, and key policy and enforcement gaps on YouTube. The full report can be accessed here.

Key points from the report include:

• Guntube is a deliberately constructed, industry-funded marketing ecosystem built to sell firearms directly to millions of viewers. Social media influencers drove an estimated 1 to 1.5 million firearm sales in 2025 alone, generating up to $825 million in retail revenue for an industry that spends less than one percent of its revenue on conventional advertising.

• Major social video platforms and traditional media outlets prohibit paid gun ads. To bypass these bans, gun manufacturers and retailers embed themselves directly into content by sponsoring creators with free firearms, accessories, ammunition, or formal paid partnerships. This blurs the line between genuine endorsement and paid promotion. What’s more, several members of the gun industry have leveraged guntube sponsorships to reach younger, digitally native audiences.

• Financial relationships between prominent creators and the firearms industry are heavily mediated by the Leviathan Group, a specialized marketing firm. Operating as an intermediary, the firm manages a stable of creators known as the “Leviathan Tribe” to standardize pricing, place products in mainstream media, and broker sponsorships – allowing creators to claim editorial independence while functioning as paid brand spokespeople.

• Annual events such as the Gundie Awards – sponsored by major gun makers and far-right gun advocacy groups – serve as a public showcase for the industry to reward influencers who expand the market for weapons and accessories while pushing anti-gun-safety narratives.

Glorifying Violence, Extremism, and Illegal Weapons

Industry funding sponsors content that glorifies military-style assault weapons, teaches combat tactics, spreads political extremism and white supremacy, and normalizes dangerous or even illegal weapons:

• Prominent channels frequently blend firearms reviews with conspiratorial claims, anti-government rhetoric, and extremist iconography. Creators have featured Nazi-era symbols, voiced support for far-right movements calling for civil war, and promoted anti-government fearmongering. In multiple tragic instances, perpetrators of mass violence have cited watching specific guntube content prior to carrying out attacks.

• Content across the ecosystem increasingly showcases third-party conversion devices like “Glock switches” (which illegally convert pistols into fully automatic machine guns) as well as unserialized 3D-printed firearms. These videos downplay the severe public safety risks of untraceable weapons and circumvented background checks.

• While YouTube maintains policies aimed at addressing these issues, enforcement remains weak and gaps persist, allowing violative and dangerous content to remain online for months or years.

Recommendations for YouTube

To address the risks highlighted in the report, Everytown urges YouTube to move beyond written policy updates – such as its September 2026 rule barring weapons or ammunition from brand-influenced content – and take meaningful, consistent action to police firearms content. Without strict enforcement, these policy shifts will remain ineffective against an industry-funded ecosystem designed to monetize public safety risks. 

Specifically, YouTube must enforce its branded content policy to sever the financial pipeline between gun manufacturers and influencers, close loopholes for undisclosed promotions, and swiftly remove content that glorifies assault weapons, teaches combat tactics, or spreads extremist rhetoric. Finally, the platform must implement age-gating and algorithmic safeguards to ensure dangerous gun content and industry marketing are completely out of reach for children and teens.

To speak with an expert from Everytown, please contact [email protected].