YouTube Just Set a Trap for Every Gun Channel, Including Mine

YouTube didn't ban gun content. They banned telling you the truth about where it came from. I'm not doing the sky-is-falling thing, I'm reading you their own documents.

Three documents, in their own words: the branded content policy that now lists weapons and ammunition next to recreational drugs and counterfeit products, where "something of value" includes a free holster, a T&E gun, or a box of ammo, and one appearance makes the ENTIRE video a violation. The firearms policy with its new line on livestreams showing someone holding, handling, or transporting a firearm. And the auto-labeler that checks the branded-content box for you whether you like it or not.

Then the collision nobody at YouTube will say out loud: FTC endorsement guidelines (16 CFR Part 255) legally require creators to disclose when a company provides a product. YouTube's policy makes that disclosure a violation. Obey the law, lose the channel. Obey YouTube, break the law. Three strikes in ninety days and the channel is gone.

And the paper trail: Everytown's July 2025 "Changing the Channel" report handed YouTube a to-do list, automated detection, escalated enforcement, a named retailer list. Fourteen months later, every item got checked. You can read both documents and decide for yourself.

This is my commentary and my read of publicly available policies and reports. Go read them yourself, that's the whole point of this video.