Five Liberal Senators Want YouTube To Take Down Gun Videos

Five liberal senators are demanding that the social media giant YouTube rip down videos about gun making, blaming them for so-called “ghost gun” shootings.

In a letter to YouTube’s CEO, Susan Wojcicki, the letter sent this week warned that efforts targeting the videos so far have been “insufficient.”

The five, led by ardent gun-control advocate Sen. Richard Blumenthal, wrote without evidence that “ghost guns have become the weapon of choice for gun traffickers and convicted felons as well as domestic violent extremists and foreign terrorists. Federal, state, and local law enforcement officials have sounded the alarm that these untraceable firearms present a distinct and deadly threat and have exacerbated the scourge and surge of gun violence that has ravaged communities all across the United States.”

The legal firearms have been cited by police as a tiny slice of the guns used in crimes, though they have been seized on by anti-gun politicians as a symbol of gun violence.

They are not classified by the government as firearms because they are not fully functioning guns when sold in kits, and thus, do not require any serial number, which can be traced. Kits can be purchased online and at gun shows and require some construction to turn into working firearms. At last week’s NRA-sponsored Great American Outdoors Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, there were at least two booths offering the “80% gun” kits, but there were few buyers when Secrets was observing.

The letter has raised concerns among gun rights advocates who have taken to YouTube to warn that it threatens their Second Amendment rights.

The popular YouTube site Guns & Gadgets said of the letter, “They want to scare people.”

The senators pressed Wojcicki for information on policing its site and asked several questions they want answered next month.

But their purpose was clear: rinsing YouTube of gun construction videos.

“Until YouTube devotes the time and resources necessary to actually enforce its Community Guidelines, the claim that safety is your highest priority rings hollow. YouTube can — and must — do more to ensure that the content it hosts does not exacerbate the threat of ghost guns,” wrote the five.

Original Article: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/washington-secrets/liberal-senators-demand-youtube-blackout-on-2a-videos