In late February, Jason Wong, the former owner of Hurricane Butterfly, an international arms dealer located in Nampa, Idaho, was arrested by local authorities for four felony charges, including rape, attempted strangulation, and forced penetration by use of a foreign object. Local media reported that the charges stem from two separate incidents in April 2024 in which he allegedly attacked his domestic partner.
While Hurricane Butterfly may not be a household name, Wong’s ties to the gun industry go back more than a decade. He has exhibited at the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s annual Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show at least nine times, written for the Small Arms Defense Journal, and supplied weapons to Mike Jones (aka “Garand Thumb”), a popular guntuber.
In response to the allegations, Wong’s attorney, Michael Bartlett, claimed that Wong is innocent but had chosen to “relinquish his ownership interests in Hurricane Butterfly” to “protect the interests of his business partners.”
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Wong states on his LinkedIn profile that he joined Hurricane Butterfly in 2006. During an interview with Gun Talk Media at the 2019 SHOT Show, he noted that he “started off as a lawyer, and lawyering is pretty dry, and there’s no integrity in that profession in my opinion, so I started doing import exports.” He added, “You know, the ladies love it when you say you’re an international arms dealer.”1Gun Talk Media, “Hurricane Butterfly Semi-Auto HK 416 | Gun Talk LIVE,” YouTube, January 25, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWiY6lBn6sU&ab_channel=GunTalkMedia, at 0:58.
Records suggest a different story. Wong was admitted to the bar in 2003 but had his law license suspended in 2008 after he was caught with unopened factory blister packs of Valium and Rohypnol, a date rape drug known as “roofies” that is illegal in the United States. According to the discipline notice, Wong, who was a captain in the Army at the time, told an officer that he had obtained the drugs in Cambodia and used them for sleeping problems.
Over the years, Wong leaned into the “international arms dealer” moniker in interviews and on social media, where he talked about meeting Efraim Diveroli, the arms dealer whose story was told in the film War Dogs. Wong also used an image of Viktor Bout, the Russian arms smuggler who inspired the film Lord of War, as the profile picture for Hurricane Butterfly’s social media pages.
While Hurricane Butterfly garnered attention for importing a variant of the Heckler & Koch HK416 rifle and a short-barreled shotgun, Wong explained during a recent interview that his company transitioned to selling flashbangs and teargas grenades to law enforcement,2The Art and War Podcast, “108: Hurricane Butterfly – International Arms Dealer,” YouTube, January 3, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSZ6o0Ipqdk&ab_channel=TheArtandWarPodcast, at 6:50. with sales taking off during the racial justice protests of 2020, which he referred to as the “summer of love.”3Ibid at 3:04 and 12:15. In that interview, Wong said that Hurricane Butterfly made about $10 million in sales in 2023.4Ibid at 5:17.
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Wong also said that he was “behind the scenes on a lot of [Garand Thumb] videos.”5Ibid at 1:49:54. Garand Thumb is a guntuber known for reviewing and discussing military-style firearms, tactics, and training. The perpetrator of the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, claimed in his Discord diary to have watched several of Garand Thumb’s videos in preparation for his attack, including those on low-cost training and “how to win a gunfight.” In his videos, Garand Thumb has also glorified Rhodesian special forces, which have become a source of inspiration for white nationalists.
Garand Thumb has thanked Hurricane Butterfly for supplying hard-to-obtain firearms used in videos, such as the HK MP7 and HK53, as well as a grenade launcher accessory. In another video, Garand Thumb brought his “buddy,” Wong, on camera to thank him for providing the Beretta ARX-160 rifle used during the filming and “all the support over the years.” After Wong described his business as “import and exports,” Garand Thumb replied, “That’s such an understatement.”
Since-deleted Instagram posts show Wong posing with other guntubers and members of the gun industry at SHOT Show.
According to the case docket, Wong posted a $1 million bond. No other details were available as of this writing.