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Gundies Awarded to Gun Industry’s Top Influencers

Gundies winners help market the gun industry’s deadliest products while stoking culture wars and conspiracy theories.

The sixth annual Gundie Awards were held on January 20, 2025, at the Venetian Theater in Las Vegas just ahead of the Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show. A play on the “Dundies” from The Office, the event serves as an opportunity for the gun industry and gun lobby to reward influencers — known as “GunTubers” — who help market their products and push pro-gun agendas on popular social media platforms. As discussed below, several Gundies winners also contribute to a toxic gun culture.

To learn more about the gun industry’s marketing tactics, click here.

gundies sponsors

Several gun makers sponsored the 2025 Gundies, including Beretta, Brownells, Henry Repeating Arms, and Palmetto State Armory, an assault weapons manufacturer that has marketed products to boogaloo supporters who want to violently overthrow the government. Another sponsor, PatchOps, produces patches and apparel that depict political figures and pop-culture characters — including those from Disney films, Scooby Doo, Sonic, The Simpsons, and many more — brandishing weapons.

A screenshot from the PatchOps website shows a T-shirt for sale with Dory from Finding Nemo firing a machine gun.
A screenshot from the PatchOps website shows a T-shirt for sale with Dory from Finding Nemo firing a machine gun.

Other sponsors include Gun Owners of America (GOA) and the Firearms Policy Coalition, far-right gun groups that oppose all gun regulations. (GOA also counts several gun companies as “partners.”) Not only were the Gundies hosted by Clint Morgan, a GunTuber who became GOA’s senior marketing and development officer in April 2024, but GOA Senior Vice President Erich Pratt also presented the Gundie for “Top 2A Voices” and spoke at length about his organization’s priorities in President Trump’s second term, including targeting the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

“First, we are pushing really hard to abolish the ATF’s gun registry,” Pratt said. “Look, we want to get rid of the entire agency. That will come one day. But there’s momentum building right now for eliminating the registry, and that’s really important.”1The Gundie Awards, “The 6th Annual Gundie Awards in Las Vegas,” YouTube, January 21, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNen8lIosE4&t=1s&ab_channel=TheGundieAwards at 1:17:20.

Pratt’s “registry” claims are unfounded. Gun dealers are required by law to send their inventory and sales records to the ATF when they go out of business so the agency can continue to trace any crime guns that those dealers may have sold in the past. But for years, GOA has claimed that the agency has built a secret “registry” using these documents — even though, due to National Rifle Association lobbying, federal law prohibits the ATF from creating a searchable database with the records. Instead, the ATF must sort through the out-of-business records manually for each trace, a time-consuming process.

In a recent report, the ATF stated that it traced over 580,000 crime guns between 2022 and 2023 using the out-of-business records that Pratt and GOA seek to eliminate.

The Gundie trophy, shown on Instagram, is a figure taking a selfie while holding a rifle with a drum magazine.
The Gundie trophy, shown on Instagram, is a figure taking a selfie while holding a rifle with a drum magazine.

“Secondly, we want constitutional concealed-arry reciprocity right now,” Pratt said, referring to a bill filed earlier this month that would allow people who have state concealed-carry permits, and residents of permitless-carry states, to carry firearms concealed nationwide.2Ibid, at 1:17:44.

Speaking to the influencers, Pratt said, “GOA wants to work with all of you here to build the momentum to get this legislation onto the president’s desk, and this is the time right now to be able to do it.”3Ibid, at 1:18:22. He added, “But we need your help. We need it bad, because we want to drive the groundswell of people to put heat on the Congress so that they will do this. Because if they’re not feeling the heat, then they’re just going to follow the path of least resistance, and they won’t get this done. So look, the last four years, we’ve been on defense, right? That’s all fixing to change. Now is the time to go on the offense.”4Ibid, at 1:19:17.

Controversial winners at the gundies

Brandon Herrera, a gun influencer who has glorified weapons used by Nazis and Rhodesian soldiers and “recreated” high-profile assassinations on YouTube, accepted the “King of the Hill” Gundie and explained that he had just arrived from Trump’s inauguration: “If you need an update from D.C., I can sum it up pretty quickly: We are so fucking back.”5Ibid, at 2:37:10. Ironically, a week after the first attempt on Trump’s life, Herrera posted a video on YouTube replicating the attack. He also recreated the recent assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

A screenshot from a YouTube video in which Herrera recreated the first Trump assassination attempt using a lifelike ballistic dummy.
A screenshot from a YouTube video in which Herrera recreated the first Trump assassination attempt using a lifelike ballistic dummy.

Days after a gunman used an AK-style rifle to kill three people and wound another 17 at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California, in July 2019, Herrera posted a video on YouTube in which he said that “we are fortunate that people are using guns,” and assault weapons in particular, to carry out such attacks because they are “pinpoint instruments” for targeting victims compared to more indiscriminate means, such as bombs and vehicles.6Brandon Herrera, “Mass Shootings: An Unpopular Opinion,” YouTube, August 6, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4sH726MmiU&ab_channel=BrandonHerrera, at 3:15 and 4:20.

Like Herrera, several other Gundies winners — including Ballistic High-Speed, Hunter Constantine, and “Mountains, Mullets, Merica!” — showcase assault weapons, machine guns, silencers, and sniper rifles on their YouTube channels, reflecting the gun industry’s insistence on marketing military-grade firepower to civilians. Constantine, who won “Best Shooter,” has shown viewers how to shoot from vehicles and use forced-reset triggers to simulate fully automatic fire with AR-15s, noting that they are cheaper alternatives to registered machine guns.

stoking culture wars and conspiracies

Don Porter (aka “Sootch00”), who won the Gundie for “Most Likely to Survive the Apocalypse,” reviews firearms on his primary YouTube channel and survival products on a companion channel called “SensiblePrepper.” In a recent SensiblePrepper video, Porter expressed support for Trump’s mass deportations of immigrants, alleging that the U.S. had “open borders” and that the “previous administration really just opened the door and invited so many people and really has caused the problem that we’re dealing with right now.”7SensiblePrepper, “U.S. Declares Wars on Cartels,” January 28, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/live/csPo2e2VjDw at 3:06. Porter added that “different cultures” are “beautiful” — and that “Mexican food is my favorite, hands down” — before saying that immigrants need to enter the country “the right way.”8Ibid, at 5:08.

Porter has fearmongered about civil unrest after the recent presidential election and domestic terrorism, and discussed “Survival Lessons from the Civil War” while wearing a Confederate uniform. In December, he shared a meme on X depicting American gun owners as the dam protecting humanity from a “Global totalitarian State.”

A tweet from Don Porter (aka “Sootch00”).
A tweet from Don Porter (aka “Sootch00”).

“Philanthropic Award Winner” Jared Yanis, the host of “Guns & Gadgets,” is a pro-gun vlogger who shares extreme views with his followers and frames legal and political developments as direct attacks on gun ownership. For example, his recent “Freedom Under Fire” news updates feature thumbnail images of an American revolutionary — implying that gun owners today keep the government in check as part of the radical insurrectionist theory.

Yanis has expressed support for abolishing the ATF, the only federal agency tasked with overseeing the gun industry, and repealing the National Firearms Act, which regulates dangerous items like machine guns, short-barreled rifles, and silencers. He also wants to ban gun-free zones and has shared conspiracy theories, falsely claiming that the Biden administration authorized the U.S. military to use lethal force on American citizens, and that the IRS armed itself to become a “military unit” that is “willing to take your life in order to take your dollar bill,”9Guns & Gadgets 2nd Amendment News, “The IRS Is Now A Small MILITARY Unit,” YouTube, May 3, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KBNnHgimdk&t=185s&ab_channel=Guns%26Gadgets2ndAmendmentNews, at 3:04. among others. The day after the ATF’s arm brace rule went into effect, Yanis said it amounted to the “largest gun-grab in American history!”

Finally, the Shawn Ryan Show, which won the Gundie for “Podcast of the Year,” has provided a platform for guests to fan the flames of culture wars and spread conspiracy theories. Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Kash Patel all appeared on the show before they were nominated to Trump’s Cabinet to discuss topics as wide-ranging as the Second Amendment,10Shawn Ryan Show, “What Does RFK Jr. Think About Gun Control?” YouTube, June 19, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EJNUytk_UQ&ab_channel=ShawnRyanShow. women serving in combat (which Hegseth claimed leads to more casualties),11Shawn Ryan Show, “Pete Hegseth – Secretary of Defense Nominee | SRS #143,” YouTube, November 7, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoN5ovwB8s4&ab_channel=ShawnRyanShow, at 53:41. the alleged “deep state” collusion between federal agencies and mainstream media to “perpetuate frauds on the American people,”12Shawn Ryan Show, “Kash Patel – Donald Trump’s FBI Director Nominee | SRS #128,” YouTube, September 2, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjWCnh42Sc4&ab_channel=ShawnRyanShow, at 33:39. the “dark and devious” Democratic Party,13Shawn Ryan Show, “Tulsi Gabbard – The Dark Behaviors of the Democratic Party | SRS #131,” YouTube, September 16, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgbDlqzsbh0&ab_channel=ShawnRyanShow, at 1:17:48. and vaccine skepticism.14Shawn Ryan Show, “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – CIA Propaganda & Information Manipulation | SRS #117,” YouTube, June 17, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAuYKHAGLOA&t=6870s&ab_channel=ShawnRyanShow, at 1:54:22.

More recently, a guest on the Shawn Ryan Show claimed that there are over 1,000 “Al-Qaeda-trained fighters” already on U.S. soil preparing to attack.15Shawn Ryan Show, “Sarah Adams – Is the Pentagon Ignoring the Most Dangerous Threat of All? | SRS #149,” YouTube, December 12, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T50pRCNaQCA&ab_channel=ShawnRyanShow , at 1:14:00. The allegation led Gundies host Clint Morgan to tweet, “Arm yourself with quality weapons, training, and information. It’s never a bad idea at any time to do this…but right now, particularly, is a good time.”

For his part, Shawn Ryan retweeted a tweet calling Representative Ilhan Omar “Osama Bin Laden’s daughter” and blamed the recent wildfires in Los Angeles on California Governor Gavin Newsom and “three top people in charge of the fire departments in LA who are DEI types.”16Shawn Ryan Show, “Tim Sheehy – Former Navy SEAL & Aerial Firefighter Breaks Down the Los Angeles Wildfires | SRS #160,” YouTube, January 17, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfhYCpRR8j8&ab_channel=ShawnRyanShow, at 1:08:10.

CORPORATE ACTIVISM

Dianna Muller, a professional shooter who founded Women for Gun Rights, spoke on behalf of Patriot Mobile, a platinum Gundies sponsor that bills itself as “America’s only Christian conservative wireless provider.” Muller criticized “corporate activism” in the wake of the 2019 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. 

According to Muller, corporations like Levis, Citibank, and Royal Caribbean that took action to address gun violence “were willing to do to guns what they had done to tobacco and had done with the gay issue. They didn’t care about losing profits.”17The Gundie Awards, “The 6th Annual Gundie Awards in Las Vegas,” at 1:43:50. She added, “We have got to stop giving money to the people who hate us and are trying to destroy our way of life.”18Ibid, at 1:45:25.

Ibrahim Pataudi, the co-founder of Armanet, which places gun industry ads on a network of gun media websites, criticized Google and Meta for limiting the gun industry’s advertising opportunities. He asked attendees, “Why the fuck shouldn’t the [gun] industry get the same tools that every other legal industry in America gets?”19Ibid, at 2:05:03. He then described his company, a platinum Gundies sponsor, as filling that niche and becoming “the largest ad platform in the [gun] industry,” helping companies like Sig Sauer, Beretta, and Silencer Central “connect with their audiences in a way that was previously impossible.”20Ibid, at 2:05:18.

Pataudi also previewed a new platform from his company “designed to make collaboration between brands and creators completely seamless,” another sign of the deep, yet often unreported, connections between gun makers and influencers.21Ibid, at 2:05:49.

Important Resources