With 4 million YouTube subscribers I’m sure many of you know who FPS Russia is. For those that don’t know who Kyle “FPS Russia” Myers is he host a YouTube channel on firearms. He does the show with an obvious fake Russian accent while testing various weapons, and blowing lots of things up. There are usually several explosions in every episode. Which is the supposed reason for the raid. The Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) suspected him of using explosives “with malicious intent” because of the cars, fridges, mannequins and other objects regularly blown up on the channel.
The Raid
The ATF being bored and a complete waste of tax money decided to waste even more and come after FPS Russia. The train of thought used by them was that he was blowing things up and getting paid for it. If he was doing business in explosives, The ATF believes that he should have obtained federal explosives manufacturing license needed “to engage in the business of manufacturing explosives for sale, distribution or for their own business,” the ATF spokesperson explained. Basically the government felt that he was making money and wanted to steal it at gun point. Many gun points in fact. The ATF worked with the FBI and two local agencies and raided his home, that they are calling a “compound” , and his fathers farm with over forty agents. They of course found no illegal explosives. One ATF spokesperson said “The idea at one of the locations was to take firearms, but they did not do that,”. They wanted to take his legally obtained weapons simply because he had a lot of them.
Enter Tannerite
For his videos FPS Russia used Tennerite, a patented binary explosive used in firearms training because it explodes when hit by a bullet. Tannerite is unique in that it is exceptionally stable when subjected to less severe forces such as a hammer blow or being dropped. It is supplied as two powders which are combined to produce the explosive. The two components are completely legal since they are not explosive individually however once mixed they cannot be transported without strict regulations. They are not illegal explosives that the ATF has reason to confiscate nor raid.
Stupid Government
The ATF completely abused their power, wasted tax money and left empty handed. They infringed on a US citizens personal freedom and raided his home. No one was hurt in his fridge explosions, people love his videos. The government tried to stop a man from living the dream. FPS Russia is getting paid for shooting guns and blowing shit up. What red blooded American would not love doing that. As far as I concerned the ATF needs to be renamed to the Bureau of Boredom. They want to tax fun so no one will enjoy living. It’s like the government is afraid of a happy populace.
What are your thoughts on the FPS Russia raid? Seen any government stupidity recently? Let me know in the comments!
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Although I have seen some of kyles (aka FPS Russia) video’s I have not been to his site recently. This is the first I’ve heard of this ATF raid. The fact that they left empty handed indicates that they were on a Phishing expedition, looking to cause trouble for Kyle or put him out of business. It also demonstrates that many of these alphabet soup agencies are ‘rogue’, especially the ATF. That fact is, they work and believe they are above the law with no recriminations or accountability for what they do. Many of the alphabet soup agencies exist with an ‘Us and Them’ mentality. They no longer work for ‘we the people’
It is in my firm opinion that Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be a sign in front of a convenience store.
TinMan
On one hand, I hope he can sue and get paid well should he sue in the situation. Problem is the money will all be taxpayer’s money. Being the media figure he is, i’m sure he is in a great position to get out there and make a statement about what was done here, but considering the murder of his producer, I would not be surprised if the emotional/mental energy to do this would be hard to muster.
Not that it’s my business, but I wonder what happened behind the scenes when you consider that murder on top of the ATF raid. Rough times, and I hope Kyle can get through it all.
Please up date those of us who had never heard of this young man. Who got killed?
And, yes, the FBI and ATF have to find things to get all worked up about. If they didn’t keep crap stirred up like this, they would have to go out and find the fellows that are blowing things up with pressure cookers and air planes. I hope I don’t have to show ID and get a background check when I go to buy my new pressure cooker…..just saying…..