YouTube bans gun conversion tutorials

YouTube is banning videos that show viewers how to modify guns to make them more deadly like bump stocks, one week after the deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas.

The company says that the decision is an expansion of a pre-existing policy it has against “harmful and dangerous content.”

{mosads}“We have long had a policy against harmful and dangerous content,” a YouTube spokesman said in an emailed statement. “In the wake of the recent tragedy in Las Vegas, we have taken a closer look at videos that demonstrate how to convert firearms to make them fire more quickly and we’ve expanded our existing policy to prohibit these videos.”

The company will also ban videos that sell and promote firearms as well as conversion devices and bump stocks — both of which allow semi-automatic guns to fire more similarly to automatic ones.  

Stephen Paddock, the suspected Las Vegas shooter, attached bump stocks to several of the rifles found in his room. Such devices allow firearm owners to take advantage of a gun’s recoil to simulate an automatic rifle’s ability to fire rounds in rapid succession, while not violating laws banning automatic weapons.

YouTube began reviewing its policy in regard to guns after the shooting last week after it became aware of conversion products, before announcing its decision Monday. Initial searches show that some types of gun modification tutorials, including those about bump stocks, are still visible on the video platform.