When Brownells lost its YouTube channel this weekend, it took to Twitter to rouse up enough of an outcry that the internet behemoth ceded to public demand and opened access once again.
The message was simple: “Brownells’ YouTube channel has been terminated without warning or notice,” the company’s tweet said. It then provided contact information to register complaints. The response was pointed: Followers heeded the advice to contact Google, YouTube’s parent company, and made their case for protecting First and Second Amendment rights.
The main gist of the public response was that Brownells was being targeted unfairly.
Here are some of the tweets.
- @YouTube Bring Brownells videos back to Youtube. What responsible citizens like myself do for recreation should not be judged solely by the outliers. Don't spread discrimination against legal gun-ownership. #brownells
- I gotta say something else about this. Brownells is like the stodgiest, old-schoolest, non-tactical, non-"assault rifle", old-hunting-guy brand in the gun world. When your platform has summarily executed Brownells, you've just gone too far.
- YT removed Brownells account smh. This is a joke. Of all the people to take down they go after Brownells, the retail store?
Brownells started its YouTube channel more than a decade ago. Besides posting videos about new products, the company posts maintenance and tech tips. Some 67,000 people have subscribed to the channel.
The channel was offline for a little more than a day. The fact that it's back up shows that when gun supporters make their voices heard, sometimes it makes a difference.
