The star of FPSRussia was raided by federal agents who were searching for illegal weapons at the popular YouTube host’s house.
FPSRussia is a YouTube series created by Georgia resident Kyle Myers in which he demonstrates a variety of high caliber weapons and explosives. It was actually the popularity of the series (which has close to four million subscribers and more than 522 million total views) that drew the attention of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
On Tuesday ATF agents, along with agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, searched the farm of the FPSRussia star, where he sometimes films his video segments.
ATF spokesman Richard Coes said agents wanted to see what kind of weaponry the FPSRussia star was handling, and make sure it was all legal. They were particularly interested in the explosives he uses in the segments.
“The claim is that [Myers] was using explosives and getting paid for it via YouTube,” Coes said.
One of the substances Myers uses in his videos, Tannerite, cannot be used for business purposes without a federal license. YouTube users are able to generate revenue off of their channels if they reach a certain amount of views, so agents could have been checking to see if he was profiting off the use of Tannerite.
ATF agents did not say if the raid on FPSRussia was related to the January killing of Myers’ business partner , 32-year-old Keith Richard Ratliff. He was found dead in his business outside Carnesville on January 3.
Kitty Walden, a producer of FPSRussia, told Guns.com that Myers always follows the law in his videos .
“If it ever came to doing something outside of our legal boundaries, we would then work with someone who was legally authorized to do it in an approved location,” said Wandel. “We can only hope this helps [the ATF] understand how we make our money, so it doesn’t hurt another YouTuber.”
No one was arrested in the raid of the FSRussia star’s property, and ATF agents did not say if any explosives were seized.