If you’ve spent much time watching gun or explosives videos on YouTube, then you’ve almost certainly come across FPSRussia.
FPSRussia was not only one of the most popular YouTube channels of its type, but it was also one of the most popular channels in YouTube’s history…period.
But then all of the sudden and with absolutely no warning the channel completely stopped producing content in April 2016.
The reason?
FPS Russia’s producer, Keith Ratliff, was found shot in his own gun store. Shortly after, the ATF conducted a series of raids and arrested FPS Russia’s host, Kyle Meyers. The YouTube channel stopped but Kyle can still be found making videos at Painkiller Already.
If you’re ready for all the details…read on!
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**UPDATE** 11/15/2019:
Kyle Meyers’s legal troubles seem to have concluded now, on June 19, 2019, Myers accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to two years probation and two months in halfway house, and a moderate fine.
After serving his sentence he has returned and is back on the PKA Gaming Podcast.
Origins/History of FPSRussia
FPSRussia was started in September of 2010 and is hosted by Kyle Myers. By June the channel had 1 million followers. As of February 2018, the channel has over 6.5 million followers and their follower count is still growing, despite no new content being produced.
What makes FPSRussia stand out among the roughly one jillion gun and explosive YouTube channels out there is the character (an very heavy, very fake Russian accent) that Myers takes on when hosting, Dmitri Potapoff.
According to the channel’s mythos, Potapoff is a gun- and explosive-loving Russian from Moscow who has access to a wide variety of firearms and explosives and loves using them on his family’s farm.
In real life, on the other hand, Myers is a gun- and explosive-loving American from Lavonia, Georgia who had access to a wide variety of firearms and explosives and loved using them on his family’s farm.
Huge differences.
But how does a channel go from that level of popularity to basically disappearing?
Death of Keith Ratliff
If you believe in signs from the universe, you might say that the first sign of the end for FPSRussia was the death of Keith Ratliff.
Ratliff, a member of FPSRussia’s production staff who was responsible for providing the firearms and other equipment used in the channel’s videos, was found shot in the head in his own gun store on January 6, 2013.
Though police suspected foul play based on the angle of the shot, no charges were ever filed and no arrests were ever made. The store’s surveillance equipment and some firearms were missing from the scene.
Of course, like any mystery found on the internet, there are plenty of theories floating around, including conspiracy theories. Evidence for the conspiracy theories is, at best, insubstantial, so I’m not going to discuss them here.
The personal and professional hardship that resulted from Ratliff’s death led the channel to take a hiatus until February 19, 2013, but even more trouble was still on the horizon for FPSRussia.
ATF Raid of Kyle Myers’s Home
On March 29, 2013, less than three months after Ratliff’s death, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives led a team of almost 40 law enforcement officers, including agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) and officers from the Royston County and Hart County sheriff’s offices, in raiding Myers’s home in Royston, Georgia.
Another team of authorities raided Myers’s father’s farm in Lavonia, Georgia, which sometimes served as a filming location for FPSRussia, at the same time.
ATF spokesperson Richard Coes told a local newspaper, the Athens Banner-Herald, that the raid was motivated by the ATF’s suspicion that Myers was violating a federal regulation that bans individuals from manufacturing explosives for distribution, sale, or use by their own business without a federal license.
Coes declined to comment on whether or not the raid was connected to the death and suspected murder of Keith Ratliff.
No arrests were made following the raid. None of the law enforcement agencies involved stated whether any items were seized, though Coes did state that no guns were seized at one of the two properties that law enforcement searched.
Following this incident, the channel once again went on hiatus, this time for nine months, before uploading a new video in January, 2014.
However, this wasn’t the end of Myer’s trouble with the ATF.
Second ATF Raid & Arrest
After a little over two years of posting videos again, FPSRussia suddenly stopped. They made no statement about why, but it’s probably a safe bet to assume that the decision was a result of the legal troubles that Myers had faced before, and perhaps the knowledge that he would face similar troubles in the future.
Because in August 2017, Myers would be arrested and his home searched by the ATF once again after approximately 25 grams of butane honey oil, a high-THC marijuana concentrate, were found in his United States Postal Service P.O. box.
Myers was charged with possession of a Schedule I substance with the intent to distribute, a felony, and misdemeanor possession of drug related objects
During the raid, the ATF seized more butane honey oil, various drug paraphernalia, and, in accordance with federal law that prevents illegal drug users from owning firearms, more than 50 guns.
Where You Can Still Find Kyle Myers
Since Myers can’t own firearms anymore, it’s highly unlikely that FPSRussia will ever start making videos again.
His channel is still running…and our favorite is his AA-12 full-auto shotgun video:
But just because Myers isn’t making new YouTube videos anymore doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy his current work.
Myers, under his gamertag FPS Kyle, has hosted the video game podcast and Twitch stream “Painkiller Already” along with other YouTube celebrities Murka and WoodysGamertag since 2010.
Myers got his start on YouTube back in 2007 making Let’s Play style videos of first-person-shooters like Call of Duty, so he’s a seasoned pro at this kind of streaming. You just won’t get the Dmitri Potapoff character and his ridiculous-in-the-greatest-possible-way accent.
Thoughts on this story or on FPSRussia in general? Let us know in the comment section below! And in memory of the channel…our Best Exotic Shotgun Ammo and Tannerite Guide.
60 Leave a Reply
So, I can mail something illegal to a person's PO box and get them arrested for possession?
They framed him. Duh. Repeated raids....until they "found something" they put in his mailbox. Just look at recent events with raids on our President. The Left are corrupt. They do not want Americans armed and this should show you just how far they will go to shut you down.
Everyone here needs to read “Unintended Consequences”
I'm all for freedom and everything we've been losing slowly but surely since forever.
However, anyone stupid enough to be high and loads a tank in a civ population where he could kill or at least harm innocent civ's deserved to be harassed IMHO.
Personally, I think my cat does a better Russian accent than he did also.
Personally, I am not advocating for drug use in any form, but is there any evidence of him handling a firearm while under the influence? Again, not advocating for drugs, but this theory seems presumptuous.
Dude had the knowledge and access to use an arsenal. Just the other day was controlling a loaded main battle tank just for fun. Then they arrested him because some THC oil makes him a meance to society. Stupid laws lol
Seriously, using weed a justification to take away his gun rights is plain weaselly. You can just tell they were looking for anything and everything to take away gun rights and when they couldn't find anything better they just settled on getting him for a weed charge. FFS 25 grams for dealing wouldn't even worth the time to deal it! I'd bet my bottom dollar it was nothing but a bulk buy for a 3-4 months of personal use, hardly criminal behavior... They checked twice because they were so convinced he was breaking explosive laws but didn't find anything, and then comes the underhanded route. Sleazy greasy tools.
25Gs of concentrate is a LOT
No it is not
The ATF has nothing better to do than bust someone for thc Vape juice? And to steal 50 weapons? I don't smoke the crap and think that's stupid. I think it's time to clip the wings of these Democrat abusers of the second amendment. More importantly I see yet another agency that needs downsizing from the Obama admin ... almost all the Obama admin agency bolstering needs pruning. Vote Trump 2020.
Lol I was with you so hard until the end. This raid happened during the Trump administration - a republican. The ATF derives its authority from the regulatory directives of the constitution. The ATF became an independent agency in 1972, under Nixon - a republican.
Do you stub your toe and blame the democrats too? Do you also blame them for having absolutely no clue what you're talking about? You shouldn't.
Stumped toe? Who else do I blame if not the libs?
Once the Man has his sights on you, there's no getting away from that. The Man must take a bite.
No lie. I've seen them fail at nailing someone for years before then resort to getting at people with bs like forcing EPA soil tests or this and that which costs the people money. If they can't put you in jail they'll try to put you in dire straights instead! Our government is just as sleazy and underhanded as any government, too many people forget that, and that's when they get you!
Lol he had some shatter and gets arrested for it. Shits legal here haha. You guys have some stupid ass laws down there
Can we find the records of gun models sold, amounts, locations, customers and correlate them with video uploads....no thats top secret, here are some alien files and naval base locations instead..
The whole purpose of the ATF is gun control, and ultimately, facilitating the banning of all guns. That's the whole reason it exists. It started out as a division of the IRS in the 1930's. President FDR had an assassination attempt on his life, so being the Leftist that he was he decided to start the whole concept of "gun control" to usher in a new progressive era. The National Firearms Act of 1934 was passed to place a heavy tax on what the gov't deemed "gangster" style weapons. That was the ATF's job back then when it was branch of the IRS. That's what it was created for. They're not patriots, not in the slightest. These people don't want firearms in the hands of civilians period, nor do their Leftist masters. The ATF broke off from the IRS and became it's own department following the Gun Control Act of 1968. If you study this you'll come to the realization that the whole purpose of the ATF's existence is to enforce and promote gun control, nothing else (which is code for "ban all guns"). The late Senator Howard Metzanbaum and gun control nutjob revealed this when he made the gaffe: "If you don't ban all guns, you might as well ban none of them." For Leftists to realize their dream of a gun free America they use incremental gun control. If you look at all the gun control put in place since the 1930's and look at where we are now you can only come to one conclusion. Gun control is meant to bring about the eventual banning of all guns. No question. If you believe the ATF are "patriots" looking out for gun owner's best interests, you probably also believe that concert goers were killed by Steve Paddock in the Las Vagas Shooting. If that's the case...you can't be helped.
ATF = All The Fools
Funny because now it’s the righties that have been infringing on our gun rights recently. Don’t be closed minded, we’re being attacked from both sides. Truth hurts.
DARE! Just Say No to DRUGS!
W/O more info this looks rather like a setup or entrapment.
My FFL says that ATF people are all gun enthusiasts... Its just a tenuous job when most gun laws are illegal to begin with. I'm continuously confounded how the courts and government in general disregard the very documents they are derived from.
If I’m talking to drugs, I’ve probably already said, “Yes.”
This is an excellent article...i sure do miss fps russia
Faking dope information is a standard ATF tactic. Look at Waco. ZERO confirmed drug related information. ATF has no title 21 authority, so they stir the crap, and get someone else to do the raid. Drugs in a po box? That's not even close to prosecutable. Just another faked atf affidavit in support of a search warrant.
What a joke... The "Man" put him back in his place.
Now you tell me how the fuck anybody new what was in a package in your post office box unless they were the ones that sent it to him this smells like Waco this smells like Ruby Ridge it smells like a fucking set up. The government's not coming door-to-door for your guns they're taking you out like you eat an elephant one bite at the time.
Or feds or locals had suspicions and the postal inspector started checking his packages after obtaining a warrant. Or they were watching the supplier snapping up customers. Or flipped the supplier, etc. There's about a dozen different ways that went down that have nothing to do with a setup.
Until you involve the atf. Then number one on the list becomes "set up". Think gun runner, think gast and furious- zero credibility. Plus, no postal inspector would do anything past a call to DEA, it's sop. Didn't happen!
@matthew newton
Finally, a post from somebody who isn't a conspiracy theory nut.
Yeah, because everyone knows that the government doesn't plant evidence, fabricate evidence, destroy evidence or kill people. Ever.
How about conspiracy realist you dolt.
Set up all the way - he was too popular and too many otherwise being-moulded-in- the-public-indoctrination-system kids were watching his stuff.
Nailed it!
Who/what funded his video's...?Some looked pricey... out
the ad revenue....atf took $400K worth of (50) guns.
I hope his record is expunged when pot is made legal.
why didn't he just move to colorado, oregon, or washington? In WA a legalized state, we have chinese cartels buying posh houses in posh neighborhoods, turn them into grow ops, and ship it to the east coast where they get 10x the legal pot shop retail street price. Then we have (actually so does british columbia, canada namely city of Vancouver) mexican cartels dominating territory, threatening anyone who gets inquisitive, running fentanyl/meth from mexico that was made from chinese components.
It doesn't matter if he moved. While it's legal in some states, it's still not legal federally. One of the questions on the 4473 asks about illegal drugs. The ATF doesn't care if it's legal in your state.
Becvause moving wouldnt accomplish anything - he was set up after his friend was murdered, most likely by the exact same govt thugs ...
That meme with the Russian Pokémon holding a Belgium (FN mini me) lmg was kinda funny!!
Yup. Government cowards couldn’t find anything to arrest him for so they planted drugs. Happens all the time.
Let’s see, the government at the time didn’t like guns and the most popular channel on you tube was about guns. Well now the government can’t have that so kill Keith Ratliff (gun guy) and plant drugs on Kyle Myers problem solved.
I haven’t seen any records that he was convicted. How can he be a felon if he is not convicted. Anybody know if there has been a conviction and sentencing in his case. I don’t think there has.
He was sentenced to two years probation and has to live at a half way house for two months.
He pleaded Guilty.
First offender convictions don't show if probation is completed suct. He still will be a felon however. So really there isn't a point. I know. I was sentenced the same way. Until we rise up and start gunning down government agents , or voting them out.. whichever works nothing is going to change.
How do you get a felony from a subtance being in your p.o. box? Did someone plant it?
Yes it’s all planted all right, no doubt.
Mysterious death with foul play suspected but never investigated and shared publicly, and conveniently drugs are planted on Myers to prevent him from owning firearms, even though he's never presented any danger to anyone? Sounds like they wanted to shut down this high profile pro-2A operation, and they did.
Quite so. In the free country of the US of A.
A ONE SENTENE explanation was all that was need..right?
Could have lead off with : he cannot make vids because he is now a prohibited person
Thoroughly impressive article, Outstanding job.