Unless viewers, advertisrs, and posters leave in droves, YouTube will continue down this road.
There's a culture war happening where YouTube is definitely, firmly, on one side of it. I think they've demonstrated sufficiently that they're ideologically far left. They'd be fine with just de-platforming everyone they disagree with, except they don't want to lose half their viewers because $$. It seems like this is a strategic way to straddle the line.
There's definitely demand for a video sharing service that is foremost dedicated to free speech (notwithstanding copyright issues). The problem is, there's a bigger demand for being on a huge platform. Big YouTubers aren't going to jump ship unless what they jump to is close to is at least close to what they have with YouTube.
It's certainly not just gun channels that are threatened. It's every channel has any content that's not politically correct. Tim Pool, for crying out loud, got a strike. But since then, he's noticeably self-censored his content, at least right after he got the strike. I don't know how far it will take before YouTubers are pushed far enough for an alternative to be equitable.
It’s on the subject, but bear with me a moment.YouTube Update.....
[video=youtube;gAeSCO7q35g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAeSCO7q35g&list=WL&index=2[/video]