Operator of popular YouTube channel found shot to death in northeast Georgia

[tosh]

Updated: 7:58 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013 | Posted: 11:16 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013

By Mike Morris

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/operator-of-popular-youtube-channel-found-shot-to-/nTqHY/


One of the operators of a popular YouTube channel promoting high-powered guns and explosives was found shot to death last week in northeast Georgia.

Keith Ratliff, 32, was found dead at 5:45 p.m. Thursday at his business on Hayes Road in Carnesville, said Franklin County Sheriff Steve Thomas in a press release.

Ratliff, of Frankfort, Ky., had been shot once in the head, and his death is a homicide. He had been dead for some time when the body was discovered, Thomas said. He was last seen alive Wednesday around 7 p.m.

<snip>

On his LinkedIn profile, Ratliff stated, “After a life of loving firearms and computers, I have combined both into one great new business that offers both viral marketing and quality firearms from one place. We are FPS Industries Global LLC, a type 10 Destructive Device Manufacturer and Viral Marketing superpower on YouTube and Facebook.”

[Xipe Totec]

1. My irony meter just exploded. nt

[Electric Monk]

3. If only he'd had some means of defending himself....

[ZombieHorde]

2. If only he had a gun.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.



[font size=1](Ha! I lied! I'm not sorry and I totally could've resisted!)[/font]

[tosh]

4. I know, I know!

I just keep repeating that thing my mom always told me.

I'm not saying a word.

[leftyohiolib]

5. live by the sword die by the .. wait i'm stayin out of this too.

[mwrguy]

6. You reap what you sow

He glorified death and killing.

I bet he didn't feel too glorious right at the end.

[ileus]

7. I was worried it was FPSRussia

Just read over on LBN it was FPS.

He pissed excellence.

the guy in the pic isn't FPS.

[Glaug-Eldare]

8. Too bad, but..not exactly SOP, is it?

[JI7]

9. why didn't he defend himself ?

[sylvi]

10. I see the death crows have alighted

to pick at a body. They're the only crows that actually build their own strawmen.

And they claim the pro-2A folk are the ones with the mental problems.

[frylock]

11. no, they're feasting on bullshit NRA talking points proven wrong..

yet again. this guy clearly had the means to defend himself, yet here we are.

[gejohnston]

12. was it on him?

and no one said there was a guarantee. No, it looked like dancing in blood to me. You are simply misinterpreting.

[Glaug-Eldare]

13. Did you know medical insurance pays out 100% of the time?

And that every policy covers every condition?

Pools of blood are the natural habitat for grab nuts, and the only place they're truly comfortable.

[frylock]

14. he was at his business that carried "quality firearms.."

so i'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that firearms were present and available for his defense. now I suppose the new talking point will be that the good guys must have their weapons ready, fingers poised over triggers, for them to be truly effective.

[gejohnston]

16. the merchandise is always unloaded and locked

unless you don't mind losing your FFL.

Don't know the exact situation, taken by surprise or whatever. Not a talking point, something any police firearms instructor would tell you. The only people making it a "talking point" are pundits and gun control advocates who lack any knowledge on the subject and assumes a lot of facts not in evidence.

I could make an equally unfounded claim that Barbara Graham decided to take out gun nuts. I doubt MMM and Brady would take her back after she got out of prison playing vigilante. But I'm not.

[Glaug-Eldare]

17. Like that lie about how Fort Hood was crawling with armed soldiers. n/t

[sylvi]

15. The only talking point

that includes the fantastical "guns will protect you all the time and every time" comes from grab nuts more interested in snark and strawmen than discussion.

The guys body isn't even cold and nothing is known except the cause of death, yet some people can't wait to make him an example of...something. That's fucked up on so many levels it doesn't even bear having to point it out.

[upaloopa]

27. You guys never have a real good answer when your bull shit

is thrown in your face do you? You either attack someone or you answer a question with a question.
Aren't guns for self defense? Isn't this person a gun owner? Why the hell didn't he defend himself?
Isn't it more likely the more you are around guns the more likely it is that you'll get shot?
Gunner shit stinks admit it! The main reason you have guns is you like guns isn't it? Everything else is just a cover isn't it?
Why should society have to cater to that?

[Starboard Tack]

37. " grab nuts more interested in snark and strawmen than discussion. "

And what exactly is your "talking point"?

[frylock]

38. fuck this asshole..

Ratliff was known as an outspoken gun advocate. In a message posted to Twitter on Aug 11, 2012, he wrote: "I went to the movies with my pistol in my pocket the whole time I was praying that somebody would try to pull a Batman!"

you shed all the tears you want for this fuckwad.

[sarisataka]

19. Like pro-lifers

celebrating the murder of a doctor who preforms abortions, they fail to see their hypocrisy.

[gejohnston]

21. Ambrose Bierce put it best

“Hypocrisy: prejudice with a halo”

[frylock]

41. we're celebrating the death of your bullshit argument..

you know, the one about how if only the victim had a gun.

[sarisataka]

42. Swing and a miss

I never said anything about if the victim had a gun. You are celebrating that the victim did have a gun. That justifies you as you see him as less than a whole person, enjoy his murder and excuse the murderer.

If I am mistaken in your attitude, please enlighten me. I have seen many calls for gun owners to be killed lately and much rejoicing when a gun fails to stop a murder, assault, rape...

[frylock]

43. i meant "your" in the collective sense of the gun fetishists..

as a gun owner myself, I would be a bit foolish to call for my own murder. and to reiterate; fuck this asshole. he just experienced the scenario he had been praying for, and he failed. game over.

[sarisataka]

44. Then don't assume and put words in my mouth

As a gun owner you should be careful of what you are wishing for. To many in GD and elsewhere, one gun makes you a 'fetishist'.

It is a serious double standard to mourn one murder and celebrate another.

I don't know anything about this guy; I prefer not to get my information from youtube. Anyone who knows anything about guns and self defense should be praying to never encounter the scenario. There is a difference between preparing for something and wanting it. As I said, I do not know what camp this man might have been in.

[frylock]

45. all you ned to know about this guy was that he was PRAYING for another aurora..

so that he could go Rambo and kill the bad guy with the gun. who cares what collateral damage would ensue. well, his fantasy came true, and when confronted by the bad guy, he lost.

[sarisataka]

46. Then I will agree

this guy was delusional and likely had no business owning guns.

I have had extensive training on situations similar to Aurora using everything from hand guns to full auto- on both sides. I never want to end up in a real world situation. I can't say what I would do since each situation is unique, but there is no good choice, just less bad.

[frylock]

47. i can't imagine many rational people hoping to find themselves in that situation

peace.

[sarisataka]

48. To you and yours

we all agree on the goal. It is the road that is not easy; but we owe it to ourselves our children and the future.

[Starboard Tack]

18. Karma!

[gejohnston]

20. disappointing

"Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men."
- St. Augustine

This doesn't even seem to be a "sad necessity" of defensive violence, yet you are joyous.
How disappointing and not very principled.

[Starboard Tack]

23. Not joyous at all. Just sharing my thoughts.

Pyromaniacs usually end up getting burned. That's the irony of karma. Did you see the website on YouTube?

[gejohnston]

25. no, and pyromania is irrelevant

unless he blew himself up with his own devices.

[Starboard Tack]

29. The guy was a nut, obsessed with all things that go bang.

He promoted lethality and violence. I'm not surprised he died violently.

[gejohnston]

31. I don't know about obsessed but

Last edited Thu Jan 10, 2013, 04:43 PM - Edit history (1)

he made money off of the videos. I find them rather boring. So, since he did not seem to be promoting hate, or anything like that I don't see the problem with that. So I guess harmless diversity and tolerance only goes so far doesn't it?

[Clames]

22. Disgusting.

That's all. Disgusting.

[Starboard Tack]

24. Yeah, I just checked out the YouTube videos of this guy. Truly disgusting.

About as disgusting as it gets.

[Clames]

33. No. Your dancing in the blood of others...

...tops that by miles. Congrats in finding a new low for yourself. I'm sure you have all the tools and the desire to keep digging though.

[Starboard Tack]

35. Your defense of such a parasite speaks for itself.

I feel no sympathy for him or those like him.

[darkangel218]

49. A parasite??

What has that guy done to you? He made some videos which are not any worse than any movie or video game out there!! I bet there are video games a thousand times more violent than blowing up targets at a shooting range!!

[Starboard Tack]

52. He's done nothing to me. Parasites feed off the weakness of others.

Peddling violence as fun to young testosterone laden males is exploitative. I have no argument about the video games btw. Violence is violence and violence breeds violence.
IMO, if the guy had nothing better to do with his life than sell guns and blow shit up and encourage others to do the same, then the world is a safer place today.

[darkangel218]

53. He didnt force anyone to watch his videos!!

So are you going to have the same attitude if an actor who featured in a dozen of violent movies dies? A 2 year old child is left without a father and that's your reaction? Sorry to say, but you have no heart.

[Starboard Tack]

57. Does the fact he didn't force people to watch make them less repugnant.

Do you feel the same way about snuff films? The 2 year old will hopefully be better off.
You'd have to ask those who know me if I have heart or not. I think I do, but probably not too much for the heartless of this world who promote violence and stupidity.
You may not have noticed, but the planet is pretty fucked up right now and we all need to be doing something about that. If we're not, then we are contributing to our own demise. Accumulating weaponry and learning how to blow shit up is not the answer. In fact it is a big part of the problem.

[darkangel218]

58. What he did was LEGAL!!

To compare his videos with snuff just lost all your credibility!!

[Starboard Tack]

59. The death penalty is also legal. Doesn't make it right.

Lots of assholes do legal things.

[darkangel218]

60. Do you really think the use of this kind of hyperboles

Makes it right to dance on the grave of an inocent man? Whatever, you're the one having to live with yourself.

[gejohnston]

54. I have no argument about the video games?

They tend to be gamers than gun enthusiasts. They get the guns specifically for their murders. Many of them, certainly the guy in CT and Norway. They both played video games to the point of having no life.

[Straw Man]

61. Don't believe in karma, myself.

It fails proof-of-concept when it encounters genocide.

[eilen]

26. Were there guns stolen? nt

[frylock]

39. who knows? dealers aren't required to report loss or theft.

[gejohnston]

40. not true

http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/licensees-conduct-of-business.html#lost-firearms
It could lead to loss of FFL or prison.
Dealers must use the inventory control procedures outlined in the Gun Control Act. All acquired firearms must be logged in and any outgoing must be logged out. If a gun is logged in, but no 4473 showing it being sold, and not in inventory the dealer has to explain that to the ATF inspector during periodic inspections. I know of two that happened to. One is in prison and the other is awaiting trial.
The latter was investigated by the local media and the state of Florida for racial discrimination in CCW classes, the ATF found that many of his guns were lost, he is facing federal charges.

Don't feel bad, not too long ago I debated a gun control advocate that thought the NFA sunsetted with the AWB allowing over the counter machine gun sales.

How would he report the theft if he is dead?

[2on2u]

28. If only he'd been carrying. n/t

[darkangel218]

50. Unexpected assault is not always defendable!!

Just like seat belts can't always save lives, or antibiotics cure infections.

Your sarcasm towards the death of an inocent man has been duly noted.

[2on2u]

56. Yes yes and yes. n/t

[MightyMopar]

30. What goes around, comes around

[gejohnston]

32. do you have evidence of him committing murder?

[MightyMopar]

34. Ratliff is in a better place

[MichaelHarris]

51. F%&k the type 10 destructive device

what I fear is the viral marketing superpower. I bet this guy had a dick the size of a baby carrot.