Communism was responsible for the deaths of close to 100 million people in the 20th century, and it continues to be a plague on mankind. I'm in favor of almost any action that can be taken to undermine the ideology where it's taken root, so this news pleases me to no end. 

A small but growing number of American firearm enthusiasts are joining RedNote, an app known in China as Xiaohongshu, in an effort to teach native users how to build 3D-printed guns. 

One such advocate, known online as “YZY,” signed up on Tuesday, part of an American influx ahead of Sunday’s looming TikTok ban.

“Us Americans have a moral obligation to download RedNote and show the Chinese how to build unserialized ghost guns,” YZY wrote in a post on X.

On his RedNote profile, YZY has already shared numerous videos of 3D-printed weapons alongside links to “The Gatalog,” a community-driven platform that hosts 3D-printed firearm blueprints and related files.

“Learn to 3d print guns like an American,” one video’s caption says in Chinese.

The CCCP prohibits private gun ownership, so those who do decide to learn to print guns like red-blooded Americans could face severe penalties. And even if they are able to privately manufacture a firearm, finding ammunition for it is going to be challenging. I doubt many Chinese users of RedNote are going to follow YZY's lead and download those files, but I applaud their effort nonetheless.

YZY says that after joining RedNote, several of his fellow enthusiasts quickly followed.

“The point for us is always to spread the signal of DIY small arms,” YZY told the Daily Dot. “RedNote is no exception, just a new frontier.” 

Unlike many others, however, YZY did not come from TikTok. In fact, YZY said he only used TikTok once years prior but was given a strike almost immediately after posting a single video of a non-3D-printed AK-47 rifle.

Interactions on RedNote have been minimal so far. YZY said he received some positive feedback from Chinese users. Many users have left the comment “666” under his videos, which, in China is a positive slang term meaning “cool,” “awesome,” or “well done.”

How many of those responses came from RedNote users in mainland China is unknown, but if even a small number of those under the thumb of the CCCP have been touched by this activism I'd call it a win. Self-defense is a human right, after all, and that includes collective self-defense in my book. It was Mao who said that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun, and that lesson hasn't been lost on the current crop of commies running things in Beijing. 

It also hasn't been lost on most 2A advocates here in the United States. The right of the people to keep and bear arms is fundamentally a check on tyrants and those who would force their will on us; whether a tyrannical government, home invader, or rapist. That right is at least as much a prophylactic measure as a response to the establishment of tyranny, and even if the vast majority of Chinese users of RedNote don't download the files offered by activists like YZY, I hope that it ignites the spark of freedom in their minds.