Anatomy of a Smear on Pro-Gun Candidate Brandon Herrera

Brandon Herrera became the Republican nominee for the 23rd District of Texas Congressional race. This was after it was learned that Rep. Tony Gonzales was a lot worse than just being anti-gun.

Now, the YouTuber will battle it out for the November election, and the anti-gun world seems to jump at the chance to pick up where Gonzales left off.

As noted on Friday, Gonzales's attacks on Herrera centered largely around taking clips out of context and misrepresenting jokes as heartfelt positions.

Sure enough, we had plenty willing to do just that, and all between the time I wrote that piece and when it was published.

🚨🚨🚨

Video shows Mike Johnson's candidate in #TX23 Brandon Herrera goose-stepping to Nazi marching song “Erika” https://t.co/XMxj2X9BCp pic.twitter.com/4y2Ceaj6nG

— House Majority PAC (@HouseMajPAC) March 5, 2026

Now, that's part of a bit. Herrera is making fun of Nazis there. What's more, if you dig a little deeper, you'll find that he does things like this for whatever era and region a firearm is from. It's funny they didn't grab any of the clips of him dealing with guns from communist countries, isn't it? I mean, they exist, including at least one where he's dressed as Castro.

It's very telling how Leftists are attacking Brandon Herrera for dressing up and making jokes about numerous things, yet completely ignore him dressing up as a Communist (because that's what they are). pic.twitter.com/fKghaAATLe

— Leftism (@LeftismForU) March 6, 2026

They didn't mind those so much, though, I guess.

And, of course, we have Rolling Stone, which famously had to pay $1.5 million to a fraternity at the University of Virginia over their poor journalism reporting on what turned out to be a rape hoax, had to get in on the game.

Brandon Herrera is the GOP nominee for Texas’ 23rd congressional district after incumbent Tony Gonzales dropped out of his reelection bid following a sex scandal over which MAGA lawmakers called for his resignation. A subsequent ethics investigation ensued after reports surfaced that he had an affair with someone on his staff who later died by suicide.

Meanwhile, Herrera has become the district’s de facto GOP nominee in the wake of departure of Gonzales — who in 2024 called Herrera a “known neo-Nazi” — from the race. (Herrera denied the accusation, saying on X at the time, “This should be obvious, but I am not, nor have I never been a neo-Nazi.”) The firearms manufacturer and YouTuber, who’s known on the internet at “The AK Guy,” went viral on Friday after a video surfaced where he is seen boasting about his copy of Mein Kampf.

“That’s my copy at my house next to a bunch of the German stick grenades,” Herrera said in the clip. In the video, he appears to pull up a photo of it on his phone to show one of the hosts. “I got the 1939 edition printed in English, just because I thought it was wild that you couldn’t buy it on Amazon, but you could buy The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital.” (Hitler’s hateful, antisemitic book appears to be available on Amazon).

For the record, here's the post where this "surfaced."

GOP nominee in #TX23 Brandon Herrera shows off his copy of Mein Kampf, “I got the 1939 edition printed in English” pic.twitter.com/9fQmENoa42

— House Majority PAC (@HouseMajPAC) March 6, 2026

Now, I've seen the whole episode.

What everyone seems to miss is that yes, Herrera shows his copy of Mein Kampf, but then he and the rest of the people on that podcast take some quality time making fun of it. Here it is cued up to the relevant portions for you to watch for yourself, because unlike these anti-gun wankers, I want you to see the bit in its totality and make up your own mind.

See, people like Herrera scare them. Gonzales didn't bother them because, frankly, he might as well have been an anti-gun Democrat for all they cared. He backed enough stuff they liked that they weren't interested in the affair until it couldn't be ignored any longer.

But Herrera is pro-gun. While he's being attacked for opposing military aid to Israel, the truth is that he opposes military aid to anywhere. It's not that he's anti-Israeli so much as anti-blowing American tax dollars to support other countries. Believe me, I get it.

Look, I'm not saying everyone needs to love Brandon Herrera.

However, what I will say is that if you're going to attack Herrera, you should attack him on what he actually believes, not what the voices in your head tell you he believes.

Yeah, he's got a copy of Mein Kampf. He's got a copy of the Communist Manifesto, too. Unlike most of the people complaining, he knows what's in it and why it's insane that Hitler ever rose to power, because the dude was freaking nuts from the jump, and anyone who reads that book should be able to see it.

But then again, a lot of the people are taking this out of context and presenting it as fact, following Tony Gonzales's playbook to the letter, and that's just vile.

Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

Help us continue to report on and expose the Democrats’ gun control policies and schemes. Join Bearing Arms VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership.