According to multiple sources, the show American Guns has been cancelled following the Connecticut school shooting on Friday. After a quick check of the Discovery channel’s press-only site I can confirm that the show is no longer listed under the list of programs. The show had been in hiatus after completing its second season and did not have any additional new episodes to air, but it now appears that the show will not return for a third season and will no longer be aired on Discovery. Also curiously missing from the list of programs is Sons of Guns, the reality show on Discovery that kicked off the rash of firearms related shows in the last few years, but there has been no official word on that yet that I can see. . .

From Fox News:

A Discovery rep told FOX411 that “American Guns” – which is out of production and not currently broadcasting new episodes – has been canceled and will not return for a third season. This comes as something of a surprise given its growing popularity. The show had a 50 percent ratings increase for its second season premiere, and one of its stars, Renee Wyatt, recently said she would “definitely” be interested in returning for season three. The rep, however, would not link the show’s cancelation to the Connecticut school massacre.

A rep for the guns rights group The Firearm Coalition responded, telling us: “It does not surprise me that Discovery may be lowering the profile of its gun coverage. That’s their prerogative. Nonetheless this tragedy has as much to do about lawful use of guns as the lawful use of cars has to do with a car bombing.”

Listen, I’m not going to say either show was a shining example of the American gun culture or that it was particularly good TV, but these were fairly popular shows that portrayed firearms and firearms owners in a positive light. And obviously we can’t have any of that.

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57 COMMENTS

  3. It’s a business move. They don’t want to tarnish their reputation with the scary evil things that may make some of their fans uneasy.

    I’m disgusted… even though I wasn’t actually a fan of those two shows. I like “Family Guns” on National Geographic a lot better. I hope THAT doesn’t get thrown under the bus…

  4. I was going to send this to you, as I saw it when I was reading about 3-Gun Nation, but I’m not sure there’s a real story on this one. The article I read had this to say about the cancellation of American Guns.

    American Guns has now been cancelled. Discovery sources indicate the decision was quietly made awhile ago, however it didn’t come to light until today. “American Guns concluded earlier this year,” a spokesperson said. “Discovery Channel chose not to renew the series and has no plans to air repeats of the show.” The fact that the network is not even keeping repeats of the show on the air indicate that the Connecticut tragedy may have played at least some part in the decision.

    The line about “a 50 percent ratings increase for its second season premiere” simply means that the season two premiere got 50% higher ratings than the season one premiere, aka the first show ever. However, that same site went on to say:

    But the ratings subsequently dropped off and, in the end, Season 2 finished down double-digits from Season 1. I hear Discovery brass also felt there was no story left to tell, contributing to the cancellation decision.

    Do with that what you will, but while the decision to not run repeats might be related to Connecticut, it seems likely that the actual cancellation was not. (Source)

    • I had read before the CT shotting that American Guns ratings weren’t so great and they were likely not going to return. What the CT shotting might have taken it from negotiations on costs and budgets to see if there was a change to keep production to we are likely going to see a small drop in viewers over CT and the show was already on the end so lets just put a fork it in the show is done.

      Thanks
      Robert

  5. In the meantime they will run a Kill Bill Marathon on Xmas day. It seems like these show are less of an issue than some movies.

        • The only show she’s likely to get will be about 15 minutes long and involving a pole and an annoying DJ yelling something about “Give it up for…”

          Bring lots of $1s, those IRS oenalties and fines won’t pay themselves.

  8. You mean there is such thing as pro-anti gun movements?

    I havnt had cable in years, show like these are just some of the many reasons why.

  9. Good! Having been on one of their so called reality shows all I can say is good riddance. They do no good for the people they are supposedly representing and explaining to the public. It is all BS. I started to watch one of the gun shows but couldn’t stand it. Nonsense. Original Productions (the company that films most of these shows for the DC) sucks. Yeah, they know how to make something that is popular for certain and to their credit they are extremely professional, the best I have ever dealt with. It is just truth they have a problem with. Everything is drama to them. I guess that is because that it what sells.

  11. Those show were rubbish. I would like to see the History channel bring back “Tales of the Gun” documentary show.

  12. Has the Discovery Channel also can celled its ‘Military Channel’? Far more people are killed in wars and by the US military than by locally owned guns. Time to boycott the Discovery Channel and inform their ad sponsors why their products are being boycotted too.

  15. So American Guns and possibly Sons of Guns have been canceled. Not much of a loss, opinion. Neither were shining examples of the firearms community as a whole but they didn’t put it in a obvious negative light, again opinion. But the show Amish Mafia stays on the air? It’s got guns and violence (intense violence according to the ratings) so why didn’t it get the axe? Seems like Discovery channel is just blindly removing anything that has an outward reference to guns. They could have revamped both shows to be shining examples of the firearms community to help create a positive image, but threw away their spines because “guns” offend some people.

    • Not only that, but the uses of guns in American Guns and SOG are completely legal.
      When a guy shoots someone’s window out for sideswiping a buggy, that only reinforces the idea that it’s OK to do extra-legal things with your firearms.

  16. “but these were fairly popular shows that portrayed firearms and firearms owners in a positive light.”

    I would have to disagree with you there. Have you actually watched the Sons of Guns show? I am glad they finally got cancelled, they portrayed the gun community as a bunch of idiots, especially that Kris character. The show was not informative and was filled with a bunch of lies courtesy of Will Hayden.

    • I am not sure this is a good thing. Sons of Guns got me interested enough in Guns to go out looking to buy my own. Now granted I watched the show and knew some of it was BS but that is true of all Reality TV shows. At least in sons of guns they talk about paper work and it was a change to see some unique guns in play. Granted many of there final shots were boosted with explosives to make a bigger bang but unless you were a real moron you would know that.

      Thanks
      Robert

  17. I didn’t care for sons of guns, and never watches the other. Hopefully they will make a come back at some point.

  20. Yeah, while I liked the sliding degree of “normalization” shows like this bring to your average dumbass reality tv viewer, they weren’t exactly shining beacons for the gun community. Ironically, I could totally see Sons of Guns surviving this, even though American Guns was considerably more tame, and even somewhat family oriented!
    ….they both deserve to be cancelled on their hack writing merits alone, though.

  21. Well what do you know? The reality series American Gun has been cancelled. Glad to hear the lame assed show was cancelled. It is common knowledge that Rich Wyatt is a wannabe high roller jerk and the whole series was based on the false premise of a gun store operated by mom, pop, and their kids. In reality, Rich is a loser who married Renee less than 5 years ago and Wyatt is not the last name of HER kids, their real names are Kurt Grewcock and Paige Grewcock. All of the crap about their involvement in the business alongside a doting father was scripted BS. Another misleading line of BS is the bit about Rich being a “retired” chief of police, he was the former chief of police of Alma CO, population 237, which had a one man department (including the chief) and if you consider getting your ass run off as retiring then I guess he retired. Truth is that Gunsmoke, the gun store business in Wheat Ridge CO has an infamous reputation of screwing over customers, ridiculous prices, and shoddy workmanship. It’s doubtful the operation can stay afloat for long without the cash infusions from the TV show. Good riddance!

    • Ted, I don’t know who you are but your post was brought to my attention by a friend. You are right on, you must know these people, but the truth about why the show was cancelled has nothing to do with Newtown. The fact is that the Wyatts are under investigation for federal tax evasion, or fraud. Hopefully they will both do some time in jail. Last I knew they are no longer allowed to sell guns let aone have a show about selling guns. Most important to me is that my kids are doing good.

  22. The few times I watched that show I found myself wondering whether a sufficiently strong muzzle blast could cause a breast implant to rupture.

  23. Neither show is a loss to the shooting community. I wouldn’t let Kris work on a cap pistol, and I was tired of watching the Wyatts overcharge for everything they did and overpay for everything they bought.

  24. American culture, the envy of the world. If the picture has anything to do with the show, I’m really sorry that I cut off all programming 8 years ago. Not.

  26. It would be nice to have a similar show, which taught viewers things about guns in an informative and entertaining way. Sure they got to have some of the fluff, cause that stuff sells. But a truly informative show would be nice.

    The only thing I regret about loosing this show, is that it made firearms “mainstream” , even if it wasn’t to the liking of the majority of the gun community, which I don’t believe that it was.

  27. I think it’s better to have no gun shows on TV then to have shows on TV that portrays guns as easy to get as did American Guns. I wish, just once, they would explain to the public how difficult it is to buy and sell guns (especially legal full autos) while abiding by all the state local and ATFE laws and regulations. I know people say “boring” TV but hell thats life. I now hear statements on TV that machine guns are easier to get then buying a car…BULLSHIT! But I think that these types of shows have convienced people that it’s true. Oh well…I did like the moms boobs ;o)

  28. won’t miss the shows ..however just goes to show the libral knee jerk lap dogs at work….whats next the old reruns of the rifleman???

  29. With these two, ‘firearm soap operas’ now gone, the national image of firearms, and the people who deal in and use them is sure to improve. Those shows were intellectual, ‘rags’. (But, then again, so is most of television!) 😉

  30. No big loss. Those shows were so bad, I was almost convinced they were funded by anti-gun people to generally make gun enthusiasts look like douchebags.

    They should just go back to videos of animals getting it on.

  31. Well, if my posts are going to be deleted without explanation, I do believe I will no longer be reading or promoting TTAG…..

    • RKGBA,
      CNN has deleted all of my comments and refuses to allow me to post at all anymore. Guess I should be happy about that…

  32. So NASCAR next? Cars kill more people than guns by a long shot (no pun intended).

    This is bull crap, and all us Legal Gun Owners have to be punished. How about outlawing food network, because I am overweight….

  33. If you do not like guns, that is fine, do not own them. If you do not like shows about guns, that too is fine, do not watch them. I do not like crap shows like Jersey Shore and other junk, so I do not watch them. Plain and simple. At this point it is out of hand as far as trying to regulate everything that one person or group of people do not like. Suck it up and live on. Live your life the way you wish, and I will do the same.

  34. I know the guys at SOG & they are good people. In fact really good people. What you see on TV is part real & part Hollywood ( as if it was just about guns there would be next to no viewers). I get it that some dislike the show & can even understand their point of view; however, those of you making personal attacks against people you don’t even know is foolhardy. Will, Joe, Charile , & Kris are all nice guys & I bet if you met them in person you would feel the same way about them as I do. As for American Guns/ from what I understand their ratings tanked so was the main reason it was canceled. Maybe the shootings played a role (recall the CO shooting was almost in their backyard) but ratings drive TV. If a shows numbers are low the show goes away but even “controversial ” shows stay on air if the viewers support it

    • Btw: SOG is not canceled. Know this for a fact. If you hate the show that’s your right but I feel its been an asset to gunowners. If you feel differently don’t worry as since the show is not going anywhere you have plenty of time to come up with more negative things to say. Just let me know when YOUR show airs so I can critique it 😉

      I do agree with one poster above as they should add a brief disclaimer about NFA weapons as to the uninformed it can appear full autos are easy to produce & own.

    • Will at Red Jacket ripped-off a close friend of mine. He sent in an AK and a lot of parts for a custom build, and it took him nearly three years to get his rifle back. When it finally showed up, the work had been done incorrectly, with the wrong parts, and his (not inexpensive) parts had disappeared.

      Will’s response? “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

      He may be “nice,” but he’s a liar and a thief as well.

  35. Sons of Guns’ should be canceled ‘American Guns’ should not. The crass, ignorant Will and his worse son-in-law put me off, though I am an avid collector of guns and would have otherwise like the show. As a Vietnam vet, it is not the cursing but the values and arrogance of these guys that are not good for TV or the image of gun owners.

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