Hickok45 (Greg Kinman)
Hickok45 (Greg Kinman)
Hickok45's real name is Greg Kinman (born July 1950).
He is probably best known for his firearm related videos on YouTube. He lives in the Pleasant View, Tennessee area and is a retired English Teacher from Franklin Road Academy in Nashville, Tennessee. He has a huge shooting range and compound in his backyard, which is frequently shown in his YouTube videos. On January 6 2016, the channel was briefly banned by YouTube for "policy violations", but was reactivated later that day. In a YouTube video after the incident, he explains that he still does not know what caused them to reinstate the account. He postulates that support from other YouTube channels like IraqVeteran8888 and tnoutdoors9, as well as all of his viewers, may have been the deciding factor.
He started the YouTube channel in January 6, 2007, with his son John doing most of the filming. He was inspired to create it after teaching the Western novel Shane to his middle-school classroom. Most of his early videos were done wearing cowboy outfits and shooting Wild West era weaponry. Hickok45 quotes that "YouTube puts me in touch with new shooters, young people and just anybody, to educate them a little bit about gun safety". The video that got him viral was his carving of a pumpkin with a.40 cal Glock. His 'shooting compound' where most of his videos take places is located at 1241 Old Clarksville Pike, Pleasant View, TN 37146.
Greg has turned down multiple offers from YouTube and other networks to monetize his videos, but has generally declined them out of principle and the fact that he wants to remain independent. He has nearly 1000 videos as of Dec 2015.
Greg is a former Tennessee reserve deputy, but has no military experience.