The ‘What your gun sounds like?’ TikTok trend, riling up teens across America, explained

It’s been a while since we had a good old fashioned TikTok challenge. And “What your gun sounds like” fits the bill perfectly. Right down to how it's sparking pure chaos across American high schools, and generating millions of views.

The sound

The premise of the trend is simple enough. A TikToker goes out and "interviews" the public, inviting them on camera to answer the question, ‘What your gun sound like?’ 

The sound of the hypothetical gun is whatever you want it to be, whether it be a “kaboom,” a “ratatata,” or even a piece of music. The goal is to make the funniest and the most offbeat, out-of-context sound possible. The weirder the better.

Where’s it from?

While the trend has surfaced again in spring 2024, it was originally started by a high school student in April 2022. The student, @jaylen4pf, went around the school asking different classmates what their personal gunshot sounds would sound like. 

Although the specific video sparking the trend has now been deleted, several similar videos have also popped up. Most of them seem to have been filmed in high schools. In April alone, three, TikToks following this format in high schools were uploaded and amassed a respective 37 million, 26.4 million, and 21.6 million views.

But that isn’t the only version of the trend. Other TikTokers are using the sound to pay tribute to some of their favorite riffs in songs, from “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls to “Flaming Hot Cheetos” by Clairo.

But as this trend sweeps campuses, some commenters have been left feeling a little nostalgic, with one TikTok user remarking how this trend makes them miss high school.

Sound off

TikTok and schools haven’t always had the best relationship. Alarms have been raised in the past over trends like the Blackout challenge, Devious Lick challenge, and Slap A Teacher challenge, so it’s nice to have a trend that remains good, wholesome fun.