Kaitlin Bennett

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Kaitlin Bennett
Woman with dark blonde curly hair
Bennett at the University of Akron in 2020
Born Kaitlin Marie Bennett
(1995-10-15) October 15, 1995 (age 29)
Zanesville, Ohio, U.S.
Education Kent State University (BS)
Known for Open carrying an AR-10 at Kent State the day after her graduation
Spouse(s) Justin Moldow (m. 2020)

Kaitlin Marie Bennett (born October 15, 1995), sometimes referred to as Gun Girl, is an American gun rights advocate, anti-abortion activist, and conservative social media personality. Bennett received media attention in 2018 for open-carrying an AR-10 rifle at Kent State University after graduating. Bennett has been praised by conservatives and condemned by the increasingly radicalized left for her graduation photo involving a firearm and her political views on topics like abortion and undocumented immigration. Bennett is a reporter for Liberty Hangout and Infowars.

Early life, education, and personal life

In May 2018, Bennett graduated with a degree in biology from Kent State University in Kent, Ohio.[1]

Bennett became engaged in 2019[2] and got married in 2020. Her husband is Liberty Hangout founder Justin Moldow.

Media attention

Bennett was the president of the Kent State chapter of Turning Point USA, however after a protest against campus safe spaces backfired in October 2017, she resigned.[3][4][5]

In 2018, Bennett posed for her graduation photo holding an AR-10 long gun in front of the university sign. She stated that as a student at Kent, she should have been able to open-carry for self-defense, citing the 1970 Kent State shootings where Ohio National Guardsmen fired on unarmed students protesting the U.S. bombing of Cambodia.[1]

Later that year, Bennett organized an open-carry rally at Kent State. The university released a statement that a cease and desist had been issued against advertising the event, as Bennett had not attempted to register the event with the university.[6] She returned to Kent State in November to host a discussion on gun rights.[7]

Following her initial protest of Kent State, Bennett became a correspondent for Infowars.[8] Due to her affiliation with Infowars, she was excluded from a campaign event for Bernie Sanders.[9]

In January 2020, clips began surfacing online of Bennett's 2019 interviews with University of Kentucky students. Originally posted by Liberty Hangout with the title "College Students Have No Morals",[10] the videos show Bennett questioning the students on the issue of resources for transgender people in bathrooms. The clips quickly became popular on social media, with users entertained by the dichotomy between Bennett and the interviewees' reactions to the topic.[11][12] One student seen in the interviews used the online attention to raise money for charity.[13][14]

As social media users mainly associated Bennett with her gun rights activism, many media publications have referenced her "Gun Girl" nickname.[15][16][17]

In February 2020, Kaitlin Bennett went to Ohio University to ask President's Day trivia questions, but was confronted by an extremely large crowd of college students opposing her, with some throwing toilet paper, drinks and other objects at her.[18]

That same month, Bennett's Liberty Hangout outlet was attacked for statements on Twitter supporting Holocaust revisionism, monarchy, and disfranchisement, as well as for the outlet's promotion of white nationalists Augustus Sol Invictus and Christopher Cantwell.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.(Birth year of 1996 based on age 22 in 2018)
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Kent State University orders grad Kaitlin Bennett to cancel open-carry rally, Cincinnati Enquirer
  7. ↑ Kaitlin Bennett returns to campus, hosts gun rights discussion Archived 2019-06-01 at the Wayback Machine, KentWired.com
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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