Gun Girl

About

Kaitlin Bennett, better known as Gun Girl and Kent State Gun Girl, is a conservative journalist, activist and correspondent for InfoWars. She rose to fame after protesting Kent State University's campus open-carry regulations after her graduation in 2018. Since her campus open-carry post went viral on Twitter, Bennett has been an outspoken libertarian activist posting numerous conservative commentary videos to her fiancé's YouTube channel, Liberty Hangout.

Online History

Open Carry at Kent

On May 13th, 2018, Kaitlin Bennett posted an image of herself carrying an AR-15 on the Kent State University campus to her Twitter^[1] account (shown below). In the post, she stated, "Now that I graduated from @KentState, I can finally arm myself on campus. I should have been able to do so as a student- especially since 4 unarmed students were shot and killed by the government on this campus. #CampusCarryNow" which received over 36,300 likes and 8,200 retweets in a year.

The post went viral due to conservatives and liberals both reposting the image to share their views on gun violence and open-carry laws. Due to the post's popularity, Bennett gained a reputation for being a right-wing spokesperson and began posting commentary videos to Liberty Hangout. On July 17th, 2018, Liberty Hangout posted the first video featuring Bennett titled, "If You Support Gun Control, You Support Gun Violence" (shown below). The video garnered over 11,700 views in a year.

Merry Christmas Post

On December 25th, 2019, Kaitlin Bennett posted a short video of herself shooting at a sign that reads Happy Holidays captioned, "It's Merry Christmas, NOT happy holidays. Quit being a bunch of PC pansies. Here's my Christmas present to everyone 🎅🎅" (shown below). The post gained over 20,500 likes and 4,300 retweets in eight months.

That day, various Twitter users either responded in praise of the post or condemning it. Twitter user @FPWellman^[10] responded by tweeting, "I agree! Let’s drop the PC. You’re a terrible shot, horrible person and if you were half as badass as you act you’d join the military. But, you’re not. You’re just a sad example of what’s become of “conservativism”. Happy Holidays (eg., Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, New Years)" (shown below). The tweet gained over 3,400 likes and 200 retweets in eight months.

Comfort Suites Theft

On August 2nd, 2019, Twitter user @bbybarbz^[6] posted screenshots from a since-deleted Facebook post by Kaitlin Bennett explaining that $1,500 of her wedding cash was stolen from her Comfort Suites hotel room. (shown below, left). @bbybarz's post included the caption, "Someone stole $1500 from that gun girl I’m laughing" (shown below, right) and received over 90.800 retweets and 418,700 likes in three days.

The next day, Twitter users began responding to the tweet by speculating as to why she would carry that much cash around with her. One Twitter user, @learysp^[7] gave a theory that, "She might have been selling one of her guns to pay for wedding so she crossed state lines (Ohio to KY) to do the transaction and she probably has to be licensed to do that and we could get her thrown in jail!" (shown below, left). The post garnered over 1,400 likes in two days. Other twitter users thought the tweet was disrespectful, like @yorkj17^[8] who responded by saying, "And this is what is wrong with our country. People degrading someone all because they don’t believe in the same things. Just because someone doesn’t share the same beliefs does not mean u r any better" (shown below, right). The tweet accumulated over 20 likes in two days. On August 4th, The Daily Dot^[9] reported that "several users also claimed that Bennett created a GoFundMe to replace the money, but, if true, it was already taken down by the time of this article’s writing."

Interview Videos

In January 2020, videos of Kaitlin Bennett typically interviewing students on Kent State Campus resurfaced on Twitter and were labeled as self-owns. On January 12th, Twitter user @MakeItRayn_ uploaded a video in which one person calmly answers Bennett's questions about trans people using the bathroom and captioned it, "You could not make this better if you tried" (show below). The video garnered over 323,900 likes and 69,300 retweets in five days.

The next day, Twitter user @Mustafa_Raza_ posted a video of himself being interviewed and mentioning a rumor that she "shit herself at a frat party" (shown below). The video received 389,200 likes and 94,800 retweets in four days.

That same day, Twitter user @wolfhaleyswhore tweeted, "Do you hear the DELUSION and STUPIDITY that comes out of the Kent-State gun girls mouth? Shoutout to this Australian king" and posted a video of Bennett interviewing an Australian family and telling them that Australia doesn't matter to her (shown below). The video gained over 266,700 likes and 64,100 retweets in four days.

Ohio University Video

On February 17th, 2020, Bennett tweeted a video of a group of protesters shouting and throwing liquid at her car. She wrote, "This is what happens when a Trump supporter goes to a college campus. Leftists at @ohiou started a riot when @Joelpatrick1776 and I showed up, and the @oupolice let it happen. I think @realDonaldTrump should strip funding from universities like this that harbor terrorists." The tweet received more than 1.8 million views, 35,000 likes and 16,000 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below).

This is what happens when a Trump supporter goes to a college campus. Leftists at ohiou</a> started a riot when <a href="https://twitter.com/Joelpatrick1776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">Joelpatrick1776 and I showed up, and the oupolice</a> let it happen. I think <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">realDonaldTrump should strip funding from universities like this that harbor terrorists. pic.twitter.com/5TMlfdto9O

— Kaitlin Bennett (@KaitMarieox) February 17, 2020

Reputation

As of August 2019, Kaitlin Bennett's Facebook group "Kait's Unsafe Space"^[2] has gained over 172,631 followers. Her Twitter^[3] account has over 223,200 followers, while her Instagram account has over 91,600 followers. She receives over $4,000 a month from over 300 patrons donating to her Patreon.^[4]

Personal Life

Kaitlin Bennett is from Zanesville, Ohio and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in biology from Kent State University in 2018 and became engaged in 2019.^[5]

Search Interest

External References