Kaitlin Bennett

Kaitlin Bennett is an American conservative gun rights activist, pro-life advocate, journalist for Infowars, and social media personality. She received media attention for open-carrying an AR-10 rifle at Kent State University after graduating, making a statement in favor of gun rights for students.

Activism

In 2018, Bennett open-carried an AR-10 rifle at Kent State University, as a protest in favor of the right of students to be able to carry guns in campus, which they are not allowed to do now, as Kent State forbids students, faculty, and staff from carrying deadly weapons on campus, but not visitors. As a graduate, Bennett was no longer subject to this rule.

Bennett stated that as a student, 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. She has also argued that the American public should have access to the same weapons that are available to the U.S. military. 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. She returned to Kent State in November to host a discussion on gun rights.

In December 2018, Salon.com reported that Bennett had released a video of herself shooting at a "Happy Holidays" sign as a protest against Americans saying "happy holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas".

Following her initial protest of Kent State, Bennett became a correspondent for Infowars. Due to her affiliation with Infowars, she was removed from a campaign rally for Bernie Sanders. She was likewise removed from a Pete Buttigieg campaign event for similar reasons. Bennet also interviewed the candidates same-sex spouse Chasten regarding if "love has no age?" to which he responded he would have to "think about it" and would not answer the question. Around the same time she was assaulted while filming at a Buttigieg rally and called on the local mayor to condemn the violence.

Bennett has received criticism for her tweets, including one which shared a video of her drinking milk in response to a tweet from PETA claiming that milk was associated with white supremacy, and another which stated that she "[loved] not living in Mexico". Bennett appeared alongside U.S. representative Aaron Bernstine and mayor Jondavid Longo for the college Republicans. In 2019 she was removed from a communist memorial to Rutgers alumni, Paul Robeson, at Rutgers University when she was trying to interview people, she claims that "liberals" called four officers on her because of her opposing ideology.

Personal life

In 2019, Bennett became engaged.