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Who is 'Kent State Gun Girl' Kaitlin Bennett? Internet says 'ignore her' after she was chased out of UCF

According to her tweet, she was there to 'ask students who would be a better president for black Americans, Trump or Biden?'

A large number of students gathered at the University of Central Florida (UCF) campus on September 10 to protest against a visit by gun-rights activist Kaitlin Bennett. According to her tweet, she was there to "ask students who would be a better president for black Americans, Trump or Biden?" However, she was met with hostility from students. A gathering was shouting at her and telling her to go away, according to a report by Orlando Sentinel.

Bennett, in a tweet, said, "Just another day at the office" with a photo of her surrounded by her bodyguards and a huge crowd behind her. The report states that the university said it supported Bennett’s right to express herself, but she and her security team did not wear masks upon arrival, which was a violation of the school’s policies implemented to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The UCF issued a statement on Twitter saying, "As a public entity and state university, UCF must follow the law regarding free expression, which designates outdoor areas of campus generally accessible to UCF community as usable by the public for any spontaneous expressive activity." They further wrote: "The group on campus today was lawfully expressing their free expression rights but not complying with UCF’s Covid-19 policy, which requires everyone on campus to wear a face covering."

After the policy was explained to them, the university said that they complied. They added, "This is the first time during the period of Covid-19 that UCF has dealt with a free expression scenario of this nature, and the university must enforce this health and safety policy with all visitors."

However, Bennett’s response to this statement was: “What liars! I went to @UCF to ask students who would be a better president for black Americans, Trump or Biden, and YOUR students got violent and violated your Covid-19 policy that prohibits social gatherings of more than 12. But you didn't enforce that, did you?” She further tweeted, “My head of security went to campus yesterday and walked around with @UCFPolice Commander Freeman to tell them exactly why we were coming, & be proactive in making sure this wouldn't happen. They also said they wouldn't make us wear masks, then threatened to arrest US. #DefundUCF."

Who is Kaitlin Bennett?

According to Forbes, in February this year, she was chased out of Ohio University. She gained prominence in 2018 after she tweeted a photo of hers carrying an AR-10 rifle with the message "come and take it" written on her graduation cap. This earned her the moniker "Kent State Gun Girl".

According to Forbes, she has been a vocal gun rights activist at Kent State University and the president of the university's Turning Point USA chapter — a right-wing youth nonprofit. She has been appreciated by right-wing and pro-Trump circles, while being mocked by other groups. According to the report, she has worked as a correspondent for Alex Jones' InfoWars and was invited to the White House by the Trump administration for a personal tour.

The report also states that she has a history of making provocative statements about LGBTQ people. She has a YouTube channel called Liberty Hangout and has around 503K followers. The channel is described as "a growing libertarian media outlet and alternative news source which strives to bring readers relevant insight into current events."

Bennett’s videos are mostly about her walking around college campuses with a microphone and asking students about various cultural questions. She is married to Liberty Hangout co-founder Justin Moldow. The channel, which was founded in 2015, has been criticized for controversial statements on Twitter supporting Holocaust denial, monarchy and other topics.

According to a Snopes report, a search of internet archiving tools confirmed that on January 30, 2016, the Liberty Hangout Twitter account had posted a now-deleted poll asking users, "Do you believe the Holocaust happened as we’ve been told?" In response to that post, one user asked, "What do you think" and Liberty Hangout had replied, "It doesn’t seem possible that 6 million were killed."

After the Ohio incident, she had tweeted, "I just want to remind everyone that I didn't gain 'fame' on my own. People only know who I am because of leftists who have been giving me free promotion for two years now. The people mad at my existence are the ones responsible for my platform. Congrats, you played yourselves!."

The university police in a statement had said that they weren't told that she was coming so that police could put more officers on duty. According to Forbes, she had said that she would return to the university with "an army of gun owners for an open carry walk through campus." Also, during an appearance on Fox And Friends, as reported by Forbes, she had stated that colleges "not supporting free speech" should be stripped of federal funding.

She had also posted a video and tweeted, "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."

After the September 10 incident, a lot of users posted videos of the incident. And soon Twitter was discussing the incident. One user said, "If ya’ll would just ignore Kaitlin Bennett she would go away. Y’all are literally giving her even more of a platform and it doesn’t make any sense. If she comes to your campus just literally ignore her."

Author Mike Dice posted a photo and wrote: "Hate-filled Marxist mob runs Kaitlin Bennett off University of Central Florida campus."

Entrepreneur Michael Coudrey also posted a video and said, "Left wing loonies attack and swarm Kaitlin Bennett and her bodyguards at UCF today in an attempt to silence her 1st amendment constitutional right to free speech. Don’t let them shut you down, @KaitMarieox."

Author Brigitte Gabriel said, "What is wrong with the student body at @UCF?? I wouldn't send any of my children there — assaulting an innocent conservative girl?! I don't know who Kaitlin Bennett is, but no one deserves to be attacked like that! These young socialists are terrifying, Generation Z is scary."

Another user claimed, "Witnessed some real insanity at UCF today. This is me in front of the crowd of hundreds of students protesting against Kaitlin Bennett during her visit to campus today. I also witnessed her bodyguards shoving people around ruthlessly."

Another alleged, "In every video, Kaitlin Bennett is racist, anti-LGBTQ, and anti-Semitic, then turns around and says, 'I don't know why people are so intolerant'."

A user stated, "Let’s all collectively ignore Kaitlin Bennett so she can finally stop being relevant, like she literally gets off from pushing people’s buttons."

 MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) cannot independently verify and does not support any claims being made on the Internet.