Over the past few years a very large problem society in the United States is facing is gun control. This issue focuses heavily on the second amendment which grants people the right to bear arms. Many people believe there should be heavy restrictions on the sale of guns and the people who are allowed to have them in their possession. Others strongly believe that everyone should have the right to have whatever type of gun they want. The recent surge in school shootings in the United States has been one of the leading arguments for people who are for restrictions on guns. The argument that those who are strong supporters of the second amendment is that “the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun.” Social Media has become an outlet for both of these groups to voice their opinions. One of the most outspoken people on the platform YouTube is gun rights advocate, Kaitlin Bennett.

       Bennett first rose in popularity after her graduation photos taken on her college campus was released. In the photos Bennett can be seen with an AR-15 strapped around her back walking on campus holding her graduation cap with the outline of a gun on it and the words, “Come and take it.” Since gaining recognition from this Bennett has gone on to create her own community of fans on the YouTube channel, Liberty Hangout. Bennett was not the original creator of this channel but since July 17, 2018 has taken over. According to the channels social blade, a website used to monitor youtube channels’ view and subscriber growth Liberty Hangout at the time had a little more than 2,000 subscribers. Since then it has grown to around 385 thousand subscribers.  On this channel the community is free to comment and interact on the videos Bennett posts. Many if not all of Bennett’s videos feature her walking around her old college campus interviewing students on certain political issues. During these interviews Bennett is always carrying a concealed gun and is quick to mention it to anyone who shows anger towards her. This happens often since it is clear the campus has many students with views that oppose hers. Although Bennett promotes herself as a journalist, during her interviews she is very aggressive and argumentative. This is evident in the titles of her videos with one titled, “Kaitlin Bennet Owns College Dem.” Since the face of this community puts forward this behavior it is no surprise to see that many of her followers behave the same.

       Many of the people in Bennett’s  community are very vocal about their praise towards Bennett with many of her videos getting thousands of comments. Surprisingly while scrolling through the comments it is rare to see comments left by people who were against her views. This could possibly be because Bennett is more well known in the community that supports guns rather than the one that is against it. Many people praise Bennett’s actions or snappy responses to the people she is interviewing. 

The people that partake in this community are difficult to identify since it primarily takes part on youtube. Many people choose to use a pseudonym for their Youtube account, therefore it is difficult to identify their gender. Despite this there were still few people who used a name or had a handle that made it possible to identify their gender. Based on this the majority of Bennett’s following are male. It is also not uncommon to see profile pictures of the American flag or other patriotic symbols like the bald eagle.  

         When observing the community that revolves around Kaitlin Bennet there are a few key terms that you will see pop up frequently. One of these terms are “SJW’s” which is an abbreviation for the term social justice warriors. This is a term created to signify people who are strong and very vocal supporters of more democratic issues. Despite the term not having any straightforward insults it is always used with a negative connotation amongst the community. And two terms frequently used to describe democrats by the community are “liberals” and “the left.” Calling Democrats liberals is very common and recently it is more common to see democrats themselves call themselves this. However, at one point the word liberal was used as an insult. The term “the left” stems from the democrats stance on the political spectrum. The left tend to have a more liberal point of view and the right more conservative. 

       A common theme in the comments is a praise of Bennett’s looks. Speaking about Bennett’s appearance is also common on other social media sites. One of these is reddit where a few posts about her have been made. Of the six posts five are photos of her showing cleavage the other, a link to her YouTube channel. On one video on YouTube one comment suggested only wanting to see Bennett in a bikini. This could signify that Bennett’s looks are a bigger draw to her fan base than the issues she stands for. It is clear to see that appearance is very important to her community since many of the other comments are insults toward the appearance of the people she interviewers who argue with her. One person goes on to say, “They look like a bunch of old lizards in the sun.” 

       Despite Instagram being one of the most popular social media platforms, Kaitlin Bennett does not have an account on it. Instead the only presence Bennett has on Instagram is through the hashtag Kaitlin Bennett. Looking through the posts under this hashtag it is easy to see why Bennett has chosen to stay away from this platform. Unlike on YouTube where Bennett’s community is large and supportive of her, on Instagram the dislike towards her in evident. Many posts make fun of her behavior in videos, the things she has said, questioning how she could have followers, and debate her stance. In my opinion, one possible reason for this could be due to Facebook’s crackdown on hate speech.  Based on the comments left on Bennett’s videos it is clear to see how this would make it harder for Kaitlin’s supporters to express themselves on this platform. 

Bennett is much more active on the platform Twitter. Since joining in June 2017 Bennett has accumulated 241.5k followers. Bennett primarily uses this platform to promote her youtube account and to give updates on where she is filming and people’s reactions to tease upcoming videos. Bennett also uses twitter to interact with her community. This includes news updates and retweets of people who post similar views to hers. Along with this she will provide commentary especially when she is retweeting a post by someone who has more democratic views. She will also occasionally like a post from a  fan directed towards her. 

Despite posting many of her political views online Bennett does not share much of her personal life with her fans. Instead, her fiance Justin Moldow is more likely to post images about their personal life. Bennett most likely chooses to keep her life private because of how controversial she is. Since Bennett often goes out in public to interview people and gets into arguments with them she creates many enemies. I feel that this is one of the reasons why this community has not grown as big as others. Today is is not uncommon to see Youtube channels reach millions in subscribers, however Liberty Hangout and its 358K subscribers have yet to reach that. I do not believe that this is due to Bennetts controversial views, especially since Alex Jones someone even more controversial reached around 2.4k subscribers. I think this is in part because Kaitlin is private with her personal life. I feel that this might also be in part because people do not take a woman speaking about political issues as seriously as a man, that is why people often objectify her. 

      Overall the vibe that this community puts out is a very negative and almost offensive one. Like Kaitlin Bennett her supporters are very snappy and quick to judge based on looks. After all most of her supporters seem to be bigger fans of her appearance than her actual beliefs. This makes me wonder if Bennett would receive the same support if she was a man or maybe even a person of color. Another thing I wondered from observing Kaitlin Bennett and her community is if they actually believe the things they say or if they are only trying to get a negative reaction out of people. This is because Bennett and her fans will never accept when another person makes a good point and constantly attack people’s appearance. Whether they watch to anger others or are a fan of Kaitlin Bennett this community will continue to be a place to inform yourself on others political views.