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Student’s Graduation Photoshoot With Her Rifle Has People Rolling Their Eyes So Hard

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In the misguided attempt to prove just how responsible they are with guns, conservative teens have recently popularized the baffling trend of posing for graduation photos with their respective firearms. (Because nothing says “responsible” like a soft focus.) However, one student recently took the trend to troubling new heights when she chose to pose with her gun on a college campus.

Kaitlin Bennett, a senior at Kent State University, recently decided to flaunt her conservative politics by taking her graduation day photos with her beloved rifle. The look was completed by a decorated graduation cap reading, “Come And Take It.”

One of the graduation photos was shared on Twitter by Drunk America, accompanied by the caption, “An armed graduate is a safe graduate.”

Obviously, many people took issue with the uncomfortable and tasteless juxtaposition of an assault rifle on a school campus — particularly the Kent State campus, where unarmed students were gunned down in 1970 for protesting the Vietnam War.

And of course, there’s the obvious white privilege of the fact that Bennett can openly carry an assault weapon without worrying about her safety/getting arrested.

As journalist Parker Molloy pointed out, the photoshoot makes even more sense considering that Bennett has been active in organizing controversial conservative events on campus in the past — such as one which featured a “Safe Space,” i.e., a baby pen with students in diapers.

Bennett eventually quit the organization when the stunt received backlash and she was actually forced to be held accountable for her actions. She stepped down from her post in a very public manner by penning a (highly fussy) blog post on the conservative site Liberty Hangout.

Well, Kaitlin, you might want to prepare yourself for more backlash — because if toting an assault rifle around campus and posing for glamour shots with it isn’t baiting a debate, then I don’t know what is.