Texas Woman Sparks Debate After Revealing She ‘Always’ Packs a Pistol Before Going for Runs

A viral video by a woman in Austin, Texas, triggered a passionate debate about women athletes — and the experience of being a woman in the United States, in general — after she revealed she never leaves home without first making sure she’s strapped and loaded.

“Always,” Peyton Knight captioned her latest Instagram post spotlighting her running pouch and the compact black Ruger she keeps securely inside. The video has amassed more than 8 million views and 2,000 comments, per a news.com.au story published Friday, November 13.

“I can’t believe you run alone as a woman,” the model and fitness influencer, 28, captioned the clip, suggesting this was a comment she’d received. She followed it up with her response as she held up the pistol, “I can.”

The social media personality previously shared the gun pouch in a video dated September 30, overlaid with three line items. Knight had an ‘X’ next to “Male privilege,” an ‘X’ next to “Scary dog privilege,’ and a checkmark next to “2AM privilege,” referring to the Second Amendment.

“Before anyone gets their thumbs in a flurry, yes I am aware it is a right, and yes, I have been properly trained to use it,” Knight wrote in a comment to this video.

Viewers outside the United States were perhaps the most shocked, according to news.com.au, with one commenting, “Holy [expletive] *european shock*,” and another adding, “Imagine running in a country so free that you need a gun to feel safe.”

“If I lived in the US I would absolutely carry at this point,” one user wrote, while another commented, “As a girl who hates guns, I don’t blame you one bit.”

Another user agreed, adding, “Hate that you have to have it. LOVE that you do 👏.”

One commenter called out critics of Knight’s choice to carry, writing, “Imagine demonizing a woman being capable of defending herself.” Another wrote, “Men only carry because they fantasize of being the ‘hero’ but women carry to protect themselves against…. men.”