Luke Skywalker
Super Moderator
{vb:raw ozzmodz_postquote}:
The Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, shown in a 2006 photo, will be the site of the Republican convention in July.(Photo: Mark Duncan, AP)
More than 21,500<span style="color: Red;">*</span>people have signed a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>petition to allow firearms inside the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Republican National Convention being held in Cleveland in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>July.
Firearms are currently not permitted inside the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Quicken Loans Arena, known as "the Q,"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>where the gathering will take place.
The petition, posted Monday on Change.org,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>sought only 5,000 signatures but has since quadrupled. It was posted by an author identified only as "N.A." from Cleveland, but the user profile appears to have been deleted from the website.
It was not clear whether the person posting the petition was backing the proposal or attempting to put the party, which strongly backs gun rights, in an awkward position.
A petition was posted on Change.org calling for Open Carry at the Qucken Loan Arena in Cleveland for the July Republican convention.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: change.org)
Among the petition's five goals, it calls upon Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, to mount a "concerted effort to use his executive authority to override the "gun-free zone" loophole being exploited by the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio."
The name of the group purportedly behind the effort<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— Americans for Responsible Open Carry<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>does not appear anywhere else online and accepts online message only from networked supporters,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Akron Beacon Journal<span style="color: Red;">*</span>reported.
WKYC
Thousands sign petition for firearms inside Quicken Loans Arena during RNC
The Ohio Republican Party said it was not aware of the petition, the Journal reported, nor was the host committee overseeing the convention, although it noted that the Secret Service, in conjunction with Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, state and federal authorities, is handling security for the event.
“They are coordinating and will be continuously refining security plans leading up to the national convention,” said Alee Lockman, a spokesperson for the Republican National Convention, the Journal says.
In 2012, firearms<span style="color: Red;">*</span>were banned by the Secret Service at the Republican convention in Tampa.
The Journal says the National Rifle Association declined to comment on the petition.
The petition states:
This is a direct affront to the Second Amendment and puts all attendees at risk. As the National Rifle Association has made clear, "gun-free zones"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>such as the Quicken Loans Arena are "the worst and most dangerous of all lies."<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The NRA, our leading defender of gun rights, has also correctly pointed out that "gun free zones... tell every insane killer in America... (the) safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk."The petition also claims that forcing attendees to leave firearms at home puts everyone in attendance at risk.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>It also notes the convention could be a potential target for an attack.
Without the right to protect themselves, those at the Quicken Loans Arena will be sitting ducks, utterly helpless against evil-doers, criminals or others who wish to threaten the American way of life.
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