A Change.org petition is calling for the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland to allow the open carry of firearms during the July’s Republican presidential convention.
As of Friday, the petition calls for Donald Trump, Sen. [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore] and Gov. John Kasich to “call upon the RNC to rectify this affront to our Second Amendment freedoms.” It has received almost 12,000 supporters since it was started on Monday.
The petition notes that while Ohio “allows for the open carry of guns, the hosting venue — the Quicken Loans Arena — strictly forbids the carry of firearms on their premises.”
N A, the user profile that started the petition has since deleted the account, but the petition is still available.
The petition argues that the banning of open carrying in the Quicken Loans Arena is “a direct affront to the Second Amendment and puts all attendees at risk.”
“By forcing attendees to leave their firearms at home, the RNC and Quicken Loans Arena are putting tens of thousands of people at risk both inside and outside of the convention site,” the petition claims.
“This doesn’t even begin to factor in the possibility of an ISIS terrorist attack on the arena during the convention. 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.”
Later, the petition says, “We are all too familiar with the mass carnage that can occur when citizens are denied their basic God-given rights to carry handguns or assault weapons in public. EVERY AMERICAN HAS THE RIGHT TO PROTECT AND DEFEND THEIR FAMILY. With this irresponsible and hypocritical act of selecting a “gun-free zone” for the convention, the RNC has placed its members, delegates, candidates and all US citizens in grave danger.”
The petition then calls for the arena to suspend the gun ban from July 18-21, and for the National Rifle Association to get involved in the push.
The petition specifically calls on Kasich to use his executive authority as governor to override the ban.
The petition also calls on the Chairman of the Republican National Committee Reince Priebus to offer “An explanation of how a venue so unfriendly to Second Amendment rights was chosen for the Republican Convention. Further, we demand a contingency plan to relocate the convention to another location should the Quicken Loans Arena refuse to honor the constitutional rights of the RNC guests to open carry firearms during the convention.”
In a statement to Guns.com, Brett Pucillo, president of the rights group Ohio Carry, which is not associated with the petition said, “(We) would love to see this petition take off and the RNC to allow law abiding citizens to carry at the event.”
“We also respect private property rights, and if the owners of Quicken Loans Arena choose to post their venue as ‘gun free,’ we respect that,” Pucillo said.