Update: In a shock to no one, the Secret Service says no weapons will be allowed inside Quicken Loans Arena for the RNC despite thousands and thousands of (useless) signatures on a petition demanding open carry for the event. 

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(Original story 3/24/16): For all the ink spilled on the upcoming GOP visit to Cleveland and the attendant worries about Cleveland’s ability to deal with protestors in general and the sometimes violent nature of interactions between some Republican supporters and protestors around the country so far this year, sometimes it feels like the city isn’t fully prepared for what is actually coming down the pike.

Which brings us to this petition on Change.org, from Americans for Responsible Open Carry, which demands that THE POWERS THAT BE force Quicken Loans Arena to temporarily set aside its ban on weapons inside the arena so that folks can enjoy the Trumpian majesty of the convention while bearing arms.

The whole tome can be read here at your pleasure and leisure, but if you want just a taste, here’s a snippet:

According to the policy on their website, “firearms and other weapons of any kind are strictly forbidden on the premises of Quicken Loans Arena.”

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” such as the Quicken Loans Arena are “the worst and most dangerous of all lies.” 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.” (March 4, 2016 and Dec. 21, 2012)

Cleveland, Ohio is consistently ranked as one of the top ten most dangerous cities in America. 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.

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.

Is it August yet?

This article appears in Mar 23-29, 2016.

Vince Grzegorek has been with Scene since 2007 and editor-in-chief since 2012. He previously worked at Discount Drug Mart and Texas Roadhouse.

18 replies on “Update: Secret Service Confirms No Weapons at Quicken Loans Arena for RNC Despite Petition Demanding Open Carry”

  2. Let the bodies hit the floor
    Let the bodies hit the floor
    Let the bodies hit the floor
    Let the bodies hit the floor

    Wait…

  3. Then I guess they better all stay home huddled in their basements counting their provisions as they clean their guns that they can’t bring to Cleveland. OR we can let them bring their guns, lock the doors and throw in a firecracker and let them all sort it out.

  4. Sure. I’ll sign. Not because I agree with them in the slightest, but because I truly believe that the tree of liberty, sadly, really must be watered with the blood of patriots . Until they get the running gun battle that they’re begging for, I don’t think anything will change. The future always seems to be born in pain. Better there, in a room packed with their own, where they are all prepared to return fire, than anywhere else on Earth. I know how absurd and cynical this sounds. I don’t care for violence at all. I just believe that if it is inevitable, then leave the rest of us out of it. Now that we’ve addressed that, who wants to volunteer to chain the doors?

  5. Makes sense to allow this. It is clear that the Cleveland Police are not going to be able to control the rioting liberals. We have a right to protect ourselves from these hateful Dem’s.

  6. Cleveland’s violent crime rate is one crime per person every 71.66 years… so for every 10,000 attendees over a 4 day period there should be about one extra violent crime (including robberies). Unless Cleveland’s violent crime is highly focused toward conventions. So it almost makes sense for all to carry guns… except perhaps that Cleveland is left paying $50,000k+ in hospital bills and legal fees for each crook that gets shot trying to steal $100 bucks from a few random Attendees .

  7. Sounds like a great idea. Let them bring their guns, supply everyone with whiskey and meth, turn up the heat, chain the doors and – voila! – our long, national nightmare will be over.

  9. Ok, you all can carry your weapons, but be aware that at midnight we are going to turn the lights out for 20 minutes. Anyone left standing is the winner.

  10. How many of the 12,000 are actually going to be in the Arena? It sounds like the NRA had their members sign the petition. With the bars staying open until 4 AM do we really need to see drunken Republicans all over town with assault weapons?

  13. An I the only one who thinks that the gun rights folks are being trolled by an anti-gun group? Americans for Reponsible Open Carry has never existed before this petition. The whole point of the petition appears to be to force the GOP to oppose this on safety grounds and then point out that they are hypocrites for putting their own safety ahead of the safety of children getting killed by guns every day.

    Not that we need to be reminded of the gun worshippers’ hypocrisy, but this is a great troll job.

  15. I will signed it, I want to see these idiots shoot each other . Note: I also believe that we should all have the right to own a gun .

    My guess is the Republican candidates won’t show if they actually allow this to happen.

    Talk radio is created monsters and now they have to deal with them. Maybe they could put the Republican candidates in a bulletproof box and they can talk through a speakerphone .

  16. This is a flat-out dumb and ridiculous petition for a couple of reasons. First, it would be analogous to letting the general public carry firearms into the passenger area of an aircraft; When we go through airport security – in theory – and, most usually, in practice, (no system is ever perfect, hence, the deadly islamist terrorist strike in Brussels airport, at an airport counter, before the islamist terrorists passed through a security check point… (At a minimum, where were the airport’s trained bomb-sniffing canines? ), the threat of any terroristic threat is, or certainly should be, minimized to the fullest extent that is humanly possible, by the presence of 24/7, vigilant, high-security monitoring, and by intelligent public space design, that greatly facilitates vigilant security monitoring. Anyway, the point is that the Republican Convention is an event taking place in secured space, similar to a public airport. There is no analogy whatsoever to the potential of a terrorist attack in, let’s just say, a movie theater, where everybody piles into that public space without going through airport-security type screening. Second, the Secret Service sets the rules for entry – after all, they are charged with the responsibility of protecting the safety of the candidates.

  17. Just what we need, hundreds of armed people and potential Presidential (and a bit crazy) candidates up front and center on a podium. It didn’t work in Tampa and it won’t work here either. NUTTY

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