Leave Your Guns at Home, Please

RECOGNIZE OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO OPEN CARRY FIREARMS AT THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION AT THE QUICKEN LOANS ARENA IN JULY 2016

In case you had missed this, it seems someone started a petition at Change.org asking the RNC to reconsider their decision to hold their convention at a gun-free arena. Because, you know, 

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)

Because Cleveland is a top ten most dangerous city, the petition states, the actions of the RNC and The Q, as the arena is known, "are putting tens of thousands of people at risk both inside and outside the convention site." And – 

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.

Once you count ISIS, evil-doers and criminals, could there even be anyone left who would threaten our way of life? Let's see:

All three remaining Republican candidates have spoken out on the issue and are unified in their opposition to Barack HUSSEIN Obama's "gun-free zones."

So, THAT'S who's left to threaten our American way of life, right?  That president with the funny middle name? Of course, we have nothing to fear from the candidate with the funny FIRST name; you know, the one who actually wasn’t born in America? Because, well, you know, because Benghazi or something.

Having outlined the above concerns, and having included some other stuff I didn't (not wanting to spoil the whole thing), the petition asks that appropriate steps be taken to ensure a righteous and open convention come July:

The folks at the Quicken Loans Arena are asked to suspend their no weapons policy (which is consistent with Ohio's open-carry law, by the way) and allow open carry during the convention. (emphasis added)

Not, mind you, all the time - just during the convention. This is not about a principle or closely-held personal belief or anything. 

The NRA should issue an "immediate condemnation of the egregious affront to the Second Amendment..." stemming from the gun-free loophole in Ohio's law. 

The 'loophole' refers to a provision of the Ohio statute that gives private entities the right to ban handguns on their property, so "firearms and other weapons of any kind are strictly forbidden on the premises..."

Governor Kasich, himself one of the last candidates standing, should use his executive powers to override the above-referenced loophole being "exploited" by the arena. 

Reince Priebus, that bastage, needs to provide "an explanation of how a venue so unfriendly to Second Amendment rights was chosen" for the GOP's summer picnic, and he needs to come up with a "contingency plan to relocate the convention" if the open carry restriction is not lifted. 

The other two candidates, Donald Trump and Rafael Cruz, "must call upon the RNC to rectify this affront", yada yada yada, because "Every American is endowed with a God-given Constitutional right to carry a gun wherever and whenever they please."

Meaning, wherever and whenever they please, as long as it's during the RNC Convention, at the Quicken Loans Arena, in Cleveland, OH from July 18 - 21, 2016.  

Alas, all of the honest to goodness reasonable Republicans, along with white supremacists, he-man woman haters, free speech and media haters, schoolyard bullies, and all the rest of the folks who will be under the tent who were hoping for an old-fashioned shoot-em-up convention had their hopes dashed by that gosh darn Secret Service.  

According to an article in the Washington Post (and widely reported elsewhere), it seems the US Code gives the Secret Service the authority to "preclude firearms from entering sites visited by our protectees, including those (sites) located in open-carry states."

Poor things. Part of me was kinda hoping there'd be a real battle for the nomination.