Thread: Guns at GOP convention petition tops 35K, Trump wants to study 'fine print'

Guns at GOP convention petition tops 35K, Trump wants to study 'fine print'
David M Jackson, USA TODAY 2:55 p.m. EDT March 27, 2016

Donald Trump says he wants to study a petition that calls for allowing the open carry of guns at the Republican convention this July in Cleveland.

While proclaiming himself "a very, very strong person for Second Amendment," the Republican front-runner told ABC's This Week that "I have not seen the petition. I want to see what it says. I want to read the fine print."

Posted on the website change.org, the petition of unknown origin notes that "though Ohio is an open carry state, which allows for the open carry of guns, the hosting venue -- the Quicken Loans Arena -- strictly forbids the carry of firearms on their premises." That "is a direct affront to the Second Amendment and puts all attendees at risk," said the petition that has more than 35,000 signers as of Sunday.

The other Republican presidential candidates -- Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich -- have not commented on the open carry petition.

The name of the group purportedly behind the effort — Americans for Responsible Open Carry — does not appear anywhere else online and accepts online message only from networked supporters, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.

According to the website cnet on Sunday, the petition may have been started by a group as satire.

"A blog called Hyperationalist has claimed responsibility.

He or she writes: "It just doesn't seem right that thousands of patriotic Republican good guys should be left totally unprotected by whatever bad guys might wish to do them harm. I mean forgodsake people, ISIS could show up to take out everybody in and around that building and they'd be sitting ducks. Sitting ducks, I tell you! There might even be a bad egg or two among the delegates."

Hyperationalist didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

However, his or her tweets since 2011 suggest that he's not exactly of the Republican cause. For example: "Win-win for the Trump people at last night's rally: a protester got beat up and a black guy got arrested. This was accompanied with the #NeverTrump hashtag."

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 and 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 were banned by the Secret Service at the Republican convention in Tampa.

Contributing: Doug Stanglin

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...cans/82321374/

There should be massive security at the Convention so I don't think guns should be allowed. There will be a lot of high emotions, turmoil, upheaval, schemes, plots and hatred at this Convention in abundance.

The right to keep and bear arms does not apply to private venues and is not needed at secured events covered by the Secret Service and local law enforcement.

This sounds like a desperate Mormon/Romney-Backed Anti-Trump Plot to exploit the Second Amendment to insert an assassin into the Convention to me.

Secret Service: No guns in GOP convention

Getty Images

By Jordan Fabian - 03/28/16 01:09 PM EDT

The Secret Service says people attending the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this July will not be allowed to carry guns.

The statement comes in response to a petition that calls for allowing open carry of guns inside Quicken Loans Arena, the host venue.

The petition has amassed more than 43,000 signatures as of Monday morning. Secret Service spokesman Robert Hoback said in a statement that “only authorized law enforcement personnel” working with the agency will be allowed to carry firearms inside protected areas.

“Individuals determined to be carrying firearms will not be allowed past a predetermined outer perimeter checkpoint, regardless of whether they possess a ticket to the event,” Hoback wrote in an email.

The Secret Service cited federal law that allows the agency to prevent firearms from being carried into venues with protectees present, even in open-carry states.

The Secret Service previously sent a statement to Cleveland’s Newsnet5.com.

The petition, which was posted last week on Change.org, has drawn widespread attention, in large part because it seemed designed to test the limits of the Republican Party’s support for the Second Amendment.

The anonymous author noted that, while Ohio is an open-carry state, Quicken Loans Arena policy forbids weapons of any kind to be carried into the facility.

“This is a direct affront to the Second Amendment and puts all attendees at risk,” the petition reads.

The origins of the petition are murky, and some websites have questioned whether it is satire or a hoax.

An anonymous blogger, Hyperationalist, posted the petition on Change.org.

“Yesterday morning, the dedicated staff of the Hyperationalist launched the Change.org petition posted below,” the blog wrote last Thursday. “We have since collected 1,500 signatures and the pace seems to be picking up. Clearly we have struck a nerve.”

Chris Matyszczyk of Cnet referred to the petition as “satirical” in a Monday morning piece.

A Twitter account linked to the blog retweeted several messages calling the petition “Wizard-level” and “God-tier” trolling.

“Win-win for the Trump people at last night's rally: a protester got beat up and a black guy got arrested. #TrumpRally #NeverTrump” the user tweeted on March 20.

Regardless of its origins, the petition has won attention.

Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, who is under Secret Service protection, said this Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” he wanted to take a closer look at the proposal.

Trump called himself “a very, very strong person for Second Amendment,” but added, “I have not seen the petition. I want to see what it says. I want to read the fine print."

Other candidates — Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich — have not chimed in on the petition.

The Republican National Committee deferred questions about venue security to the Secret Service, which is coordinating with federal, state and local law enforcement to secure the convention site.

“The Republican Party has been and will continue to be a staunch supporter of the Second amendment,” said convention spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski. “It is in our platform and is strongly supported by our candidates.

“The Republican National Convention is a National Special Security Event which means the Secret Service is the lead agency and we will defer to their planning as it relates to safety and security of the convention.”

http://thehill.com/policy/national-s...-in-convention

Thank God for the Secret Service. This petition was definitely an attempt to sneak an assassin into the Convention. And someone needs to be investigating whoever put it up. There are records so they can trace the people involved.

Thousands sign satirical petition to allow guns at Republican Convention

Technically Incorrect: An online petition on Change.org claims that constitutional rights are being denied to those who want to bring a gun to the fight for the Republican Party's future. Except the petition is surely humorous.

Tech Culture

March 27, 20168:30 AM PDT

• by Chris Matyszczyk
  
  @ChrisMatyszczyk

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.

---

Fighting for the right? Or against it?
screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

The Republican Party primary season has been a combative affair.

It's even turned into combat about affairs.

So when it comes to the party's convention in Cleveland, Ohio, in July, emotions will soar and tempers will flare.

Perhaps that's why many have plunged online to support a petition to allow guns in the Quicken Loans Arena, where the convention will be held.

The petition on Change.org has already attracted the signatures of more than 33,000 people who seem to believe that making the arena a gun-free zone violates their Second Amendment rights.

Except that the petition is surely fine satirical commentary. A blog called Hyperationalist has claimed responsibility.

He or she writes: "It just doesn't seem right that thousands of patriotic Republican good guys should be left totally unprotected by whatever bad guys might wish to do them harm. I mean forgodsake people, ISIS could show up to take out everybody in and around that building and they'd be sitting ducks. Sitting ducks, I tell you! There might even be a bad egg or two among the delegates."

Hyperationalist didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

However, his or her tweets since 2011 suggest that he's not exactly of the Republican cause. For example: "Win-win for the Trump people at last night's rally: a protester got beat up and a black guy got arrested.

This was accompanied with the #NeverTrump hashtag.

He or she also retweeted a comment praising the "wizard trolling" of the petition.

The official sponsors of the Change.org petition call themselves Americans Responsible for Open Carry.

The Akron Beacon Journal insisted that this organization accepts messages only from networked supporters.

The group said that not allowing guns inside "puts all attendees at risk." And there I was thinking it was more common for rabid people in possession of guns to put people at risk.

There were other demands -- for example that Ohio Governor and presidential candidate John Kasich "use his executive authority to override the 'gun-free zone' loophole being exploited by the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio."

Ohio is an open-carry state, however Quicken Loans Arena's rules don't allow weapons of any kind. This includes pepper spray and pocket knives. It doesn't include bile and invective.

If pleading with the party and the governor doesn't work, the petitioners want a new venue. I cannot confirm they are considering the O.K. Corral as a potential replacement.

The petition also calls it "hypocritical" that a party supporting the Second Amendment would not allow guns at its convention. The Republican National Committee didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

It's unclear how many people were fooled into supporting this ruse and how many signed the petition because they enjoyed the humorous intent. It's evident, though, that some of the more rightward-inclined took it for real.

The convention doesn't promise to be a unifying spectacle. With Donald Trump perhaps not gaining enough delegates to secure the nomination outright, rancor is likely.

If guns were allowed, this might add something a touch troubling to the spectacle. Some, indeed, might argue that what society needs are guns that are smarter than their owners, but progress on that technology is slow.

Still, the petition's organizers said they were hoping for 5,000 signatures. Now that there are more than six times as many, could the convention turn into a celebration of gun culture, despite this being satire?

After all, a hyper-rationalist would surely argue that it's odd for an organization so committed to the Second Amendment to ban guns at its hearth.

The spectacle of candidates brandishing guns on the stage would be enticing, no doubt, for media companies as well as for many of the Republican faithful.

Might this be one case where an online petition gets, however inadvertently, a political entity to change its mind and expand a culture?

It won't be easy. After all, despite enjoying 100,000 signatures, an online petition to deport Justin Bieber failed miserably.

http://www.cnet.com/news/25000-sign-...an-convention/