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| Satirical or serious? Petition for guns at Republican convention raises questions | Satirical or serious? Petition for guns at Republican convention raises questions |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Declaring himself a “very, very strong person for the second amendment”, Donald Trump told ABC’s This Week he couldn’t rule out support for a petition to allow open carry at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this summer. | Declaring himself a “very, very strong person for the second amendment”, Donald Trump told ABC’s This Week he couldn’t rule out support for a petition to allow open carry at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this summer. |
| “I want to read the fine print,” Trump said. | “I want to read the fine print,” Trump said. |
| The viral Change.org petition has collected more than 40,000 signatures, including more than 9,000 in the past 24 hours. It calls the firearm ban at the Quicken Loans Arena, which is hosting the convention, “a direct affront to the Second Amendment”. | |
| In Ohio, the open carry of a legally possessed gun is fully lawful, but individual businesses can ban weapons from their premises if they so choose. | In Ohio, the open carry of a legally possessed gun is fully lawful, but individual businesses can ban weapons from their premises if they so choose. |
| The Quicken Loans Arena explains on its website that “in accordance with Ohio’s ‘concealed carry’ law and the right for private entities to ban handguns on their premises, firearms and other weapons of any kind are strictly forbidden on the premises”. | |
| Related: Petition to allow guns at Republican convention earns 24,000 signatures | Related: Petition to allow guns at Republican convention earns 24,000 signatures |
| But the petition author, using the username The Hyperationalist, said of this policy that “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”. | |
| Many appear to believe the post and its hyperbolic rhetoric was intended to be satire. According to Change.org, the signers of the petition are more likely to have signed gun violence prevention petitions than the average user, and are “overwhelmingly” leftwing, pro-Democrat and pro-Bernie Sanders, based on other petitions those users have engaged with. | Many appear to believe the post and its hyperbolic rhetoric was intended to be satire. According to Change.org, the signers of the petition are more likely to have signed gun violence prevention petitions than the average user, and are “overwhelmingly” leftwing, pro-Democrat and pro-Bernie Sanders, based on other petitions those users have engaged with. |
| “This takes something that Republicans daily refer to as sound principles and makes them live by it,” said Ladd Everitt, a spokesman for the Coalition to End Gun Violence. The organization, which opposes unregulated open-carry, tweeted a link to the petition twice Monday morning. | |
| “But I don’t honestly want to see guns carried into that convention because I think people would die,” Everitt said. | “But I don’t honestly want to see guns carried into that convention because I think people would die,” Everitt said. |
| According to Change.org, the petition was created from a fake email address and an account that has since been shut down. Eva Arevuo, a spokeswoman for the site, said it was “our understanding that this is not satire – the starter is pro-open carry – but it is a protest petition designed to point out GOP hypocrisy on guns”. The petition starter has declined to be interviewed or identified further. | |
| Arevuo added that even obviously satirical petitions are allowed on the site provided they are not examples of trolling. “In this case, it would not cross the threshold,” Arevuo said. | Arevuo added that even obviously satirical petitions are allowed on the site provided they are not examples of trolling. “In this case, it would not cross the threshold,” Arevuo said. |
| The Republican convention is likely to play out in an extremely contentious atmosphere, as political analysts believe there is a profound possibility of a brokered convention. The recurring acts of violence and intimidation that have become common at Trump rallies could potentially pop up in Cleveland. | |
| Neither the NRA nor the RNC responded to the Guardian’s requests for comment. The secret service told ABC 5 in Cleveland on Monday that federal law “provides the Secret Service authority to preclude firearms from entering sites visited by our protectees, including those located in open-carry states”. As Trump has secret service protection, the agency statement would seem to settle any debate. | Neither the NRA nor the RNC responded to the Guardian’s requests for comment. The secret service told ABC 5 in Cleveland on Monday that federal law “provides the Secret Service authority to preclude firearms from entering sites visited by our protectees, including those located in open-carry states”. As Trump has secret service protection, the agency statement would seem to settle any debate. |