Open carry
Open bar
Black cat firecrackers
Lit from afar....
I saw this at a few different places, but initially at Raw Story which, like plenty of others, seems to have taken this as a serious “thing.”
And as nutty as this country has become, they and everybody else that fell for this can be formally excused. It is excellent, brilliant trolling. Master Snark in a bizarre time in this country.
That Master of Snark is Twitter user @Hyperationalist.
From the website claiming responsibility for this action:
Yesterday morning, the dedicated staff of the Hyperationalist launched Change.org posted below. We have since collected 1,500 signatures and the pace seems to be picking up. Clearly we have struck a nerve.
And why not? 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.
Why should the rest of us enjoy the safety and security of knowing that whenever we visit libraries, schools, shopping malls, restaurants, movie theaters, etc. we are probably in the company of armed citizens prepared to defend us against all enemies foreign and domestic while the poor delegate and candidates of the party that has fought for gun rights is led like sheep to the slaughter—nay, like kindergartners to the mass shooting?
We must stand up for their right to live up to their own principles
And the petition is nearing has exceeded 15,000 19,000 signatures.
First, though, a serious report on security concerns for the convention:
WASHINGTON — Organizers for the Republican National Convention are preparing security for the gathering in Cleveland in July amid an unusually combustible environment, in which the threat of terrorist attacks is now joined by the unpredictable behavior of foes and supporters of GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump.
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An alphabet soup of agencies – from the Secret Service to the Department of Homeland Security to the military – have been working for months with state and local agencies in developing plans to deal with large numbers of protesters, potential domestic and international terrorist threats, and other concerns.
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On Monday, the day before the Brussels attack, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus predicted that there will be no problems with safety in Cleveland.
“We prepare for all contingencies. We will have over $50 million in security at the convention,” Priebus said on “CBS This Morning.” “We’ll be prepared; it’ll be fine. And I guarantee you’ll have a good time and it will be a fun convention in Cleveland.”
Nothing in that article, which was reporting on security decisions made well before the attack in Brussels earlier this week, talked about people clamoring for the right to carry guns everywhere.
The venue—the “Quicken Loans Center”—is a gun-free zone. They do not allow weapons in their arena. The article goes on to catalog the expenditure of about $50 million in security efforts: riot gear, robo-cop uniforms, motorcycles, bikes, more riot gear. They say they are expecting people to “behave themselves,” so of course they need to blow millions on uniforms of brutality.
But there is the Trump issue: he started the talk about possible riots and I think—I have not asked—but this threat from Trump makes the idea of a bunch of right-wingers all being unhappy together in a confined space might be the perfect place for a few hundred handguns and an open bar.
Ohio.com posted a report when the petition reached 5,000: More than 5,000 support petition to allow guns at Republican National Convention in Cleveland:
Support has more than quadrupled overnight for a petition to allow firearms at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
The petition, filed by “Americans for Responsible Open Carry,” was filed Monday on Change.org, an online forum. By Wednesday, 630 supporters had signed the request to carry firearms in and around Quicken Loans Arena, which will host the 2016 Republican National Convention from July 18-21.
The petition, linked in many of the following tweets, contains these insightful passages:
[The gun-free zone] 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)
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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.
We must take a stand. We cannot allow the national nominating convention of the party of Lincoln and Reagan to be hijacked by weakness and political correctness. The policies of the Quicken Loans Arena do not supersede the rights given to us by our Creator in the U.S. Constitution.
Again, people can be more or less excused for thinking this was real—because we are bathed in real things that are every bit as stupid every day now. I mean, the petition quotes Donald Trump.
Go read the whole petition if you haven’t.: lots of people liked the idea, snark or not.
Only time will tell if this snarky hoax takes on a life of its own in Reality: the fact that so many people in so many different perspectives took this seriously is a statement on how bizarre these times truly are.
13:20 PM EST | UPDATE
Guns.com:
Brett Pucillo, president of state gun rights group Ohio Carry, while not associated with the petition, hopes organizers succeed with their mission but understands the complexities of the situation.
“(We) would love to see this petition take off and the RNC to allow law abiding citizens to carry at the event,” Pucillo told Guns.com. “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 offered to meet with the concerned parties to help educate them on the issue.
“We would love the chance to sit with them and discuss why ‘gun free zones’ are a farce and do nothing to protect anyone, but we would certainly still respect their rights as property owners to run their business as they see fit,” he said.
Security for the RNC is handled through the Secret Service, who will likely frown upon a mass of armed people near the presidential candidates…..