Petition Seeks to Allow Guns at GOP Convention

(CN) - Nearly 42,000 people have signed a petition to allow firearms inside Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena during the Republican National Convention in July.

The petition, which was posted on March 21 by an author initially identified as "N.A.," of Cleveland, and now as "The Hyperationalist," says that while Ohio is an open carry state, which allows for the open carry of firearms, the venue set to host the GOP strictly forbids the carry of firearms on its premises.

The party or parties behind the petition, call this "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.'"

Paraphrasing Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president and chief executive officer of the NRA, the poster says "gun free zones ... tell every insane killer in America ... [the] safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk.'"

As of Monday morning, 41,814 people had signed the petition.

The petition quotes all three remaining Republican candidates, who have at various times made statements critical of gun-free zones.

The petition calls for five "points of action," including a request that Ohio Gov. John Kasich, himself in the race for the presidential nomination, "use his executive authority to override the 'gun-free zone loophole' being exploited by the Quicken Loans Area in Cleveland, Ohio," and that RNC Chairman Reince Priebus explain why the party chose "a venue so unfriendly to Second Amendment rights" for its national convention.

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