The Quicken Loans Center where the Republican convention will be held this year does not allow individuals to carry weapons of any kind to large scale events.  The interesting thing this year is that an online petition with something approaching 50,000 signatures is calling for the convention to allow, as state law does, “open carry” at the convention.  If you want to sign it, please follow the link below.  I personally think it is a peachy idea.

https://www.change.org/p/quicken-loans-arena-allow-open-carry-of-firearms-at-the-quicken-loans-arena-during-the-rnc-convention-in-july-2

Put simply, that would mean that any attendee could openly carry a loaded firearm into the convention.  If that were allowed, one expects they would also allow concealed carry of handguns for those with a permit.

As the tongue-in-cheek petition correctly points out,

“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.”

Donald Trump said “I will get rid of gun-free zones on schools—you have—and on military bases on my first day. It gets signed my first day…you know what a gun-free zone is to a sicko? That’s bait.” (Jan. 8. 2016)

Ted Cruz has accurately pointed out “shooting after shooting after shooting happens in so called gun-free zones.” He continued, “look, if you’re a lunatic ain’t nothing better then having a bunch of targets you know that are going to be unarmed.” (Dec. 4, 2015)

And Ohio Governor John Kasich has been a leader in this movement to eliminate deadly “gun-free zones” starting with his brave decision to fight the Democrats and end “gun-free zones” at National Guard facilities in Ohio. (Dec. 18, 2015)”

All of this rhetoric is, of course, just concentrated doses of horseshit.  A recent analysis of mass shooting (FBI definition calls for four deaths) from 2009-2015 found 133 such incidents in the time period (http://everytownresearch.org/reports/mass-shootings-analysis/).

What they found about those incident was very revealing.  First, mass shootings account for one percent of all firearm homicides in this country.  They are rare events, but they are used as the rationale for arming just about anyone who has the ability to load a firearm. Also, the most dangerous place where you are most at risk of a mass shooting in a private setting.  Fifty-seven percent were basically domestic disputes of one type or another that went bad.

Those “so, so dangerous gun-free zones” were where 13 percent of mass shootings occurred in their entirety.  That is 17 mass shootings in something close to a six-year period.

Just to add a bit more spice to the discussion, assault-type rifles with high-capacity magazines were used in only 11 percent of mass shootings.  But, that statistic only tells part of the tale.  In those 11 percent, the number of casualties was 155% higher than in the other 89 percent of events (13.3 vs. 5.2.  The number of fatalities was 47% higher (7.5 vs. 5.1).

So, basically, Republican convention-goers will experience the greatest risk of be a homicide victim in their home before or after they leave the convention.  So, maybe we should allow them open carry in their own home? Oh, I forgot, we already do that, and how does that seem to be working out for folks?

My riding buddy, George, suggested that the Rs might want to change venues so that open carry wouldn’t be a problem.  He suggested that they might want to check to see if the OK Corral is still available.

Below, I add for a bit of additional info, what the NRA did about firearm safety at their latest convention.  This is an earlier post of mine on Daily Kos (as ATexican).

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/10/1376927/-If-guns-don-t-kill-people-why-demand-inoperable-weapons-at-NRA-convention

If guns don’t kill people, then why make guns inoperable at the NRA convention?

Those paying attention will note that no arms on display at the NRA convention will be operable.  This is a very reasonable stance given the likelihood of an accidental discharge or a possible murder-suicide scenario with 70,000 people and thousands of firearms in the same place.

This action does, however, puts the lie to the NRA’s long trumpeted stance that “guns don’t kill people.”  If guns don’t kill people, then why not have fully-functioning firearms on display?

Only those convention-goers who carry in accord with the law will be allowed to carry in the convention center. In addition, some part of the convention activities (at this point) will be gun-free.

As the NRA recognizes, at its own convention, ‘people with guns’ do kill people, and one should exercise reasonable precautions when people have access to firearms.

What the NRA and it fellow-travelers don’t admit is that they are perfectly willing for people at large to be at risk of injury from an accidental firearm discharge or the intentionally destructive acts of a person with a firearm who is suffering from a mental disorder or more likely from anger management problems.  It is only in their own backyard that they believe in reasonable restraints on gun access.

Suggested legislators’ questions for NRA reps in hearings.

• If guns don’t kill people, then why did the NRA require that exhibitors only display inoperable firearms?

• If the NRA doesn’t believe in background checks and licensing, then why did the NRA restrict carry at the convention to those persons carrying in accord with State laws, which usually require background checks.

• If the NRA believes that thousands of operable weapons may present a danger to 70,000 gun enthusiasts, then why don’t they support legislation to protect the roughly 320 million Americans from any danger presented by the roughly 300 million operable firearms in civilian hands in the USA?