More than 48,000 individuals have signed an online petition to allow guns at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio this summer. The supporters who favored the petition declared the decision to make the arena a gun-free zone a hypocritical act.
The convention will be hosted by the Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena which has regulations that block anyone from carrying a weapon into the facility. According to VOA News, it is allowed to do so under a law in Ohio, where people can otherwise openly carry guns. Both presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz criticized the "gun-free" zones, especially schools. The two claimed that those policies make the sites less safe.
Last year, Republican presidential candidate John Kasich eliminated gun-free zones at the state's National Guard facilities. In December, Trump said he would abolish gun-free zones on his first day in the White House while Senator Cruz told his supporters that the zones only create places where an attacker knows people will be unarmed.
The petition that was posted on Change.org earlier this week have 48,075 signatures as of this writing. The petition calls on the RNC to explain why a venue that does not allow guns was selected for the convention. The petition also wants the Q to suspend its policy and the National Rifle Association to condemn the egregious affront to the Second Amendment.
The author of the online petition, who remains anonymous, asks the three remaining presidential candidates to press the RNC to push for the policy to be altered, reports The Telegraph. The author argues that the policy is putting participants' lives in danger, adding that it is the worst and most dangerous of all lies to suggest that gun-free zones bring safety.
Donald Trump said he wanted to review the petition. Meanwhile, his rival Kasich and Cruz have not commented on the matter.
