Open Carry Petition Shot Down

We all remember as children the rush that came from signing a petition standing up to some perceived injustice – against lousy cafeteria food; for a longer recess time.

Online petitions, for the most part, carry about as much power as those grade school ones. They make the signer feel better, but nothing much really happens. But in the Internet age, they can still pack a PR punch.

Take, for example, a

For days, no one copped to the petitioner’s identity or motive behind the petition – whether a sincere demand by open-carry advocates, a bit of trolling by opponents to force so-called “Second Amendment” candidates to take a position, or a tweaking of candidate Donald Trump – whose personal appearances on the campaign trail are regularly marked by fisticuffs between his supporters and protestors.

Newsweek revealed March 29 that the person behind the post, whose name it would give only as “Jim,” intended the petition as satire but one he hoped would foster debate.

It doesn’t particularly matter – the U.S. Secret Service, which is charged with protecting all the candidates, has the final say. And it took everyone off the hook by announcing it will forbid firearms inside the Cleveland, Ohio, arena during the RNC come July.

A Quicken Loans Arena rep spoke to Pollstar and asked not be named or directly quoted – but laughed at the petition idea before passing the buck on to the Secret Service with a statement:

“Title 18 United States Code Sections 3056 and 1752, provides the Secret Service authority to preclude firearms from entering sites visited by our protectees, including those located in open-carry states. Only authorized law enforcement personnel working in conjunction with the Secret Service for a particular event may carry a firearm inside of the protected site. “The Secret Service works closely with our local law enforcement partners in each state to ensure a safe environment for our protectees and the public. Individuals determined to be carrying firearms will not be allowed past a predetermined out perimeter checkpoint, regardless of whether they possess a ticket to the event,” the statement says.

It should be noted that, petition or no petition, the Secret Service banned weapons from the most RNC in Florida in 2012 as well.

As for “Jim,” he read one piece of his Internet hate mail to Newsweek in the aftermath of his petition try.

“Your argument is pure apple sauce. Enjoy your 20 seconds of fame, you fcuktard.”