2aguy
Diamond Member
- Jul 19, 2014
- 112,365
- 52,611
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Yep......in the weeks leading up to the convention...the nuts on the anti gun side were laughing like little school girls about the carnage that was going to take place when normal, law abiding gun owners were going to be allowed to carry guns at the convention......
Then......nothing happened.......except two bored, and ignored left wingers were interviewed with their rifles and pistols.......then everyone went back to real news....
this is an account of a law abiding, normal person and what they experienced actually carrying a gun at the convention...
What It’s Like to Carry a Gun Around the Event Zone at the RNC
I carried a gun around the event zone at the Republican National Convention, and it was no big deal.
Ever since I got my Virginia Permit to Carry a Concealed Handgun, I carry a handgun on me wherever I legally can. So, when I was picked to be one of the lucky (?) Freebeaconers to travel to Cleveland (!) for the RNC this year, it was only natural that I would carry there, too. After all, a responsible gun owner ought to treat their gun like their American Express: never leave home without it.
Ok, I stole that line from my great uncle, but it’s pretty good. It captures the mentality of the concealed carrier well. You don’t carry because you’re afraid or because you’re some sort of vigilante. You carry because you want to be prepared.
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The biggest challenge was to figure out exactly where it was legal for me to carry in Cleveland during the RNC. It didn’t take long to get accustomed to Ohio’s carry laws since they are pretty similar to Virginia’s. You can’t carry into schools or government buildings or courthouses and so forth. It is a misdemeanor if you knowingly carry on private property that has no-guns signs posted, a minor difference from Virginia. You can carry in restaurants that serve alcohol as long as you don’t drink any yourself, not much of a problem for me since I don’t drink much anyway.
The real struggle was figuring out the RNC-specific rules. Despite the media frenzy over the fact that guns were going to be allowed in the RNC’s “event zone” while tennis balls, and other random things, would be banned, it was pretty damn hard to figure out exactly where the event zone was. Was it the same thing as the “perimeter” that I had a badge to get into? Was it everything up to the Q but not inside the Q itself?
Turns out it was not that hard to figure out once I got to downtown Cleveland. It was perfectly legal for me to carry concealed—and since my goal in carrying a gun is self-protection and not political protest, my gun was, and always is, concealed—anywhere outside the zombie apocalypse-esque quarantine fences that surrounded the Q and Progressive Field. I could not bring my gun with me when I went into the convention, but I could have it whenever I was not in the stadium. And that’s exactly what I did.
Then......nothing happened.......except two bored, and ignored left wingers were interviewed with their rifles and pistols.......then everyone went back to real news....
this is an account of a law abiding, normal person and what they experienced actually carrying a gun at the convention...
What It’s Like to Carry a Gun Around the Event Zone at the RNC
I carried a gun around the event zone at the Republican National Convention, and it was no big deal.
Ever since I got my Virginia Permit to Carry a Concealed Handgun, I carry a handgun on me wherever I legally can. So, when I was picked to be one of the lucky (?) Freebeaconers to travel to Cleveland (!) for the RNC this year, it was only natural that I would carry there, too. After all, a responsible gun owner ought to treat their gun like their American Express: never leave home without it.
Ok, I stole that line from my great uncle, but it’s pretty good. It captures the mentality of the concealed carrier well. You don’t carry because you’re afraid or because you’re some sort of vigilante. You carry because you want to be prepared.
----
The biggest challenge was to figure out exactly where it was legal for me to carry in Cleveland during the RNC. It didn’t take long to get accustomed to Ohio’s carry laws since they are pretty similar to Virginia’s. You can’t carry into schools or government buildings or courthouses and so forth. It is a misdemeanor if you knowingly carry on private property that has no-guns signs posted, a minor difference from Virginia. You can carry in restaurants that serve alcohol as long as you don’t drink any yourself, not much of a problem for me since I don’t drink much anyway.
The real struggle was figuring out the RNC-specific rules. Despite the media frenzy over the fact that guns were going to be allowed in the RNC’s “event zone” while tennis balls, and other random things, would be banned, it was pretty damn hard to figure out exactly where the event zone was. Was it the same thing as the “perimeter” that I had a badge to get into? Was it everything up to the Q but not inside the Q itself?
Turns out it was not that hard to figure out once I got to downtown Cleveland. It was perfectly legal for me to carry concealed—and since my goal in carrying a gun is self-protection and not political protest, my gun was, and always is, concealed—anywhere outside the zombie apocalypse-esque quarantine fences that surrounded the Q and Progressive Field. I could not bring my gun with me when I went into the convention, but I could have it whenever I was not in the stadium. And that’s exactly what I did.
