Open Carry Law Creates Problems For GOP Convention And Cleveland

It looks like it is becoming a bit problematic for Republicans but even more so for the city of Cleveland to be hosting a national convention in an open carry state. Tensions around the country are already heightened after the killings of black civilians by police and then the murder of five police officers in Dallas a few days ago. Add that to Donald Trump’s virulent rhetoric and you have a real headache for Cleveland Police which only last year entered into a consent decree with Justice Department to rein its use of excessive force after the shootings of Tamir Rice in 2014 and of two unarmed civilians in 2012.

With right wing groups like the Oath Keepers and radical groups like the New Black Panther Party both armed to the teeth and running around downtown Cleveland, the city will look more like a third world country whose government has collapsed. And the potential for violence that could easily escalate will be high. The irony, of course, is that the actual convention area in the Quicken Loans Arena will be a heightened security zone and no guns will be allowed onto the convention floor. Because even though we constantly hear many Republican politicians make the (bogus) claim that open-carry laws make us all safer, that apparently doesn’t apply when those very same politicians actually gather and meet.