Earlier in the day, on the eve of the Republican National Convention, three police officers were ambushed and shot to death in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
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According to the wire service, under OH law a state of emergency must be declared in order to empower the governor to suspend Cuyahoga County’s open-carry firearm statute.
An issue on the minds of many is the possibility that people might openly carry firearms during protests, marches and rallies given that OH is an open-carry state.
OH allows licensed firearm owners to wear holstered firearms in public except in “secure zone” areas around the RNC Convention site at Quicken Loans Arena. On Sunday, three Baton Rouge law enforcement officials were killed and three more wounded in a hail of gunfire less than a mile from police headquarters.
Kasich said he is unable to issue the order due to state and federal laws, through a spokesperson.
Update 2:59pm CT, July 17: Kasich’s office has issued a statement to the New York Times indicating that he legally can not suspend open-carry laws. The bonds between communities and our police must be reset and rebuilt-as we’re doing in Ohio-so our communities and officers can both be safe. “Everyone has an important role to play in that renewal”, he said. “I think the bad guys are going to have guns anyway and I’d want good guys with guns around me if anything happens”.
“Open carry is apparently a very two-sided thing, because we can’t open carry”, he told ThinkProgress while marching through the streets of Cleveland on Sunday with Black Lives Matter supporters and other activists.
A telepromter stands in front of the stage ahead of the Republican National Convention at the Quicken Loans Arena on Saturday in Cleveland, Ohio. “I’m not going to be wandering around like this except in situations like this”, said Steve Thacker, a 57-year-old former U.S. Marine who had an AR-15-style rifle slung over his shoulder, an assortment of ammunition magazines in a vest and a.45 caliber handgun strapped to his thigh.
“It’s legal to bring your guns, but it’s not responsible”, Loomis said in an interview Saturday. He said the state’s open carry law is making the job of securing the convention “much more hard”.
“It’s game time, we’re ready for it”, Williams said Sunday. “And those police-involved shootings, make no mistake, are what absolutely have triggered this rash of senseless murders of law enforcement officers across this country”.
Loomis also said officers began ramping up inspections and oversight of anyone holstering a weapon entering the downtown area. “They are under the command of myself and the Cleveland Division of police”, said Williams.
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Guns are banned inside the center, where Donald Trump is expected to accept the Republican Party’s nomination Thursday evening.
