Petition For Guns At GOP Convention Was Satire, But Lots Of People Thought It Was Good Idea Anyway

This petition on Change.org to allow open carry guns
at this summer's GOP convention in Cleveland
was fake, but it raised some provocative questions.  

A number of Republicans favor open carry laws, in which you can carry your gun around no matter where you are.

So why not allow open carry at the GOP convention this summer in Cleveland.

What could go wrong?

A petition calling for just that garnered more than 51,000 signatures before the Secret Service shut the idea down.  

I guess a convention center that promises to be full on angry, argumentive people fighting over Donald Trump isn't considered a great place to bring guns.

The petition turned out to be fake, anyway. I suspected as much when I read its flowery language.

An excerpt:

"Without the right to protect themselves, those at the Quicken Loans Arena will be sitting ducks, utterly helpless against evil-doers, criminals or others who wish to threaten the American way of life."

Yep. Bring a gun to a political convention and America is saved!!

The petition was the brainchild of some guy named Jim, who goes by the handle Hyperrationalist on Twitter, according to The Hill.

As The Hill reports:

"Jim said he published the petition to call attention to what he sees as a discrepency in Republicans' position on gun rights.

He said if GOP candidates were actually against gun-free zones like they claimed, they would support the allowing of open carry at the convention.

If the rest of us get to have law-abiding citizens protecting us with guns at restaurants and schools, Jim added, then why shouldn't Republicans have it at their convention?"

Of course, with Donald Trump raising the idea of "riots" if he is denied the GOP nomination, guns at the convention could get pretty interesting.

Now that the Secret Service had decreed no guns at the convention, will Republicans rebel against their tyranny?

I doubt it, but it's an interesting question nonetheless.

Look, I'm not anti-gun. Are you a law-abiding sane person who likes to hunt, target shoot or think a gun offers you protection? Then enjoy your guns! It's your right.

It's also probably unfair to compare open carry at say, some restaurant to open carry at the volatile GOP convention.

But this whole things raises some good questions. When and where is open carry a good idea? A bad idea? Should there be any regulation on it? Or, to you Second Amendment absolutists: Should guns be anywhere and everywhere?

Including at an important  but controversial major political event where passions flare?

You decide.