Cleveland officials said Wednesday that protestors and others congregating outside the GOP convention next week will be permitted to carry guns in keeping with Ohio’s open carry law, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Mayor Frank G. Jackson and Police Chief Calvin Williams told reporters that they are bound by Ohio’s gun laws to allow people be armed, though they both didn’t sound too thrilled about it.
“Our intent is to follow the law. And if the law says you can have open carry, that’s what it says. Whether I agree with it or not is another issue,” Jackson said, according to the Journal.
Williams expressed a similar sentiment, according to the newspaper. When reporters asked if he would prefer that people not be allowed to carry guns, he said “of course.”
Several groups have suggested that they will come armed to Cleveland, including the anti-government militia group Oath Keepers and the New Black Panther Party, the Journal reported.
While guns will be permitted as usual on the street, they will not be allowed inside of the Quicken Loans Arena where the convention is held or within a Secret Service perimeter set up around the stadium, the Journal reported.
