Secret Service Bans Guns at GOP Convention

The Secret Service said it will ban guns from the Republican National Convention in Ohio in July, shutting down growing calls for firearms to be allowed at the event.

“Only authorized law enforcement personnel working in conjunction with the Secret Service for a particular event may carry a firearm inside of the protected site,” a spokesperson for the agency said, according to the New York Times.

A petition to allow guns at the event, which will take place in the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, garnered more than 50,000 signatures. Ohio is an open-carry state, but the arena does not allow firearms on its premises.

This policy “is a direct affront to the Second Amendment and puts all attendees at risk,” the petition says.