--- title: Secret Service Bans Guns at GOP Convention description: The Secret Service said it will ban guns from the Republican convention in Ohio in July, after a petition called for allowing them at the event. canonical: https://time.com/4275178/secret-service-guns-republican-convention/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-29T16:11:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:17:54.670Z article:section: Politics og:title: Secret Service Bans Guns at GOP Convention og:description: A petition to allow guns had gathered more than 50,000 signatures og:url: https://time.com/4275178/secret-service-guns-republican-convention/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Secret Service Bans Guns at GOP Convention twitter:description: A petition to allow guns had gathered more than 50,000 signatures twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Secret Service Bans Guns at GOP Convention  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Mar 29, 2016 4:11 PM UTC  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Mar 29, 2016 4:11 PM UTC The Secret Service said it will ban guns from the [Republican National Convention](http://convention.gop/) 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_](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/us/politics/secret-service-bans-guns-at-gop-convention-ending-debate.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&%5Fr=0). 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](http://time.com/4273414/petition-guns-republican-convention/). 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. Secret Service Bans Guns at GOP Convention ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4275178/secret-service-guns-republican-convention/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4275178/secret-service-guns-republican-convention/"},"headline":"Secret Service Bans Guns at GOP Convention","datePublished":"2016-03-29T16:11:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:17:54.670Z","description":"A petition to allow guns had gathered more than 50,000 signatures","url":"https://time.com/4275178/secret-service-guns-republican-convention/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4275178/secret-service-guns-republican-convention/","name":"Secret Service Bans Guns at GOP Convention"}}]}] ```