By Dean Weingarten
Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)- The head of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association has asked Governor Kasich to suspend the Constitution, declare an emergency, or some such, in order to ban the legal open carry of firearms in Cuyahoga County for the period of the Republican convention. Fortunately, Governor Kasich understands the limits of government power.
There is no authority for him to do this. There is no emergency. There is no indication that the open carry of firearms threatens the police.
In a Fox television interview, retired Police Lt. Steve Rogers says that police lives are at risk. He does not say why or how. From foxnews.com:
Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s office rebuffed a call Sunday from the Cleveland police union to ban the open carry of firearms during the Republican National Convention, in the wake of the deadly shooting of police officers in Baton Rouge.
FOX 8 reported earlier that Steve Loomis, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association, is asking Kasich to prohibit open carry this week in Cuyahoga County, which surrounds Cleveland.
There were upwards of 20 open carriers in Texas at the Black Lives Matter protest march.
A hidden sniper killed five police officers. None of the open carry marchers had anything to do with the shooting. So why is retired Lt. Rogers growing frantic about the supposed risk?
Hard to say. A hundred years ago, a group of black people who openly carried guns would likely not have been tolerated in Cleveland. A hundred years ago, it was white people who were openly racist. That has all changed. Today it is Democrats who say black people should not be armed. Funny, it was Democrats who said they should not be armed a hundred years ago.
The Governor took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. So did the Cleveland police. The police chief in Cleveland might remind them of that fact.
I predict that there will not be any problems with open carry and the Republican convention. The police will be vigilant, and that is a positive thing. But they will not be unconstitutionally disarming people of any color.
There are 45 states that do not restrict the open carry of firearms. Most of them have not had restrictions on open carry for their entire history. In the face of growing terrorist threats, and the increasingly publicized public rampage shootings, Americans are restoring Second Amendment rights that have been dormant for most of a hundred years.
It had been long enough the many forgot they had the right. Increasing attempts to take away Second Amendment rights have backfired. The rise of the Internet allowed the easy dissemination of information. Propaganda, outright lies, setting agendas and ignoring obvious truths are no longer easily accomplished. The digital age makes it hard to prevent the truth from being disseminated. Ignoring the rights of citizens of any color is no longer acceptable.
It is not only guns, but digital recording devices that will be protecting Constitutional rights in Cleveland.
©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
About Dean Weingarten;
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.