Opinion: The Petition to Carry at the GOP Convention is Silliness
Jon Stokes 03.28.16
I’m gonna go out on a limb here–actually I’m gonna get my troll on–and suggest that the current petition to allow citizens to carry guns at the GOP convention is totally silly.
There will be a ton of security here. The secret service will be there. Concealed carrying isn’t super comfortable, so what sane person wouldn’t jump at the chance to leave the heater at home and bask in the free protection of the kind of armed guards that normally only a Michael Bloomberg or a Shannon Watts can afford to bring to an event.
I realize that some people take a CCW class and all of the sudden they’re Jason Bourne, but all fantasies aside the GOP convention is the one “gun-free zone” where I’d actually feel safe, mainly because it’s not even remotely “gun free.” The place will be bristling with weapons, uniforms, guard dogs, bomb sniffers, and so on. What, specifically, are you really going to do with your carry gun that the professional a few feet away with the rifle can’t?
To put it another way, the rationale for carrying (which I fully support) is that when seconds count help is minutes way. But at the convention this won’t be true. Help will be seconds away, literally right there on the floor.
If I were carrying in an environment that was that locked-down and I heard gunshots, the very last thing I’d do is pull my carry piece out and start running around in my super elite operator stance because that would be a good way to get myself targeted as a threat by on-site security. Instead, I’d focus on staying out of the way of the attackers’ bullets and of the professionals who are already on the premises dealing with the situation and who have been training and planning for months to deal with exactly this situation as a team.
I don’t think this petition is about keeping people safe. Rather, I think this petition is really about two things: operator fantasies and the desire to make a political statement. The latter is even sillier than the former, given that you’re at a Republican convention, so what is the point of making a pro-gun statement there? It would be like making a pro-beef statement at a chili cook-off. You’re preaching to the choir.
Anyway, like I said, this petition is silliness of the first order. Leave your carry piece at home, and enjoy the services of the paid professionals who will be crawling all over the convention site.
Convince me I’m wrong.
