How to Bring a Gun to the RNC

Lindsay Beyerstein July 25, 2012

The deadline for an out-of-state concealed carry permit has passed, so this might be your best bet.

The Republican National Convention is five weeks away, the nation is reeling from a mass shooting in Colorado, George Zimmerman is awaiting trial for shooting Trayvon Martin, and Governor Rick Scott has declined to issue a citywide waiver of Florida’s concealed carry law for the convention.

Legal firearms will be permitted all around the RNC, but not inside. Which, as my friend FogBelter pointed out on twitter, is kind of hypocritical when you think about it. Why aren’t law-abiding gun owners allowed to pack heat inside the RNC?

Now that the deadline for an out-of-state concealed carry permit has safely passed, Megan Carpentier of Raw Story describes how easy it would be for someone with ill intent to legally bring a gun to the RNC site.

For the record, I don’t think civilians should bring concealed firearms anywhere.

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Lindsay Beyerstein is an award-winning investigative journalist and In These Times staff writer who writes the blog Duly Noted. Her stories have appeared in Newsweek, Salon, Slate, The Nation, Ms. Magazine, and other publications. Her photographs have been published in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times’ City Room. She also blogs at The Hillman Blog (http://www.hillmanfoundation.org/hillmanblog), a publication of the Sidney Hillman Foundation, a non-profit that honors journalism in the public interest.