After a series of high profile shootings – including one that left three police officers dead in Baton Rouge, Louisiana – Cleveland’s Police Union is asking Gov. John Kasich to temporarily suspend the state’s carry law for the duration of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Ohio law allows legal gun owners to carry their weapons openly, but Cleveland Police Union president Steve Loomis asked Kasich to prohibit the open carrying of firearms in Cuyahoga County during the convention this week. Jeff Larson is the CEO of the 2016 Republican National Convention, and says there will be no changes.
“The governor can’t simply say I’m going to relax it for a day or tighten it up for a five day period of time. But we’ve been planning around it,” Larson says.
Kasich’s office backed that up with a written statement, adding that the bonds between communities and police must be rebuilt and suggested that’s happening in Ohio with a task force he created.