Report: Black Panther party to carry firearms at RNC rallies next week
According to several published reports, the New Black Panther Party will carry firearms at RNC rallies next week in Cleveland. The New Black Panther Party, a "black power" movement, will carry firearms for self-defense during rallies in Cleveland ahead of next week's Republican convention, if allowed under Ohio law. The plan by the group comes as police in Cleveland brace for an influx of groups that will hold demonstrations before and during the presid...
CLEVELAND, Ohio - According to several published reports, the New Black Panther Party will carry firearms at RNC rallies next week in Cleveland.
The New Black Panther Party, a "black power" movement, says they will have firearms for self-defense during rallies in Cleveland ahead of next week's Republican convention, if allowed under Ohio law.
The plan by the group comes as police in Cleveland brace for an influx of groups that will hold demonstrations before and during the presidential nominating convention.
During the attack last week in Dallas that killed five police officers, law enforcement officials said demonstrators carrying rifles led them to initially believe they were under attack by multiple shooters.
Several other groups, including some supporters of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, have said they will carry weapons in Cleveland.
"If it is an open state to carry, we will exercise our second amendment rights because there are other groups threatening to be there that are threatening to do harm to us," Hashim Nzinga, chairman of the New Black Panther Party, told Reuters in a telephone interview.
"If that state allows us to bear arms, the Panthers and the others who can legally bear arms will bear arms."
Officials in Ohio have said it will be legal for protesters to carry weapons at demonstrations outside the convention under that state’s "open carry" law, which allows civilians to carry guns in public.
