A man carrying a rifle watches anti-Trump activists protest outside the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on Monday.ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP / Getty Images
On the day the GOP unveiled its platform here to make "America Safe Again," civilians strolled the downtown streets, rifles flung, pistols packed, weaving their way amid radicals, Marxists, Black Lives Matter and Palestinian-rights advocates.
In a downtown tense with martial might, guns may seem redundant, but Cleveland has quickly become something that defies logic, an instant proving ground for gun-rights advocates out to make a point.
As more details emerged about a deadly ambush on police officers in Baton Rouge, La., and local police wore black ribbons over their badges to commemorate the fallen, Cleveland was grappling with guns. On Sunday, Ohio Governor John Kasich rejected the call from the head of the city's largest police union to enact emergency measures that would curtail people from openly carrying weapons, saying he'd have to circumvent the U.S. Constitution to do so.
Many who brought their weapons to Cleveland stand firmly behind the Governor's decision. David Bills, a Biker for Trump, said he was carrying his Smith & Wesson .357 magnum because it made him feel safe in an unstable environment. "I also think it's important to exercise my Second Amendment rights," he said, a sentiment echoed by another biker he was walking with, who identified himself as Pocket.
Earlier, Mr. Bills, who is from Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minn., and Pocket were approached by an older gentleman who was handing out pamphlets about the Nakba, or Palestinian catastrophe. There was no rancour. Instead, they both politely rejected the literature.
Once they passed the man, though, Pocket dismissed his politics. "Some of that anti-Israel stuff," he sniffed.
Pocket brought up Chicago, which, despite some of the strictest gun-control laws in the country, is one of its most dangerous cities. This is a contested argument frequently raised by Second Amendment advocates. Mr. Trump himself once tweeted, "The most stringent gun laws in the U.S. happen to be in Chicago – and look what is happening there!"
As far as Mr. Bills was concerned, however, carrying a gun was absolutely safe. "Gun owners are responsible people. You don't see people waving guns around."
Safe has become something a catchphrase in Cleveland. "Be safe" is the new form of goodbye heard from time to time, and as a complaint from Trump supporters, who feel that they are victimized by their opponents.
At the Cleveland Mall, a musician named Kraig Moss was playing odes to Donald Trump on his guitar at high volume, apparently trying to drown out – or at least annoy – a nearby rally of about 150 leftists, with songs such Trump Train and Let's Make America Great Again.
While Mr. Moss dealt with a line of eager interviewers, his manager, Michael Anthony Krems, explained to The Globe and Mail that Mr. Krems was also enjoying his First Amendment rights, but he added that Cleveland's dangerous atmosphere scared his wife, who wouldn't leave her hotel room. The violence that erupted at previous Trump rallies made her feel unsafe.
Another pro-Trump gun owner with whom The Globe spoke, Jesse Gonzalez, admitted he knew that the AK semi-automatic slung on his shoulder made non-carriers feel awkward. But he also insisted on the importance of exercising his Second Amendment rights as a use-or-lose proposition, and he said he was surprised not to see more people bearing arms.
Mr. Gonzalez, a 26-year-old Clevelander wearing a Make America Great Again baseball cap, compared carrying a gun to members of the radical Westboro Baptist Church exercising their right to make inflammatory statements.
While talking with this reporter, a police officer from Indiana came over and gently interrogated him, asking him if he was with a group. "Just here by myself," he said.
So far, there have been no reports of any lethal situations with the police, but there have been arrests.
On Monday, The Globe witnessed a woman standing at the back of a police truck, handcuffed and shouting to be set free for one volatile minute. A crowd of protesters gathered in front of her and demanded that she be let go, forming a ring in front of her before officers intervened and took her away.
Cleveland's Joint Information Center said the woman had an outstanding warrant for her arrest and was still in custody.
On Sunday, a man was arrested after he attempted to take a gas mask from an Ohio state highway trooper's security golf cart during an anti-Trump rally.
At a news briefing this morning, Cleveland police Chief Calvin Williams explained that the man had an extensive criminal record and had "mental issues."
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