Slingshots, sledgehammers, rockets and … tennis balls?
The city of Cleveland has explicitly banned at least 72 kinds of weapons, gadgets and assorted hardware from the 1.7 square-mile “event zone” surrounding next week’s Republican National Convention.
Not on its extensive list: Guns.
Ohio is an open-carry state, so local officials said they cannot prevent licensed gun owners from carrying their weapons around the external security perimeter.
“Our intent is to follow the law. And if the law says you can have open carry, that’s what it says. Whether I agree with it or not is another issue,” Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said at a news conference on Wednesday.
“There are certain things that go along with open carry that that person has to do,” Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams cautioned. “You can’t menace people, you can’t brandish your weapon.”
Dan Williams, a spokesman for Jackson, told CNN about open carry guns: “Bottom line, we’re going to follow the law. It’s state law. There’s no state law on tennis balls.”
Any types of firearms, weapons or explosives that are banned by the state of Ohio are also barred from the event zone.
Federal law allows the U.S Secret Service, which is administering a smaller “secure zone,” to ban weapons of any kind, including guns, inside the Quicken Loans Arena, where GOP delegates will gather next week to nominate Donald Trump.
Here’s a list of at least 72 things that are prohibited from the event zone:
Lumber larger than 2 inches in width and 1/4 of an inch thick, including supports for signs
Metal, plastic, or other hard material larger than 3/4 quarters thick and 1/8 of an inch in wall thickness including pipe and tubing
Air rifles
Air pistols
Paintball guns
Blasting caps
Switchblade knives
Automatic knives
Knives having a blade 2.5 inches in length or longer
Cestuses
Billy clubs
Blackjacks
Swords
Sabers
Hatchets
Axes
Slingshots
BB guns
Pellet guns
Wrist shots
Metal knuckles
Nun chucks
Mace
Iron buckles
Axe handles
Shovels
Fireworks
Rockets
Sound amplification equipment
Drones and other unmanned aircraft systems
Containers of bodily fluids
Aerosol cans
Pepper Spray and other chemical irritants
Umbrellas with metal tips
Water guns
Water cannons
Ropes in lengths greater than 6 feet
Chains in lengths greater than 6 feet
Cables in lengths greater than 6 feet
Strappings in lengths greater than 6 feet
Wires in lengths greater than 6 feet
Strings in lengths greater than 6 feet
Lines in lengths greater than 6 feet
Tapes in lengths greater than 6 feet
Glass bottles
Ornaments
Light bulbs
Ceramic vessels
Padlocks
Bicycle locking devices
Chain locks
Gas masks
Tents
Sleeping bags
Sleeping pads
Mattresses
Cots
Hammocks
Bivy sacks
Stoves
Coolers
Ice chests
Backpacks and bags exceeding the size of 18″ x 13″ x 7″
Lasers
Non-plastic containers, bottles, cans, or thermoses
Ladders
Grappling hooks
Sledgehammers
Hammers
Crowbars
Canned goods
Tennis balls