Armed protesters appeared at the last Republican convention. Will Charlotte see the same?

Second Amendment activists openly carried rifles, shotguns and handguns outside of the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

Could the same scene unfold in Charlotte, when the 2020 Republican National Convention convenes in August?

At least one group that bore firearms in Cleveland said it plans to come to Charlotte if the coronavirus pandemic doesn’t derail the convention. Dale Herndon, director of Bikers for Trump, said the organization expects to be in Charlotte for the RNC unless the Trump campaign tells it to do otherwise.

“Hopefully it will happen and we will be a part of it,” Herndon says. “We do support the Second Amendment...”

Like Ohio, North Carolina is an “open carry” state. State law permits citizens to carry firearms in public places, so long as they are clearly visible.

While all armed protesters at Cleveland’s RNC were peaceful, the display of firearms created a stir in the city, frightening some residents.

Since then, political tensions have escalated nationally, and some of that divisiveness has centered on firearms. A Second Amendment rights rally in Richmond in January led Virginia’s governor to declare a state of emergency and temporarily ban all firearms near the Capitol building. The rally proceeded peacefully.

During the 2016 RNC, no weapons were allowed inside a security perimeter established by the Secret Service, and the same ban is expected to be enforced inside the perimeter set in Charlotte. Any areas outside of that zone, however, are under the city’s jurisdiction.

As it turns out, Charlotte has an option that Cleveland did not.

In North Carolina, unlike Ohio, state law permits a municipal government to impose firearms restrictions on public property for clearly defined reasons. That property includes streets, sidewalks, parks and government buildings.

Bikers for Trump Director Herndon said his group would “respect any ruling of temporary firearms restriction during the RNC.”

One Charlotte City Council member is open to discussing an ordinance to prohibit firearms display during the RNC.

Malcolm Graham, who represents Charlotte City Council District 2, says he “wouldn’t be opposed” if the council discussed the possibility of using “that ordinance to prohibit open carry of firearms outside the perimeter.”

Graham’s family was personally affected by gun violence in 2015. His sister, Cynthia Graham Hurd, was among the nine victims of the Emanuel AME Church shooting in Charleston, SC.

Council Member Ed Driggs, who represents District 7, declined to say how he might vote on an ordinance. All other council members did not respond to inquiries.

RNC Communications Director Jill Kay said a firearms restriction “would be a decision that would be up to the FBI, Secret Service and CMPD. I haven’t been in any of those discussions and don’t have any information at this time.”

The Secret Service declined to comment. Asked for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s position on firearms display during the RNC, Police Attorney Mark Newbold simply referred to the state law that permits firearms-restrictive ordinances.

A spokesperson for the National Rifle Association, a leading advocate of Second Amendment rights, declined to comment.

Dr. Aaron Houck, a political science professor and pre-law advisor at Queens University of Charlotte, said he believes the city would withstand any legal challenge, should it pass such an ordinance.

The Second Amendment does not grant an absolute right to bear arms, just as the First Amendment does not grant an absolute right to free speech, Houck said. Rather, the courts can permit reasonable limits.

“The bottom line is that the city of Charlotte can prevent you from carrying a firearm in public without violating your individual right to bear arms,” Houck said.

Jon Guze, director of legal studies at the John Locke Foundation, didn’t disagree. The foundation is a conservative-leaning think tank based in Raleigh.

Guze said the Charlotte City Council can restrict the display of firearms in areas where demonstrators are allowed. However, the state has not delegated to the city the power to forbid firearms possession altogether, Guze said.

The Second Amendment can be restricted only in ways that both serve an important public purpose and are also narrowly tailored to serve that purpose, he said.

“The fact that the president and a lot of major political figures will be in Charlotte would almost certainly provide a sufficiently important public purpose to justify some special restrictions to the right to bear arms at the time of the Republican Convention,” Guze said.

Alli Vellucci, Ariana Barnes, Zahnell Pinnock and Jessica Higgins contributed to this story. The authors are students in an advanced reporting class at Queens University of Charlotte.

This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Armed protesters appeared at the last Republican convention. Will Charlotte see the same?."