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Tennis balls banned from outside Republican National Convention, guns are not

Posted at 9:13 AM, Jul 14, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-14 09:16:48-04

CLEVELAND — 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