A look at security outside the Pfister Hotel for the RNC
A look at security outside the Pfister Hotel for the RNC
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has requested an “immediate” reconsideration of the decision to allow firearms within the soft perimeter of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, a source with knowledge of the discussions told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The request was made to the U.S. Secret Service, which would relay the governor’s concerns to the Republican National Committee, the source said.
But the request appears to be going nowhere. The power to ban firearms in the security “footprint” outside the credentials-only “hard” security zone appears to rest with the state, not the Secret Service, the RNC, or the city of Milwaukee.
U.S. Secret Service spokeswoman Alexi Worley said banning weapons in the broader security sector does not fall within the federal agency’s jurisdiction and is “not something the U.S. Secret Service has any control over.”
A short-lived effort at City Hall to ban guns within the safety zone failed because local governments like Milwaukee are barred by state law from enacting gun regulations that are stricter than the state’s. Wisconsin allows both concealed and open carry.
Instead, the city passed an ordinance that banned a wide range of items within the security zone, but allowed most firearms into the area.
The governor believes it is “extremely important that additional measures be taken to ensure the safety of conference attendees, visitors, law enforcement and the local community,” the source said.
Evers issued an executive order earlier in May that gave city, state and federal officials the ability to marshal resources ahead of the convention to respond to potential emergencies and plan for large-scale events. The order, issued at the request of the city of Milwaukee and the Wisconsin Emergency Management Agency, left open the possibility of mobilizing the Wisconsin National Guard if needed.
The order makes it easier for local and foreign law enforcement agencies to work together on security tasks and gives all participating agents the power to make arrests. A similar declaration would have been issued in advance of the 2020 Democratic National Convention if the pandemic had not forced the event to be scaled back, the governor’s office said at the time.
After the attack on Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, Evers asked the Secret Service whether additional state resources are needed, whether additional federal resources will be made available and whether any adjustments will be made to the current security plan, the source said.
Evers has been given safety briefings but has asked for additional briefing regarding any updates following Saturday’s events.
Just days before his expected confirmation as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate in Milwaukee, Trump was rushed from the stage – his ear and face covered in blood – after an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement that the suspected gunman, now deceased, fired multiple shots from an elevated position outside the meeting venue, killing one person and seriously wounding two others.
The shooting occurred two days before the Republican Party convention in Milwaukee.
Trump said he would still arrive in Milwaukee on Sunday, despite originally planning to delay his arrival because of the shooting.
“Given the terrible events of yesterday, I was going to postpone my trip to Wisconsin and the Republican Party Convention by two days,” he wrote, “but I have just decided that I cannot allow a ‘shooter’ or potential murderer to force changes in scheduling or anything else.”
Earlier in the day, President Joe Biden said he had asked the Secret Service to review “all security measures” for the RNC in Milwaukee.
“As I said last night, there is no place in America for this kind of violence or any violence,” Biden said Sunday. “Because an attempted assassination goes against everything we stand for as a nation.”
According to a Secret Service spokesman, weapons are not allowed in the Fiserv Forum or other buildings hosting RNC events, or in the “hard perimeter” around the convention, where all identification, except that of police officers, is required to enter.
Under current plans, however, most guns would not be banned in the area immediately outside the RNC perimeter, known as the security footprint, because the city is prohibited by state law from enacting such a ban.
Jessie Opoien can be reached at [email protected].
