The man behind a Change.org petition asking to allow those attending the Republican National Convention to openly carry firearms came forward Tuesday to several media outlets with a confession: It's all one big joke. And according to one report, he's from the city where the GOP's opposing party will hold their convention in July: Philly.
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The man — who is only going by Jim to protect his privacy and security — spoke to Rolling Stone, Newsweek and The Hill.
He told The Hill he's from the Philadelphia area and told Newsweek outright about the online petition: "it's satire." Using the moniker Hypernationalist for his Twitter account and blog, Jim said he wanted to push the GOP candidates concerning their opposition to gun-free zones. His point — meant to parody the position of some gun owners — is that if the candidates want guns allowed essentially everywhere else, why not at their own convention? Per The Hill:
“Everyone wants to call it satire or trolling,” he said. “But it is a serious issue. I tried to write the petition taking them at 100 percent face value.
“If the rest of us get to have law-abiding citizens protecting us with guns at restaurants and schools,” Jim added, then why shouldn’t Republicans have it at their convention?
The petition has taken off, collecting 50,000 signatures and getting international news attention. It cites quotes from the three remaining Republican candidates — Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich — opposing gun-free zones and calls for the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland to suspend its firearm ban for the event.
"This is a direct affront to the Second Amendment and puts all attendees at risk," the petition reads.
Rolling Stone noted in its interview with Jim that while none of the candidates supported the idea, none explicitly said they were against it, and neither did the Republican National Committee. Jim told the website their lack of outright opposition is concerning:
"I think it's just really uncomfortable for them," he says of the RNC. "They don't want guns at the convention. They know it's a bad idea. That's why no one has ever raised a stink about it. But their silence speaks volumes."
An Associated Press report before Jim's revelation raised the question of whether the whole thing could be satire, noting that Jim's @Hypernationalist Twitter account has taken swipes at Republicans, including Trump, in the past.
Jim told Newsweek he hopes his elaborate political prank starts a larger conversation about where America allows people to carry guns:
“I wanted to point to a situation where people go, 'That doesn’t seem like a good idea there.' OK, it’s not a good idea there, obviously. Now think about why it’s not a good idea elsewhere,” he says.
The U.S. Secret Service, to be clear, has said that guns will not be allowed at the convention.