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Downtown Cleveland, chosen as the site of the 2016 Republican National Convention, is seen July 8, 2014. Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

A Change.org petition signed by more than 24,000 people urges that attendees of the Republican National Convention be allowed to take guns into the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland July 18-21.

Anonymously launched (by N A in Cleveland), the petition went up Tuesday and by Saturday at 4 p.m. EDT it had garnered 24,065 signatures.

The petition calls the arena’s policy of banning firearms and other weapons “a direct affront to the Second Amendment” that “puts all attendees at risk,” while echoing the National Rifle Association’s stance that “gun-free zones [are] the worst and most dangerous of all lies.”

The petition notes Cleveland is one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S. — and that this point doesn’t even factor in the possibility of an attack by Islamic State group terrorists.

The petition also quotes Republican U.S. presidential candidates’ statements on gun control, with real-estate mogul Donald Trump calling gun-free zones “bait,” U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas contending lunatics prefer “a bunch of targets you know that are going to be unarmed” and Ohio Gov. John Kasich pledging to end gun-free zones.

“With this irresponsible and hypocritical act of selecting a ‘gun-free zone’ for the convention, the RNC [Republican National Committee] has placed its members, delegates, candidates and all U.S. citizens in grave danger,” the petition says. “We must take a stand. We cannot allow the national nominating convention of the party of Lincoln and Reagan to be hijacked by weakness and political correctness.”

The petition appeals to the Quicken Loans Arena management to suspend its firearms policy, encourages the NRA to condemn the “gun-free zone” loophole in state law, requests that Kasich override the gun-free zone loophole, demands the GOP leadership explain why it chose such an unfriendly venue and urges Trump, Cruz and Kasich to call for the situation to be rectified.