At GOP Convention, Squirt Guns Banned, Real Guns OK

The city of Tampa wants to make sure the Republican National Convention goes off without incident, so it has temporarily banned clubs, hatchets, switchblades, pepper spray, slingshots, and even squirt guns from the downtown area this summer. But it hasn't banned actual guns, because it's legally prohibited from doing so, the New York Times reports, in an editorial decrying Florida's NRA-approved gun laws.

Tampa's hands are tied because state lawmakers last year passed a law forbidding local governments from imposing any limits on the sale, possession, or use of firearms. The Secret Service can prohibit guns inside the convention hall, but outside, anything goes. "This lethal parody of gun control should be repealed, like the notorious Stand Your Ground law," the Times opines. "But voters cannot expect common sense from the Republican-controlled Legislature, which is on a leash held by the gun lobby." (More gun control stories.)