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A Secret Service agent stands guard during a campaign event for Donald Trump on March 14. | AP Photo Secret Service: No guns at GOP convention

The Secret Service says there will be no firearms at the Republican National Convention this summer, no matter how many people try to make it happen.

In a statement emailed to POLITICO, a spokesman for the Secret Service said the group has the “authority to preclude firearms from entering sites visited by our protectees, including those located in open-carry states. Only authorized law enforcement personnel working in conjunction with the Secret Service for a particular event may carry a firearm inside of the protected site.”

“The Secret Service works closely with our local law enforcement partners in each state to ensure a safe environment for our protectees and the public," the statement continues. "Individuals determined to be carrying firearms will not be allowed past a predetermined outer perimeter checkpoint, regardless of whether they possess a ticket to the event."

The Secret Service’s stance is at odds with at least some of the more than 50,000 people who have signed a petition to allow open-carry of firearms at the convention in July in Cleveland.

A petition, which was filed on change.org, has five different calls to action including getting Gov. John Kasich to use executive authority to suspend the “gun-free zone” at the arena.

The petition says that the rule is “a direct affront to the Second Amendment and puts all attendees at risk. As the National Rifle Association has made clear, ‘gun-free zones’ such as the Quicken Loans Arena are ‘the worst and most dangerous of all lies.'”

While many comments from people who have signed the petition appear to take it seriously, POLITICO on Tuesday spoke with a man who identified himself as "Jim" who said he started the petition. The man, who declined to share his last name, citing "safety concerns," said he created the petition as a protest of sorts for people who advocated getting rid of gun-free zones.

"Jim," who said he has donated to both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, explained that he wanted to expose the hypocrisy of gun rights advocates who push for allowing individuals to be armed at movie theaters, malls and schools. "They should live under the same sort of sense of unease that the rest of us do, and this is a thing that they fought for," he said.

"Of course they were never gonna let guns at the convention," he said, pointing to the fact that people might say the convention has "high-profile targets."

The convention could be historic in nature, especially if Donald Trump does not receive the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination, leading to a contested convention. Trump has said there could be "riots" if he's denied the nomination, but he's stated that he is not encouraging violence.