RNC: Ohio open-carry gun law to remain in place during convention

Cleveland's police union called for the suspension of a state law that allows people to carry firearms during the Republican National Convention, but Ohio's governor said he was powerless to act despite heightened security concerns with the killing on Sunday of three police officers in Louisiana.

• 3 law enforcement officers killed in Baton Rouge shooting

Republican Donald Trump seized on the shooting deaths in Baton Rouge, La., to bolster his case the United States is leaderless and he is the better candidate in the Nov. 8 presidential election to restore law and order than his rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

It was not immediately clear whether there was a link between Sunday's shootings and recent unrest countrywide over police killings of black men, one of them a shooting in Baton Rouge about two weeks ago.

Despite a lack of clarity about the motive and specifics of Sunday's incident, Trump portrayed the country as "divided and out of control" in statements he issued on Twitter a day before the opening of the four-day Republican convention, where he will formally become the party's nominee for the White House.

Governor cannot 'arbitrarily' suspend law

After the shootings in Baton Rouge, in which three other police officers were wounded, the head of Cleveland's police union asked Gov. John Kasich to suspend state laws allowing people to openly carry firearms, but Kasich said he lacked the authority to do so.

Kasich, a Republican who lost his bid for the White House to Trump, issued a statement through his spokeswoman Emmalee Kalmbach, saying: "Ohio governors do not have the power to arbitrarily suspend federal and state constitutional rights or state laws, as suggested. The bonds between our communities and police must be reset and rebuilt as we're doing in Ohio so our communities and officers can both be safe."

President Barack Obama on Sunday said "nothing justifies attacks on law enforcement," and urged Americans to tamp down inflammatory words and actions as a violent summer collides with the nation's heated presidential campaign.

"We don't need careless accusations thrown around to score political points or to advance an agenda. We need to temper our words and open our hearts ... all of us," Obama said.

No delay

There were no plans to delay Monday's start of the convention, where thousands of Republican delegates are gathering amid a threat of protests both for and against Trump, 70.

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Security was extraordinarily tight, with downtown streets lined by concrete traffic dividers and tall metal fences, propelled by a new urgency after an attacker drove his truck into a holiday crowd in Nice, France, last week, killing 84 people.

Trump sought to link the violence to the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State, tweeting: "We are trying to fight ISIS, and now our own people are killing our police. Our country is divided and out of control. The world is watching."