The State Fair of Texas opens Friday with a new rule for attendees: keep your guns at home.
The fair kicks off this year with a new policy banning most people from bringing firearms into South Dallas’ Fair Park over the 24-day event. The new rule comes after a man shot three people at the fair last October.
It has survived several attempts by Attorney General Ken Paxton to block it. Paxton’s latest attempt was denied by the Texas Supreme Court late Thursday.
Still, Paxton on Friday vowed to keep challenging the ban.
“This case is not over. I will continue to fight this on the merits to uphold Texans’ ability to defend themselves, which is protected by State law,” the attorney general said in a statement. “While Texas clearly prohibits this type of gun ban, I will be working with the Legislature this session to protect law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights on public property.”
Fair officials announced in August that only elected, appointed, or employed peace officers would be allowed to bring firearms onto the grounds this year. This prompted Paxton to sue the fair, Dallas, and its interim city manager, arguing the policy violates gun owners’ rights and, since the fair is held on land owned by Dallas, it’s illegal to restrict access to people lawfully carrying firearms.
The Republican attorney general sought an order from the Texas Supreme Court to challenge prior rulings from Dallas County District Judge Emily Tobolowsky, a Democrat, last week and the 15th District Court of Appeals, which has three Republican justices, on Tuesday that disagreed with Paxton about the new fair policy violating any laws.
“The Court of Appeals clearly abused its discretion by denying emergency relief from the trial court’s order because the city’s ultra vires acts violate state law,” Paxton’s latest challenge says.
The State Fair is one of the biggest annual celebrations in Texas and welcomed more than 2.3 million people last year.
The nonprofit fair officials and attorneys representing the group have asserted the new rule is meant to increase fairgoers’ safety and that the law allows private groups to limit access on leased government-owned property they temporarily control.
They have pointed to other events around the state with similar restrictions, like the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and cited Paxton’s own past legal opinions. The attorney general, for instance, rejected a complaint in 2016 over the privately run Dallas Zoo banning guns from its city-owned property.
“This case centers on private property rights and the interpretation of a specific statute, not gun rights,” said a response from State Fair of Texas attorneys to Paxton’s appeals court motion earlier this week. “The key issue is whether a private entity that conducts an admission-only event on property leased from a city can prohibit firearms at its private event without state interference. That answer should be yes.”
Attorneys representing the city said Dallas officials have no say in fair policies and, as Fair Park’s lessee, the nonprofit can enact whatever rules it wants for the event.
Jeff Tillotson, an attorney representing the city told The Dallas Morning News on Friday that “the Supreme Court got it right.”
“We thank them for their quick work on this case,” he said. “Please attend the state fair. It is going to be awesome this year.”
Paxton, earlier this month, withdrew a similar legal opinion in a separate 2016 case. That opinion, prompted by Erath County Attorney Lisa Pence on whether a nonprofit can restrict people with firearms from coming onto property owned by a city, was cited in an Aug. 14 letter to Paxton by two Republican state lawmakers asking the attorney general’s opinion on the State Fair’s new policy.
In the petition to the Texas Supreme Court, Paxton described the opinion as “outdated” and said he withdrew it because several legal developments have occurred since 2016, including the state Legislature allowing permitless carry in 2021.
“Applying ordinary statutory rules of construction, these legal developments suggest that even if entirely correct at the time it was issued, (the opinion) likely cannot stand—but, at minimum, requires reconsideration,” the petition said.
Attorneys representing the city in their response to the state Supreme Court motion say that the legal opinion’s withdrawal “does not impact its persuasiveness.”
“The attorney general has never disavowed its analysis,” the response said. “Withdrawn or not, it further shows two separate courts did not abuse their discretion in denying relief that would have contradicted with the attorney general’s own reasoning.”
The State Fair of Texas runs from Friday through Oct. 20.
