Texas judge rejects Paxton attempt to block State Fair gun ban

An Texas judge has slapped down an attempt by state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) to force the state fair to allow guns.

Paxton’s office sued in August to block a change in state fair policy to ban private firearms — a change Dallas County District Judge Emily Tobolowsky upheld Thursday.

Concealed handguns had been permitted at the fair, which often sees more than 100,000 people per day — until last season, when a 22-year old man opened fire in a crowded food court, injuring several people.

In suspect Cameron Turner’s account of events, the shooting was the sort of incident of self-defense that advocates of Texas’s broad gun laws have often pointed to: He told officers that he and his family were approached by several large men, and he went into “defensive” mode to protect them.

Later police investigations cast doubt on this story — Turner was, for one thing, alone when the shooting started — and last month, the state fair banned firearms unless carried by an active- or off-duty police officer.

Within days, that action had elicited a petition by 71 state lawmakers who argued that the change had made Texans less safe — and undermined the fair’s mission to be “a celebration of all things Texas.”

“Law-abiding citizens of the United States use firearms daily to defend themselves against criminals,” the legislators wrote.

“Guns-free zones don’t make us safer, they make us targets,” signatory State Rep. Dustin Burrows (R) added on the social platform X.

And state Sen. Bob Hall (R), who represents an archconservative corner of rural East Texas, said he would not be attending this year, because “The City of Dallas has made the 2024 Texas State Fair ‘a “free-fire-ZONE” for criminals.’”

“In the name of so-called ‘safety,’ the Fair’s leadership has effectively invited chaos and danger into the DNA of what is supposed to be a wholesome family activity,” Hall added.

“The only beneficiaries of this dangerous policy will be criminals who now know they have free rein to rob, rape, and overall harm without fear of encountering an armed citizen.”

Days after that legislative petition, which also threatened to pass a law enshrining open carry at the state fair, Paxton threatened the fair and the city of Dallas with a suit if they didn’t change course.

Paxton’s argument, echoing the petition, was that only the state Legislature has the authority to make government-owned property such as the fairgrounds gun-free.

“Dallas has fifteen days to fix the issue, otherwise I will see them in court,” he wrote.

They didn’t, and he did. At the end of August, Paxton sued.

“Municipalities cannot nullify state law nor can they avoid accountability by contracting official functions to nominally third parties,” he said in a statement.

“Neither the City of Dallas nor the State Fair of Texas can infringe on Texans’ right to self-defense,” Paxton added.

As The Texas Tribune noted, this was a stark reversal of policy for Paxton.

The week before Thursday’s hearing, the attorney general quietly withdrew a 2016-era legal opinion that argued that the Fort Worth Zoo, which like the state fair is a nonprofit administering operations on state-owned land, could bar firearms.

The legal case comes down to whether the fair is co-run with the city, which would mean that guns should be allowed, or if it is a wholly autonomous nonprofit.

As the Tribune noted, a prior court ruling found that the city has “no say” in state fair decisionmaking, and the city of Dallas told the newspaper that the fair “is a private event operated and controlled by a private, nonprofit entity and not the City.”

On Thursday, Judge Tobolowsky ruled against Paxton: The state fair, she concluded, was a private nonprofit and had the authority to decide whether or not to allow guns.

Paxton has not yet filed an appeal, but one is likely — as is future legislation from a state Senate and House that have already shown great willingness to restrict the autonomy of cities.

To the state fair, however, there are more pressing matters.

“We’re just ready to turn our attention to the State Fair of Texas, which is eight days away, and we’re ready to go,” Mitch Gleiber, president of the State Fair of Texas, told NBC’s Dallas-Fort Worth affiliate.