A Dallas County District Court Judge ruled that the State Fair of Texas could ban firearms during this month’s event.
When it was announced that the Texas State Fair would be “gun-free,” it shocked the citizens of the state. The Lone Star State is a gun-friendly state, so when the decision was announced, Texas State Attorney Ken Paxton stepped in and demanded the ban be rescinded. The City of Dallas and the State Fair of Texas refused to accept the AG’s demands.
That refusal caused Paxton to sue the City of Dallas and the Texas State Fair. He claimed that the city was breaking state law by banning guns. Under the law, no place that the state owns or rents can ban firearms unless it is in one of a very few locations, such as a school or courthouse.
Guns have not been banned at the Texas State Fair in the past. This year, they are banned due to an incident at last year’s fair where a gun was discharged. Alex Dubeau, an administrative law investigator with the attorney general’s office, said that after reviewing the lease, he determined that the State Fair could not ban guns because of last year’s fair incident.
“They had allowed firearms previously, and I see that all of a sudden they’re not because of an incident that happened from an unlicensed gun holder,” he said. “So, the unlicensed gun holder committed a crime last year, and now this year, they punish license holders by not allowing them to defend themselves.”
The City of Dallas, which owns the Fair Park, claims it had nothing to do with banning firearms at the fair. The city blamed the private non-profit business that runs the fair. Currently, there is a 25-year lease to run the fair awarded to the private non-profit company.
“The City was not involved in the State Fair of Texas’ announcement of its enhanced weapons policy,” a Dallas spokesperson said in a statement. “The State Fair of Texas is a private event operated and controlled by a private, non-profit entity and not the City.”
Dallas said that since a private non-business runs the fair, it could ban firearms. They argued that it didn’t matter if the city owned the Fair Park. The lawyers said the Texas State Fair could set any rule it wanted. The AG believed that since the government owned the land, an outside entity’s wishes didn’t override the Texas State Law.
The non-profit was set up to run the Texas State Fair. It doesn’t do anything else but the event. Whether that makes the Texas State Fair a private event is up for debate, but after two hours of arguments, Judge Emily Tobolowsky decided firearms could be banned.
State Fair president Mitchell Glieber celebrated the legal victory.
“We’re just ready to turn our attention to the State Fair of Texas – eight days away from opening, we’re ready to go and hoping that we can keep our folks as safe as humanly possible, that’s the goal,” Glieber said.
It is unclear if the Attorney General’s office will appeal the court’s decision. Paxton will only have days to decide and file the appeal. The Texas State Fair kicks off on Friday, September 27.
About John Crump
Mr. Crump is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people from all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons, follow him on X at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
a private business or organization can make whatever decisions they want, on their own property, but not on publicly owned property. the property does not change ownership only the entity running it, it is still public property and they have to adhere to the Constitution and Bill of Rights. the word the judge couldn’t think of is preemption. what if a church group rented the state fair grounds and said no gay or trans identifying people are welcome? or a neo-nazi group wanted to ban jews and blacks? that wouldn’t fly and this doesn’t either. obviously this judge is a… Read more »
Hopefully, Texas gun owners will help make this “non-profit” a truly non-profit by boycotting the Texas State Fair, this year. I have not been to the South Carolina State Fair in over fifteen years for the same reason.
Wrong! If they can ban them from one place or event they will ban them from all places and all events. This is an infringement and is intolerable. Everyone else’s RIGHTS are not stolen because of the irresponsible behavior of a criminal or an idiot. This cannot be allowed to stand. One way or another it needs to go away AND these regular Infringers need to pay for their treason with their lives.
From the article:“They had allowed firearms previously, and I see that all of a sudden they’re not because of an incident that happened from an unlicensed gun holder,” he said. “So, the unlicensed gun holder committed a crime last year, and now this year, they punish license holders by not allowing them to defend themselves.” From Texas State Law Library. Handguns As of 2021, people who qualify under the law can carry a handgun in a public place in Texas without a license to carry (LTC). Texans can still apply for an LTC since it may carry additional benefits. See our License to… Read more »
The State Fair is now out of the running for our annual family reunion. How many times have we given an inch and watched them take a MILE. Do not support any activity that defies State law. Citizens it’s time to speak up and make your voices heard.
Every gun owners that intended on going to the fair should stay home or go to the range instead. When the “private entity” loses their ass financially maybe they’ll sing a different tune!!
As a Landlord in Texas I cannot ban firearms on any the homes I own and lease out. So, these homes are privately owned, by me, and I cannot ban firearms ( not that I want to). Interesting. No State Fair for my family this year. They’ll change their tune when attendance craters. It’s pretty much an over priced rip-off anyway, with tons of scams going on; like paying $50 to park your car only to come back and your car is gone, towed for illegal parking and it’s $300+ to get it out. Crooked towing companies setting innocent unsuspecting… Read more »
The judge is mistaken if it’s public property then he is over reaching and needs removed from the bench legally and permanently.
which word is it that i can’t say, gay?
Yet again censoring comments and not posting them till way after everyone has looked at the article and moved on.
Just as bad as the media