The Texas Supreme Court has denied Attorney General Ken Paxton’s request to block the State Fair’s gun ban. This is the first time that Paxton failed to block the policy.
On Thursday night, the Supreme Court denied Paxton’s petition, allowing the State Fair, which begins today, to enforce its gun ban. According to NBC, Judge James Blacklock said Paxton’s request focused on preventing the city of Dallas from assisting the fair in enforcing the ban, not on whether the fair had the authority to do so.
“The State’s presentation to this Court takes no position on whether the State Fair of Texas, a private entity, has the legal authority to exclude patrons carrying handguns from the Fair.” Justice Blacklock said, “This Court cannot possibly order the State Fair to allow handguns to be carried at this year’s Fair when the party seeking that relief does not even argue that Texas law obligates the Fair to do so.”
Paxton previously argued that the City of Dallas was enforcing the policy through the fair. Government entities are prohibited from banning weapons, but private entities like the State Fair of Texas can.
The fair announced the new policy a year after a gunman shot and injured three people at the fairgrounds. Fair officials said this policy aims at enhancing the security at the event and prevent similar cases from happening.
In a statement, Paxton said he would still be fighting to prevent such policies from being enacted. He said he will work with the state’s legislature to do so.
“Texans have a right to lawfully carry and the City of Dallas has no authority to contract their rights away to a private entity,” said Paxton in a statement Friday morning. “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. 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.”
Now that the fair can enforce the policy, only active or retired law enforcement officers will be allowed to carry weapons onto the fairgrounds. There will be a gun check at the gate and if a person is carrying a gun, fair officials will ask the person to return the gun to their vehicle.
