It’s official: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sues City of Dallas, State Fair of Texas over gun ban
Dallas, Texas – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against the State Fair of Texas and the city of Dallas over the recently announced ban on weapons at the fairgrounds in what appears to be a landmark legal clash. At Texas’ biggest annual festival, this action signals a notable rise in the debate over gun rights.
Initiated in a Dallas County District Court, the legal action aims to stop the gun prohibition from being enforced between September 27 and October 20. Paxton’s position is unambiguous: he thinks that the ban enforced by the city and the fair officials violates Texans’ constitutional rights to carry weapons for self-defense.
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“Neither the City of Dallas nor the State Fair of Texas can infringe on Texans’ right to self-defense,” Paxton wrote in his statement per The Texas Tribune. “I warned fifteen days ago that if they did not end their unlawful conduct I would see them in court, and now I will.”
Officials of the State Fair of Texas defend their decision by stating that the new regulation seeks to improve safety for all fair attendees in line with the events of last year’s shooting incident causing three injuries. Emphasizing their dedication to safety, fair spokesperson Karissa Condoianis said that the organizers’ priority is the security of the visitors, and that they firmly believe that this policy is in the best interest of everyone attending.
Since the policy was revealed last month, it has caused controversy. The fair runs out of Fair Park, a Dallas public property that complicates the legal case. State law permits, with few conditions, licensed gun owners to carry weapons on facilities owned or leased by government agencies. According to Paxton’s lawsuit, the new policy runs against these clauses.
The city of Dallas has distanced itself from the decision.
“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, nonprofit entity and not the City.”
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Opinions among the public and legislators are severely split as the legal fight looms. While some, including several Republican state legislators and gun rights advocacy groups, contend that the prohibition makes the fairgrounds a more probable target for crime, others accept the fair’s decision as a necessary measure to prevent violence.
This lawsuit is a landmark in the larger national debate on gun control and rights as well as a local matter. The result might provide a standard for handling like circumstances in Texas and maybe other states. All eyes will be on the Dallas County District Court in the meanwhile as it determines whether the fair will go forward with the ban in place or otherwise.
