By Juan Salinas II, The Texas Tribune
Three fairgoers have joined Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in suing the State Fair of Texas and the city of Dallas over the fair’s policy banning all firearms from its properties.
Monday’s filing is the latest maneuver from Paxton in an ongoing battle surrounding the State Fair and its gun ban. In September, a day before the event kicked off, the Texas Supreme Court denied Paxton’s request to overturn the policy — stating it has no role to “decide whether the State Fair made a wise decision” — after a Dallas district court judge allowed the gun ban to stand.
Paxton filed the update naming the newest plaintiffs in his ongoing case before the Dallas district court, which is expected to have another hearing next year.
In it, Paxton accuses State Fair and city officials of violating state law that bars most government bodies from prohibiting weapons on their properties. Paxton also says officials violated the constitutional rights to bear arms of fairgoers Maxx Juusola, Tracy Martin, and Alan Crider. They ask for up to $1 million in civil damages and to allow people to carry guns on the fairground.
After the Supreme Court ruling, Paxton said in a press release that he would continue to press the issue on “the merits to uphold Texans’ ability to defend themselves.”
Dallas owns Fair Park, where the 24-day event takes place annually, but State Fair of Texas, a nonprofit organization, operates the park and various city buildings and walkways within the property, per a 25-year agreement between the two entities. A week before the Dallas District Court hearing, Paxton withdrew an eight-year-old legal opinion that allowed private nonprofits to ban guns on land they lease from a city.
Paxton continues to argue that since Dallas owns Fair Park, the nonprofit’s policy change violates state law, which allows licensed gun owners to carry in places owned or leased by governmental entities, unless otherwise prohibited by state law, according to Paxton’s lawsuit. Texas law establishes that schools and courtrooms are considered gun-free zones and allows others, such as amusement parks or educational institutions, to institute their own bans on firearms.
In his letter to the interim city manager over the summer, Paxton acknowledged that some buildings on the Fair Park premises, like the Cotton Bowl and other buildings used for scholastic events, are areas where guns are prohibited by state law.
“However, the entirety, or vast majority of the 277-acre Fair Park of Dallas is not a place where weapons are prohibited,” Paxton wrote.
The city of Dallas disagreed with Paxton’s allegations, explaining that city officials weren’t involved in the State Fair’s decision to enforce a gun ban.
“The State Fair of Texas is a private event operated and controlled by a private, nonprofit entity and not the City,” a Dallas spokesperson said in a statement.
Fair officials maintain they could enforce a gun ban as a private nonprofit.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/10/31/fairgoers-ken-paxton-state-fair-lawsuit/.
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