An appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling and denied Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's request for an emergency temporary injunction to stop the State Fair of Texas from enforcing a new policy banning guns by most people visiting the fairgrounds.
Paxton on Monday appealed last week's district court decision to allow the State Fair of Texas to enforce its gun ban policy and asked for a ruling from the 15th Court of Appeals on an emergency injunction by Tuesday, Sept. 24.
Interim Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert filed a response with the appeals court on Tuesday morning, asking that the court deny Paxton's emergency motion.
Tolbert said the State Fair was a ticketed, private event and that the fair had exclusive control over some of Fair Park during its 24-day run. A board of directors runs the State Fair with no city oversight or approval, and the State Fair, as a private event, has exclusive authority to decide who it will admit. Tolbert said the city did not take a position on the correctness of the gun policy and received no complaints from citizens about the Fair's policy.
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The judge ruled there was not enough evidence showing that the State Fair or the city of Dallas would break any laws with the policy on firearms, and the motion for emergency relief was denied.
Paxton may now try to get the Texas Supreme Court to take up the case before the fair opens on Friday.
PAXTON'S INJUNCTION DENIED
Last Thursday, Dallas District Court Judge Emily Tobolowsky denied the injunction filed in August by Paxton's office, allowing the fair's policy to remain in place.
The state's attorney general has said the fair's policy to forbid anyone but active or retired law enforcement from carrying handguns into Fair Park violated state law. Paxton said the city of Dallas owns Fair Park and state law does not allow political subdivisions of the state, like the city of Dallas, to block licensed gun owners from carrying guns in places owned or leased by the government unless prohibited by law.
The attorney general's appeal said possible exclusions, such as events at the Cotton Bowl Stadium or vendors whose receipts are primarily from alcohol sales, where people would typically not be allowed to carry weapons, would not prevent someone from carrying a gun elsewhere on the fairgrounds.
A pivotal moment in court last week came when lawyers for the fair presented an opinion from Paxton filed in 2016 that allowed for this same scenario. The opinion supported a lessee being allowed to ban firearms on a property leased from a political subdivision. Last Tuesday, Paxton's office rescinded that opinion, and on Thursday, the attorneys noted that it was the only legal opinion Paxton had ever rescinded. In the appeal filed Monday, Paxton's office said the opinion was outdated and inapplicable and that since that opinion was issued, there have been several changes to the law regarding handguns.
After receving 12 complaints about the fair's policy between Aug. 8-10, Paxton's office warned the city of Dallas and the State Fair that he would sue if the policy weren't changed.
To read the filing, click here.
The State Fair of Texas opens Friday, Sept. 27, and runs through Oct. 20.
