Appeals Court denies AG Ken Paxton’s latest attempt to block State Fair of Texas’ gun ban

By Everton Bailey Jr.
Reprinted – by Texas Metro News
Website: https://www.dallasnews.com/

An appeals court on Tuesday upheld a lower court’s decision to reject Attorney General Ken Paxton’s latest attempt to block the State Fair of Texas from banning most people from attending while carrying guns.

The ruling from the 15th District Court of Appeals in Austin means the fair’s new policy that would only allow elected, appointed, or employed peace officers to bring firearms onto the fairgrounds is still on track to be in effect starting Friday when the annual event begins in South Dallas’ Fair Park.

“The court, having reviewed the motion and the briefing filed by both the state and defendants, hereby denies the state’s request for temporary relief and the state’s alternative request for an administrative stay,” the appeals court order said.

In his motion to the appeals court, Paxton requested a ruling by Tuesday to give the Texas Supreme Court time to consider the issue if necessary, indicating another appeal could be imminent. The attorney general’s office didn’t immediately respond on whether another appeal is coming. The fair operates from Sept. 27 to Oct. 20.

Paxton was seeking to overturn a ruling last week from Dallas County District Court Judge Emily Tobolowsky upholding the new fair policy over protests from the attorney general, who believes the rule violates the rights of gun owners.

Tobolowsky last Thursday denied Paxton’s request for a temporary injunction spurred by a lawsuit against the fair, the city of Dallas and its interim city manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert. The attorney general then filed an emergency appeal with the Austin-based appeals court.

The new fair policy was announced in August and comes after a man shot three people at last year’s event. The fair previously allowed any attendee with a valid handgun license to bring a gun as long as it was concealed, but state law doesn’t require Texans to have a permit to carry a firearm in a public place.

Paxton sued the city, Tolbert, and the state fair, arguing they were violating a state law that prevents local governments from banning licensed gun holders from property the government owns. Dallas leases the city-owned 277-acre Fair Park to the State Fair for the annual event. Paxton’s office argues that the city, as essentially the landlord, should force the nonprofit State Fair not to enforce the policy.

Fair officials and attorneys have said the new policy is meant to increase fairgoers’ safety and that the law Paxton cited doesn’t apply to private groups that temporarily use the space. They have pointed to other events around the state with similar restrictions, like the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

City attorneys have said Dallas officials have no say in any fair policies, and as Fair Park’s lessee, the nonprofit can enact whatever rules it wants for the 24 days of the event.

Attorneys representing the city and the fair reiterated their arguments in responses filed Tuesday asking the court to deny Paxton’s emergency motion.

“This case centers on private property rights and the interpretation of a specific statute, not gun rights,” said a response from State Fair of Texas attorneys. “The key issue is whether a private entity that conducts an admission-only event on property leased from a city can prohibit firearms at its private event without state interference. That answer should be yes.”

Paxton has previously issued legal opinions saying private groups could ban people from coming onto the leased government-owned property with guns. Paxton rejected a complaint in 2016 over the privately-run Dallas Zoo banning guns from its city-owned property.

Paxton, earlier this month, withdrew a legal opinion issued by his office in a separate 2016 case saying nonprofits have the right to ban firearms from property leased from the government. That opinion, prompted by Erath County Attorney Lisa Pence on whether a nonprofit can restrict people with firearms from coming onto property owned by a city, was cited in an Aug. 14 letter to Paxton by two Republican state lawmakers asking the attorney general’s opinion on the State Fair’s new policy.

Mitch Glieber, the State Fair’s president, said in court last week that anyone armed and stopped from entering the fair at an entrance will be asked to put their gun in their vehicle before entering.