Attorney General Ken Paxton said Wednesday he’ll seek legal action if Dallas does not order the State Fair of Texas to reverse its ban on licensed concealed carry at this year's fair.
The city owns Fair Park, which it leases to the State Fair during the 24-day event. Paxton said in a release the fair's recently announced ban on all firearms at the fair — excluding current and some former peace officers — violates a state law that prohibits banning licensed carry from properties owned or leased by governmental entities.
“The State Fair of Texas’s recent policy that infringes on LTC holders’ Second Amendment rights is unlawful," Paxton said in a statement. "Dallas has fifteen days to fix the issue, otherwise I will see them in court."
If the policy isn't reversed, Paxton's office may seek civil penalties between $1,000 and $1,500 for each day the firearm ban is not lifted, according to the notice issued to Interim Dallas City Manager Kim Tolbert Tuesday.
"We are reviewing the letter from the Texas Attorney General’s Office and will respond accordingly," a city of Dallas spokesperson wrote in a statement to KERA News Wednesday.
The new policy came almost a year after a gunman injured three people in a shooting at the food court in Fair Park's Tower Building. Police arrested 22-year-old Cameron Turner in connection with the shooting. Court records show his trial is set for October.
Karissa Condoianis, the State Fair's senior vice president of public relations, said the fair's policy on firearms is legal because the fair itself is a private nonprofit, not a government agency.
"It appears from the letter that the Attorney General’s Office is seeking clarification regarding the City’s relationship with the State Fair of Texas – a private, not-for-profit organization – and the State Fair’s use of Fair Park under a long-term lease agreement between the two parties," Condoianis said in a statement Wednesday. "We have not spoken with the City yet but stand ready to cooperate with them, as needed."
A November 2016 opinion from the attorney general's office concerning the Fort Worth Zoo’s ban on firearms seemed to directly address a similar issue. Paxton’s office wrote it was not illegal for the zoo — a private nonprofit that operates on city-owned property — to post signs informing visitors that guns were banned from the premises.
In the State Fair’s case, Paxton’s office references an August 2016 opinion, which was cited in the November opinion. It also states a political subdivision like a city would not be liable under for posting signs prohibiting guns as long as the city had no control over the decision.
The letter to Dallas states that although the State Fair may have relied on that opinion to craft its new firearm policy, “such reliance was misplaced in regard to the 277-acre Fair Park.”
The Office of the Attorney General did not immediately respond to questions about how the State Fair’s case differs from that of the Fort Worth Zoo.
Paxton's announcement comes days after the NRA and Republican state lawmakers and nominees called on the State Fair to once again allow licensed carry at the fair. They argue gun-free zones are less safe and present less of a threat to potential attackers.
Two of those legislators, Sen. Mayes Middleton of Galveston and Rep. Dustin Burrows of Lubbock, requested clarification Wednesday on how the State Fair fits into the attorney general's previous opinions on gun bans by private businesses on government owned or leased property.
New: @mayes_middleton, @Burrows4TX have asked the @TXAG for a legal opinion whether local governments “can create gun bans, that would be otherwise prohibited under the law, by simply working through a 501(c)(3) or other private entity.” #txlege
— Brad Johnson (@bradj_TX) August 14, 2024
Comes in response to the State… pic.twitter.com/yfCkDYVUhh
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