DALLAS (AP) — The State Fair of Texas is laying down a new rule before millions of visitors flock through the gates for corn dogs, deep-fried delights and a friendly wave from a five-story cowboy named Big Tex: No guns allowed.
But that decision by fair organizers — which comes after a shooting last year on the 277-acre fairgrounds in the heart of Dallas — has drawn outrage from Republican lawmakers, who in recent years have proudly expanded gun rights in Texas. On Wednesday, the state’s attorney general threatened a lawsuit unless the fair reversed course.
“Dallas has fifteen days to fix the issue,” said Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, “otherwise I will see them in court.”
Tensions over where and how gun owners can carry firearms in public are frequent in Texas, but the standoff with one of the state’s most beloved institutions has moved the fight onto unusual turf. The fair has not backed down since cowboy hat-wearing organizers announced the new policy at a news conference last week.
The fair, which reopens in September and lasts for nearly a month, dates back to 1886. In addition to a maze of midway games, car shows and the Texas Star Ferris wheel — one of the tallest in the U.S. — the fairgrounds are also home to the annual college football rivalry between the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma. And after Big Tex, the towering cowboy that greets fairgoers, went up in flames in 2012 due to an electrical short, the fair mascot was met with great fanfare upon its return.
I don’t understand. I went to the Texas state fair last year. They were turning people away at the gate for having folding pocket knives or even Swiss Army knives. There where metal detectors and they where searching bags for weapons of any kind. Who is being banned from carrying guns inside the fair? The police?
Maybe that was after the shooting.
I wasn’t allowed to bring a pocket knife in probably 20 years ago. Weird because I am pretty sure the belt I did wear in would be a more effective weapon than that tiny knife.
Not a Texan, but back when you had to have a permit for concealed carry in Florida, they had wands and metal detectors, but you could just show the sheriff your CCW permit and you’d be allowed in. I assume that’s what they do in Texas too. Not sure what they’ll do now that you don’t need a permit in Florida.