cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/26980853
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.
Good, Paxton can go eat dirt for all I care the State Fair is not a place for guns.
Do the courts side with gun owners being able to take guns any and everywhere they want regardless of the site owners wishes? Or will they side with a private organization’s right to deny customers service based on being part of an (elective) unprotected class?
It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out and by interesting I mean not interesting at all because they’ll 100% side with gun owners.
And even if this fair is organized by the government are Republicans going to fight to let people carry guns into the state Capitol?
I predict that the Republicans will succeed in overturning the ban. I also predict a slight uptick in State Fair shooting incidents.
I also predict it being somehow completely different from wanting to bring guns into other public places, like courthouses!
