Howdy, folks
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intends to continue challenging the State Fair of Texas’ gun ban, despite the fair ending last week, according to new court filings.
Paxton filed a motion Monday to dismiss his appeal against the court’s decision to block a gun ban by the State Fair of Texas. The Texas Supreme Court ruled in September to deny Paxton’s emergency motion for temporary relief of the ban after the motion was previously denied by the Dallas County District Court and the Fifteenth Court of Appeals.
“Because the State Fair ended on October 20, the State no longer wishes to pursue this appeal from the denial of a temporary injunction,” the filing states.
However, the state intends to continue challenging the ban in trial court, the filing states.
“Texans have a right to lawfully carry and the City of Dallas has no authority to contract their rights away to a private entity,” Paxton said after the Texas Supreme Court denied his appeal in September. “This case is not over. I will continue to fight this on the merits to uphold Texans’ ability to defend themselves, which is protected by State law.”
This gun ban comes one year after a shooting at the State Fair’s food court where three people were injured.
See here for the previous update; Ginger noted this in Friday’s Dispatches. The fight up until now had been over a restraining order – the merits of the case have yet to be adjudicated. That’s what will happen in district court, a full trial before the judge in which a permanent injunction will (or won’t) be issued. You will recall that SCOTx rejected Paxton’s appeal for the temporary order on the highly technical grounds that his argument was total bunk; go back and read that previous post to see why. I have to assume Paxton will amend his argument in response to SCOTx’s gentle feedback, but who knows? This may be another one of those “hi, it’s me, Kenny, asking you to please give me what I want” situations, and who’s to say that will be unsuccessful. We’ll know when SCOTx gets another crack at it.
UPDATE: Here’s his next move.
Three fairgoers have joined Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in suing the State Fair of Texas and the city of Dallas over the fair’s policy banning all firearms from its properties.
Monday’s filing is the latest maneuver from Paxton in an ongoing battle surrounding the State Fair and its gun ban. In September, a day before the event kicked off, the Texas Supreme Court denied Paxton’s request to overturn the policy — stating it has no role to “decide whether the State Fair made a wise decision” — after a Dallas district court judge allowed the gun ban to stand.
Paxton filed the update naming the newest plaintiffs in his ongoing case before the Dallas district court, which is expected to have another hearing next year.
In it, Paxton accuses State Fair and city officials of violating state law that bars most government bodies from prohibiting weapons on their properties. Paxton also says officials violated the constitutional rights to bear arms of fairgoers Maxx Juusola, Tracy Martin, and Alan Crider. They ask for up to $1 million in civil damages and to allow people to carry guns on the fairground.
A million dollars, good grief. Should we expect to see an amicus brief from Doctor Evil? Anyway, there you have it. I don’t think it improves his case any – the city of Dallas is still not involved here – but it will eventually be up to SCOTx and the Lege.