Attorney General Ken Paxton’s challenge to the State Fair of Texas’ firearm ban was rejected by Texas’ Fifteenth Court of Appeals.
On Thursday, the three-justice panel unanimously affirmed the 298th Judicial District Court’s judgment. The court found that the law prevents state and local governments from barring licensed handgun carriers from most property they own or lease but does not apply to private entities like the State Fair.
Held in Dallas since 1886, the State Fair implemented a new set of safety rules in 2024, that prohibited the carrying of firearms, including by license-to-carry holders. The ban followed a shooting in 2023 in the food court, which injured three people. The shooter, Cameron Turner, did not possess a license to carry.
Although Fair Park is owned by the City of Dallas, the city leases the grounds to the private nonprofit that operates the State Fair. Paxton argued that the firearm restriction was unlawful on city property.
“The State Fair’s gun ban serves as the basis for how the City’s conduct allegedly violates Section 411.209, but Appellants do not explain how the State Fair violated that provision through implementing its ban. As discussed above, see supra Part I, Section 411.209 only prohibits the actions of “state agenc[ies]” and “political subdivision[s] of the state” seeking to ban licensed gun holders from carrying handguns on government property. Tex. Gov’t Code § 411.209(a). It does not apply to private entities such as the State Fair,” read the opinion.
Texas Gun Rights called the ruling “TERRIBLE” on X, arguing, “Arbitrary ‘gun free zones’ create soft targets, leaving you DEFENSELESS when law breakers strike. They force gun owners to leave their firearms unattended in their vehicles and homes, prone to being stolen and used in future crimes. [The Texas Legislature] must fix this.”
During the 2025 legislative session, State Rep. Briscoe Cain (R–Deer Park) filed House Bill 1715, which would have required certain contracts for the use of government-owned or leased property to prohibit contractors from barring licensed handgun carriers where carrying was otherwise lawful. However, HB 1715 died in the House State Affairs Committee.
Cain filed that bill in response to Paxton’s original suit against the City of Dallas and the State Fair in 2024 over the same issue.
In Paxton’s original suit, he argued that the firearm ban violated state law restricting state agencies and political subdivisions from prohibiting licensed handgun carriers from entering or remaining on government-owned or leased property.
The Texas Supreme Court denied Paxton’s emergency filing to block the State Fair’s policy in 2024. The following year, a Dallas judge granted summary judgment to the city and the State Fair and dismissed the case.
Paxton is expected to appeal the Fifteenth Court of Appeals decision to the Texas Supreme Court.
The Fifteenth Court of Appeals has come under fire in recent months for some of its decisions.
Most recently, its justices allowed a group of Houston-area clinics allegedly operating as an abortion network and performing elective abortions to resume operations as litigation continued.
In one of its earliest decisions, the justices sided with the City of Dallas against Texans’ Second Amendment rights.
Last year, the justices helped Robert “Beto” O’Rourke avoid a discovery order after he was accused of raising money unlawfully to help Democrat lawmakers flee the state as part of their quorum-bust.
