AG Ken Paxton pulls legal opinion backing nonprofits banning firearms from city-owned land

Attorney General Ken Paxton this week withdrew a legal opinion issued by his office in 2016 saying nonprofits have the right to ban firearms from property leased from the government.
The move comes after he sued Dallas, its interim city manager and the State Fair of Texas on Aug. 29 to block the nonprofit’s new ban on firearms at the city-owned fairgrounds. The fair starts in two weeks.
After a gunman wounded three people in a shooting at the State Fair last year, organizers announced on Aug. 8 that it would increase security and only allow elected, appointed or employed peace officers to carry firearms into Fair Park. Paxton and other Republican state lawmakers called the new restriction illegal and an infringement on the rights of gun owners.
Paxton’s 2016 opinion withdrawal comes amid an Aug. 14 letter from state Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston) and Rep. Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) to the attorney general seeking an opinion on the State Fair of Texas’ new policy. They cited Paxton weighing in eight years earlier on a question from Erath County Attorney Lisa Pence on whether a nonprofit can restrict people with firearms from coming onto property owned by a city.
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The attorney general at the time noted that while state law bans a governmental entity from banning a license holder from carrying a handgun on city-owned property, it didn’t address whether the same rule applied to private entities on leased government property.
“The private, nonprofit entity appears to have an arms-length agreement to lease city property and is not otherwise affiliated with the city,” Paxton’s 2016 opinion read. “In such circumstances, (the law) does not apply to a city that leases property to a nonprofit entity that provides notice that a license holder carrying a handgun is prohibited from entry.
“As long as the state agency or political subdivision leasing the property to the nonprofit entity has no control over the decision to post such notice, the state agency or political subdivision lessor would not be the entity responsible for the posting and would therefore not be subject to a civil penalty,” the opinion continued. Legal opinions from the attorney general’s office are non-binding.
Dallas officials have maintained that the city wasn’t involved in the State Fair’s announcement of its new weapons policy. The State Fair on Aug. 30 said the group had no plans of rescinding the restriction.
“As a private, not-for-profit organization leasing Fair Park for our annual State Fair, we believe we have the right to make this decision and maintain that it is the correct decision to protect the safety of our patrons,” Karissa Condoianis, a fair spokeswoman, told The Dallas Morning News in an Aug. 30 statement.
Fair organizers have noted that other large annual events around the state — such as the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo Austin — have similar firearm restrictions.
Paxton’s 2016 opinion was withdrawn on Tuesday, state records show.
A temporary injunction hearing is scheduled Thursday as Paxton seeks a Dallas County civil judge’s order to stop the gun ban from being enforced.
The State Fair of Texas begins Sept. 27 and runs through Oct. 20.