(27 Sep 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dallas – 27 September 2024
1. Wide of Texas State Fair with large landmark of the fairs mascot and Texas flags in the background
2. Close of Texas flag
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Corey McCarrell, fairgoer:
“It is prohibited, bringing firearms, to the state fair this year. So it’s, it was a little, upsetting, but, you know, it didn’t prevent us from coming. We’re gonna have a good time. We’re just going to be extra careful.”
4. Various of sign alerting visitors of gun ban
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Corey McCarrell, fairgoer:
“Being, you know, a father and husband. Feel safer that if anything were to happen, I can take care of my kids. My wife. Just extra security there.”
6. Various of fair rides
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Bailey McCarrell, fairgoer:
“Just like knowing if something were to go wrong. I have something to protect my kids. At the end of the day, especially in large crowds, you know.”
8. Close of fairgoer eating corn dog
9. Wide of crowd at fair
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Janie Rojas , fairgoer:
“I’m okay with that. I’d rather nobody carry on on the premises with all the kids and everybody here.”
11. Medium of sign alerting visitors of gun ban
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Rhonda Hines , fairgoer:
“I’m okay with it. I mean, I’m okay either way. Yeah. Either way. And if they would have said yes, I probably.”
++ ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
The State Fair of Texas opened Friday under a new firearms ban, having withstood weeks of pressure from Republicans who had charged into a public rift with one of the state’s most beloved institutions and have spent years championing looser gun laws.
Organizers put the ban in place following a shooting last year that injured three people and sent some fairgoers running and climbing over barriers to flee. By the time thousands of visitors began streaming through the gates in Dallas on Friday— greeted by a roughly five-story tall cowboy statue known as “Big Tex” — the state’s highest court had rejected a last-minute appeal from the the state’s GOP attorney general, who argued the ban violated Texas’ permissive gun rights.
Corey McCarrell, whose family was among the first inside the sprawling fairgrounds Friday, expressed disappointment that he couldn’t bring his gun to make sure his wife and two children were protected.
“It was a little upsetting,” said McCarrell, who has a license to carry in Texas. “But it didn’t prevent us from coming.”
Millions of visitors each year attend the Texas fair, which is one of the largest in the U.S. and runs through October. When the fair announced the gun ban last month, it drew swift backlash from dozens of Republican legislators, as well as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit.
Paxton said Friday that he wasn’t giving up, even after the Texas Supreme Court’s opinion Thursday that criticized the state’s argument as lacking.
“I will continue to fight this on the merits to uphold Texans’ ability to defend themselves, which is protected by State law,” he said in a statement.
Tensions over gun laws are recurring in Texas, where a commanding GOP majority in the state Capitol has succeeded in loosening restrictions over the last decade.
Texas allows people to carry a handgun without a license, background check or training. Concealed handguns are also permitted in college classrooms and dorms.
Not long after the fair opened Friday, Janie Rojas and her best friend quickly snatched up one of the fair’s famous corn dogs. She said she had been coming to the fair longer than she can remember and was glad to see the ban in place.
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