On Friday I reported on how the Summit County Fair is gaming Ohio law that forbids firearms in enclosed state/government-controlled buildings by requiring attendees to first pass through a new, enclosed structure serving as an entrance. That structure is named after the parents of Fair Director Howard Call, one of the principles behind the ban.
“I may go just to establish standing,” I tentatively suggested on social media. Not being a lawyer, I don’t know if that’s actually needed to establish standing or not, or simply being an Ohio gun owner who feels precluded from going without surrendering his rights is enough, but in any case, I was able to carve out some time this afternoon to go.
I went, not to confront but to observe.
The first thing I noticed as I approached the entrance hall from the parking lot was the big black sheriff’s bus juxtaposed against a field of waving American flags:
In order to see what I expected I’d see, I needed to pass through security, replete with putting wallet and phone in a checkpoint security bowl and walking through a scanner. Anticipating that might be the case, I was compelled to be unarmed.
Incidentally, the entrance isn’t the only way the fair is playing fast and loose with Ohio gun law. Even though it is lawful to be armed in all the outdoor areas of the fairgrounds (you just can’t get thr0ugh the entrance “thanks” to fair management’s “creative” infringement), the Fair has deliberately put out bad information to the public:
PROHIBITED ITEMS The following items are strictly prohibited from Summit County Fairgrounds property: -Weapons/firearms, except qualified law enforcement…
That means, in order to comply with their rules, you can’t just leave your gun locked in your car. You have to travel to and from the fairgrounds with the Second Amendment and Ohio law suspended. “Who would?” is not the question. It’s what fair management presumes to dictate.
Anyway, back to what I expected to see:
By having both ends open (to facilitate foot traffic and perhaps also to comply with fire codes), the structure is no longer being used as an enclosure, but seems more analogous to passing through a tunnel, or under a bridge. Like I said, I’m not a lawyer, so I don’t know if that has legal relevance or not, but I thought I’d point it out for consideration.
I didn’t buy a ticket. I also don’t know if that will affect standing or not, but I wasn’t going to give money to prohibitionist bureaucrats demanding I surrender my rights to them. Not seeing a way to go back through the scanner to my car, I was informed I had to go into the building to use the “Exit” door, so in other words, in order to leave I was compelled to first enter their semi-enclosed forbidden zone.
Now, what can be done with all this? I see three ways forward:
- Ohio legislators can pass a bill creating exemptions for buildings in public commercial venues like fairs. Gun rights groups with lobbyists and relationships with Republicans they endorse could make this known as an expectation.
- Harmeet Dhillon could do her civil rights thing. I’ve done what I can to encourage that:
A lawsuit could be filed by Ohio gun owners, but that will require more juice than I can muster. As I said on Facebook, this is best suited to gun rights groups:
They have thousands of members who have standing. They have a sizable mailing lists and resource for fundraising with requisite tax reporting. They have attorneys and lobbyists with established relationships with “pro-gun” Republican legislators they can pick up the phone and talk to, and the same with national gun rights groups that have all of the above… I’d be happy to lend my name as a plaintiff if a gun rights group wanted me to be, but if they’re taking the lead the choice of who would be the best public faces should be theirs. It’s clear if this is to go anywhere, other voices must join mine in contacting groups like BFA, NRA, SAF, FPC, GOA, etc. and asking them to get involved and use their influence to determine the best way forward.
We’ll see if any of this happens. I’ve carried it as far as I can.
