While the state fair begins Thursday, the dispute began two weeks ago, when Grass Roots North Carolina, a group dedicated to expanding the rights of gun owners, asserted that concealed carry permit holders should be able to bring guns to the fair. But N.C. Agricultural Commissioner Steve Troxler said in response that he would enforce the fair’s no-guns policy.
Grass Roots is now taking legal action. The group contends that concealed carry weapons are allowed at the fairground under the state’s 2013 gun law. The law expanded the number of places allowing concealed carry firearms, including public university campuses if the guns are kept in locked cars.
Jeff Welty, a UNC law professor, wrote a post Oct. 6 on the School of Government blog examining the arguments for and against concealed carry at the fair. Welty concluded that because of the way the law is written, Troxler might not be able to ban firearms.
“The issue is not as open-and-shut as I thought at first,” Welty said.
The law says there are circumstances where firearms can be banned from a premise, but Paul Valone, president of Grass Roots, said these circumstances are not satisfied at the fair.
“Under (the law), the only assemblies of people for which admission is charged that may prohibit firearms by concealed permit holders are those that are held on private premises,” Valone said. “The state fair is not a private premise.”
A different section of the law says local governments can ban firearms at an event held in a government venue, Welty said in his post. That might contradict another stipulation in the law saying this provision only applies to private venues, he said.
Brian Long, press director of the fair, has said banning weapons at the state fair is for public safety. UNC sophomore Jasmine Shah agreed.
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“I’m all for concealed carry,” Shah said. “But at a state fair? It seems like it’d be too crowded and there would be a lot of children.”
Sophomore David Farrow questioned its purpose.
“I don’t think the protection concealed carry provides outweighs the climate of fear and climate of willingness to use force it creates,” he said.
Valone said concealed firearms would benefit the fair by deterring violent assault and predators, as well as reducing mob violence.
He cited North Carolina’s 45.9 percent drop in violent crime since 1995, when concealed carry was originally passed. He also said he thinks other state fairs that allow concealed carry weapons are safer.
“Troxler doesn’t need to worry about concealed handgun permit holders; these people have proved themselves sane, sober and law-abiding since 1995,” Valone said. “Permit holders are not a hazard; they are a resource.”
