The State Fair of Texas opens with a new gun ban after courts reject challenge

DALLAS (AP) — 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.”