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No guns at the fair

A judge issued a just and eminently reasonable ruling on Wednesday, refusing to grant an injunction requested by a gun owners’s group to allow gun owners with permits to carry their weapons at the Minnesota State Fair.

The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus had sought the injunction, saying the state fair’s no gun policy violated their Second Amendment rights, and the state law that allows gun owners to carry their guns in public.

Ramsey County District Judge Laura Nelson pointed out that the fair has not allowed guns since 2003, but the Gun Owners Caucus didn’t sue until earlier this month. She also pointed out that legal injunctions are usually intended to preserve the status quo, and the status quo in this case is no guns.

So, people can feel safe about heading to the fair, without getting caught in a crossfire if a few pistol-packing gun owners decided they need to protect themselves.

We will grant you that any gathering of undreds of thousands of people may have a few bad people, but the State Fair is hoping to stave them off with metal detectors at the gates and by contracting with the Ramsey County Sheriff’s office for security.

The Gun Owners Caucus claims the issue is simply a legal one. State law, they say, does not allow the state fair to prohibit legally permitted guns. They plan to pursue the issue with more legal action later on.

That’s fine, but for now the deadliest thing on the fairgrounds will have to remain spending all day eating fried foods on a stick, topped off with a bucket of Sweet Martha’s cookies.

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