On July 28, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost published a formal opinion ruling that the boards that operate county fairs can’t ban guns on site.
On Saturday, less than two weeks later, a brawl erupted around 11 p.m. at the Cuyahoga County Fair, ending with an 18-year-old sent to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the torso. The victim is alert and speaking to people, the police have since said.
Yost’s legal opinion and Saturday’s shooting captured intersecting trends in Ohio: the ongoing deregulation of gun laws and the escalation of disorder and violence at public events. That includes county fairs, a keystone of late-summer Americana and home to an increasing number of brawls and shootings, usually involving youth or young adults.
The Cuyahoga Fair shooting unfolded near the concession stands and broke out quickly, with officers nearby, according to Berea Police Lt. Tom Walker. Two separate handguns have been recovered since the incident – one abandoned at a parking lot and one on the person of a 19-year-old male believed to have fled the scene – though it’s unclear which one, if either, were used in the shooting.
“I’m not sure how we got to this point where these altercations turn to gun violence,” Walker said. “I guess we have seen that happen at fairs and other events. I don’t know.”
In Cuyahoga County, the county fair’s gun rules eased over time on the road to this month’s shooting. Up until 2022, fair rules stated it was illegal to carry a firearm on the premises. Officials then loosened the rule, prohibiting guns only in fair buildings but not the greater campus. Yost’s opinion ended the limitations outright.
The Ohio State Fair made patrons enter through metal detectors
Fairs vary in how to interpret the new rule. At the Ohio State Fair this year, patrons entered through metal detectors. They can carry weapons openly or concealed outdoors, according to fair spokeswoman Jessica West, but not in buildings on the fairgrounds. She didn’t respond when asked the purpose of the metal detector given that guns are allowed.
“If any patron carrying a firearm would like to enter a building, the patron will be given the option to return the firearm to his or her vehicle and return to the fair with an admission handstamp,” she said. “All buildings have signs posted prohibiting the carrying of a weapon, concealed or open.”
In Cuyahoga, the use of metal detectors “would not align with state law, as they would not prevent legally carried firearms from entering the property,” according to language on the fair’s website.
Tim Fowler, the fair board’s safety and security director, declined an interview. But a spokeswoman pointed to information on the fair’s website and the attorney general’s opinion.
“Instead, our focus is on maintaining a safe environment through proven security measures,” the site states. “We work closely with local law enforcement, who are present on the grounds every day of the fair. Multiple uniformed and plainclothes officers patrol the grounds, along with trained security staff, to ensure the safety of all guests.”
Fair officials were nervous going into the fair season. All around the state, some summer community events have ended in chaotic episodes in recent years, including two events that made headlines this summer.
Earlier this year, a brawl broke out at the Trumbull County Fair involving as many as 20 people, prompting the fair board president to publicly call for a crackdown on “juvenile delinquents.”
And in nearby Summit County, officials shut down the fair early July 25 after a series of events including teenagers throwing items at a barn door, false reports of an imminent mass shooting causing a panic, and a parking lot fight involving a taser that officials said was spurred by a “video challenge,” according to the county sheriff’s office.
Two nights later, shots were fired at a vehicle in the fair parking lot, sending one victim to the hospital, according to the sheriff.
An off-duty police chief, a pistol, and an arrest at the Champaign County Fair
Yost didn’t wade into the guns-at-fairs debate unprovoked.
This time last year, Eric Smith, the chief of police of the small village of St. Paris, openly carried a badge and pistol into the Champaign County fair on his hip. Sheriff’s deputies patrolling the event ordered him to put the gun back in his car or leave. He refused.
Smith was arrested, jailed, and charged with obstructing official business and criminal trespassing. The charges were later dropped, court records show.
However, the county prosecutor was left with a legal question. State law says local governments can’t pass gun laws stricter than those of the state. So can the Champaign County Agricultural Society, the quasi-governmental body that operates the county fair, declare a firearm free zone?
No, Yost said. In an advisory opinion issued late last month, Yost found that county fair boards are created by state law and function as a public authority. Therefore, they have no legal right to ban guns.
A spokesman for Yost didn’t respond when asked about the opinion in light of the Cuyahoga County shooting.
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Violence at county fairs in Ohio
The gun violence at the Cuyahoga and Summit county fairs follows a pattern of similar incidents.
Earlier this year, per WKBN, a fight involving 15 to 20 people at the Trumbull County Fair ended after law enforcement intervened. However, one juvenile was arrested after she was accused of swinging her purse at a mounted officer and police horse. She allegedly punched the horse during the scuffle as well.
After the fair, Fair Board President Barry Brown issued a statement promising to determine what can be done about the “juvenile delinquents” ruining a family-friendly tradition.
“We have some of the best law enforcement in the area, but we need to find out why their hands are tied and why they cannot arrest these individuals! Because they are minors?” Fair Board President Barry Brown said in a statement. “Take them to [juvenile detention] immediately!! I don’t care where you’re putting them, make them face the consequences of their behavior!! Let the rest of us enjoy the experience and beautiful fairgrounds.”
Last June, police arrested 10 juveniles and recovered a firearm, per Cleveland.com, after fights broke out during a church festival in Lyndhurst.
Authorities charged a man with felonious assault with a weapon and aggravated assault in connection with a shooting at the state fair in 2023. Court records show the charges were dismissed.
At the annual Canfield Fair in Mahoning County, a large fight broke out in 2022 near the rides, according to a WFMJ report. That included 10 people – seven juveniles and three young adults. One 14-year-old had a pistol on him, which fired during the havoc but didn’t hit anyone.
Another brawl forced the Sandusky County fair to shut down early in 2019, though no guns were reported, according to the Sandusky Register.
Rob Sexton, a lobbyist with the Buckeye Firearms Association, didn’t respond to a text message.
Shannon Mulligan, an anti-gun violence volunteer for nearly a decade with Moms Demand Action, said the spate of county fair shootings is the “natural outcome” of ever-loosening gun laws in Ohio.
A recent change to state law now allows adults 21 and older to carry concealed weapons without training or a permit. Mulligan said Ohio needs to do a better job promoting safe gun storage practices to keep them out of kids’ hands. And it’s “reckless,” she said, to allow guns at county fairs.
“The bottom line is, when you make it easier for people to carry guns in public or have less restrictions, you’re just increasing the risk of gun violence,” she said.