KOCO-TV
Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman ruled Friday that guns will be allowed at an upcoming music festival in Norman.
The Oklahoma Second Amendment Association filed suit Wednesday morning in Cleveland County District Court against the city and organizers of the festival.
The group claimed the city was allowing a music festival to take over city streets and illegally ban guns.
Music festival organizers are renting public land, but the city contended that the festival must be treated like a private business.
Here is Balkman’s ruling in full:
Today as I walked into the OU Law School I saw written in stone at the entrance, “To allow the rights of one person to be violated, puts at risk the rights and liberties of all.”
This controversy concerns the rights of Defendants City of Norman and Norman Music Alliance and Oklahoma gun owners – clearly there is a conflict between the rights of these opposing sides
Any time a fundamental right, such as the Second Amendment is concerned, this court gives great weight and deference to our constitution. When a constitutional right is at risk of infringement, there must be clear statutory authority to trump. In this case, the plaintiff’s rights are grounded in our state and national constitution, as well as the Oklahoma statutes.
The city failed to show it had the right to contract away the plaintiffs’ second amendment rights to the Norman Music Alliance.
The Defendants cite 21 OS Section 1290.22 exception to the Self Defense Act for such authority. However, the city cannot enforce the firearms restriction because its ability under 1290.22 is limited to structures and buildings. Here, we are dealing with streets, sidewalks, parking lots and other open spaces. The control granted by the City to the NMA through the Special Events permitting comes with numerous restrictions and conditions that must be met – -giving this relationship between the Defendants all the markings of a tenancy. Therefore 12 OS Section 1277 applies and only would restrict carrying if this were a structure, building, or office space leased by the city. This is not one of those.
Plaintiff’s motion for a temporary restraining order is granted restraining the City of Norman from enforcing the NMA’s “no gun” policy. Those attending the festival carrying firearms must still abide by the rules of individual businesses in the festival area –and may not be allowed to carry inside a business structure. Outside of those businesses, on the streets and sidewalks, a person has the right to lawfully carry their weapon.
