There’s a profound difference between lawfare and just trying to correct wrongs. One is all about punishing the other side, regardless of the outcome. The other is about holding authorities accountable when they try to break the law.
For example, there was a lawsuit in Bradford County, Florida. I covered the incident at the time. Basically, a sign at the county-owned fairground said that open carry was prohibited. As Florida has preemption, that’s not something they can do. They were asked about it and refused to follow the law, so they got sued.
And that did not work out well for them.
The lawsuit challenged the ban, citing the status of the fairgrounds as a public, government-owned space and two court rulings from 2025. Enforcement of Florida’s longstanding ban on open carry in public spaces was struck down after the court determined that it conflicted with the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.
“Defendant Bradford County Fair Association agrees that it shall permit the open carry of firearms at the Bradford County Fairgrounds to the fullest extent required and permitted under Florida law, including but not limited to the legal principles recognized in McDaniels v. State and GOA v. Del Toro,” the settlement agreement reads. “Defendants further agree that they shall not adopt, enforce, or maintain any policy or practice that prohibits or restricts lawful open carry at the fairgrounds in a manner inconsistent with Florida law.”
The county agreed to pay nearly $6,000 to cover Rose’s attorney fees.
So congrats, guys! You managed a one-year ban on open carry at your fairgrounds, but now you can never try it again unless state law changes in ways that don’t seem remotely likely in this day and age.
Brilliant.
Keep in mind, though, that it was only a ban on open carry. Concealed carry was perfectly acceptable at the fairgrounds, so it wasn’t even like they thought armed citizens were a problem. They just didn’t want to see them and thought they could force the issue without anyone fighting them.
Have none of these county officials ever met gun rights supporters? Seriously? What else was ever going to happen?
Their best-case scenario was that no one would see the sign. That’s it. That was the only way this would have been avoided, but if someone open-carried and was jammed up because of it, then we’d have ended up right back here, but Bradford County would probably be on the hook for more than some attorney fees.
As it is, they get to serve as a good example of a bad example of how to handle guns at the county fairgrounds. Municipalities keep thinking that they’re empowered to restrict guns in preemption states, as if the rules don’t apply to them, and then get shocked when they find themselves served with legal papers announcing a lawsuit.
I just can’t find it in my heart to feel bad for them in the least. They brought this on themselves. They’re just lucky it’s not worse for them.
The downside, though, is that the people who made the decision won’t actually be the ones impacted by this settlement. The county taxpayers will be, and that’s the injustice in this. Stupid should hurt. I’m fine if it’s only hurting them financially, but it should be them who hurt, no one else.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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