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…