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Judge Denies Permanent No-Gun Ban For Norman Music Fest, Leaves It Up To Legislature

Robert Hoefling performs at the Bluebonnet Bar during Norman Music Festival 8 - April 2015
Nathan Poppe
/
The Oklahoman
Robert Hoefling performs at the Bluebonnet Bar during Norman Music Festival 8

Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman ruled Tuesday he won't turn his temporary injunction that forbids the Norman Music Festival from banning guns into a permanent order.

Balkman said the legislature is the appropriate place to ban enforcement of no-gun policies at public events, according to The Oklahoman’s Jane Glenn Cannon:

Balkman ruled in April in favor of the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association, which asked for a temporary restraining order to prohibit organizers of the Norman Music Festival from enforcing a no-guns policy on public areas encompassed by the festival. He said businesses, however, had the right to enforce gun bans on their property. The gun advocacy group asked that Balkman issue a permanent ruling in the case, but the judge said his ruling was a temporary one that applied only to the music festival in April. He refused to issue a permanent restraining order against the organizers of the music festival.

Norman Music Alliance president Quentin Bomgardner told The Norman Transcript’s Mack Burke he was happy with the ruling. He said Tuesday’s decision indicated Balkman views the Norman Music Festival as a business with the right to control the extent of gun rights within their business. Unless state lawmakers intervene, NMF will be allowed to regulate guns during the ninth annual festival this April.

Norman Music Alliance public relations chair Michelle Bui said there were plenty of police officers during the 2015 festival.

“I’m happy with it. I don’t know if it’s going to go any further than this, but as of right now, we respect everyone but we’re happy about it,” Bui said. . . . Bui said it’s the best possible outcome for the festival’s atmosphere. “People who carry guns have rights, but so do business owners. That’s the main thing we were focusing on. Everyone wants to hang out and have a good time at the festival,” Bui said.

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Brian Hardzinski is from Flower Mound, Texas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. He began his career at KGOU as a student intern, joining KGOU full time in 2009 as Operations and Public Service Announcement Director. He began regularly hosting Morning Edition in 2014, and became the station's first Digital News Editor in 2015-16. Brian’s work at KGOU has been honored by Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI), the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters, the Oklahoma Associated Press Broadcasters, and local and regional chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists. Brian enjoys competing in triathlons, distance running, playing tennis, and entertaining his rambunctious Boston Terrier, Bucky.
Jacob McCleland spent nine years as a reporter and host at public radio station KRCU in Cape Girardeau, Mo. His stories have appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered, Here & Now, Harvest Public Media and PRI’s The World. Jacob has reported on floods, disappearing languages, crop duster pilots, anvil shooters, Manuel Noriega, mule jumps and more.
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