Music Midtown, which was scheduled to take place over two days in September and feature artists such as Jack White, Future and Fall Out Boy, posted a tweet on Monday saying the festival was canceled “due to circumstances beyond our control”:
Refunds will be provided for tickets that have already sold.
According to the AJC, the organizers’ decision involved a 2014 law that expanded the areas where gun owners were authorized to openly carry firearms. The 2014 Safe Carry Protection Act gives gun owners the right to carry firearms in most public areas without restrictions. The law even allows school districts and religious leaders to decide whether to allow openly carried firearms on school grounds and religious sites.
A 2019 Georgia Supreme Court ruling — and an appellate court ruling this year upholding the decision — have made it more difficult for private groups to restrict guns from events on public land in the state, the newspaper reported.
The festival’s cancelation highlights the negative impact the “open carry” gun laws are having on business in Georgia. It was already a hot-button political issue with Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams, who slammed Republicans for passing such gun laws.