Atlanta’s Music Midtown Festival Canceled After Court Rules Against Banning Guns
Music Midtown festival at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, scheduled for September 17-18, has been canceled due to a recent court ruling that determined it was illegal to ban guns from the event.
The concert, which featured headliners Future, My Chemical Romance, Jack White and Fallout Boy, was called off via a statement issued by festival organizers. According to Billboard, industry sources say the likely cause are recent changes to Georgia gun laws that prevent the festival from banning guns on the publicly owned festival grounds.
“Hey Midtown fans — due to circumstances beyond our control, Music Midtown will no longer be taking place this year,” the statement reads, according to Billboard. “We were looking forward to reuniting in September and hope we can all get back to enjoying the festival together again soon.”
Live Nation, who owns the event, didn’t provide any additional details for the cancellation. Pro-gun rights groups had been emailing and posted comments of the festival’s social media page for several months, hinting at potential legal challenges from gun groups after a 2019 reuling that expanded a 2014 Georgia law critics call the “Gun Everywhere” law.
Known as the “Safe Carry Protection Act”, the law expanded Georgia’s already loose gun statues to grant residents the right to carry in bars, churches, schools and other private businesses with the owners permission.
