A major music festival in Atlanta has been canceled reportedly over what reports say was the organizers’ inability to restrict firearms at the event on public land owing to the state’s permissive gun laws.
The organizers for Music Midtown wrote in a Monday tweet that, “due to circumstances beyond our control,” the festival scheduled for Sept. 17-18 was being called off.
Multiple outlets reported that the cancellation was in response to the legal atmosphere created by a 2014 Georgia gun law.
The law allowed licensed gun owners to carry firearms in more places — including in private businesses with the owner’s permission — but was unclear on how it applied to private events on city-owned land, such as Music Midtown’s location in Piedmont Park.