Atlanta’s annual Music Midtown Festival has been canceled with reports claiming that the cancelation is related to recent rulings regarding gun laws in Georgia. The festival was slated to take place in Piedmont Park on September 17 and 18 with star-studded headliners including Future, Jack White, My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy.

According to sources conversing with Billboard, the cancelation is reportedly due to changes in open carry gun laws in Georgia that prevent festivals from banning guns on the festival grounds because of its publicly owned status. 

Releasing a statement on their website, festival organizers offered, “Hey Midtown fans — due to circumstances beyond our control, Music Midtown will no longer be taking place this year,” They continue, “We were looking forward to reuniting in September and hope we can all get back to enjoying the festival together again soon.”

The legitimate reason behind the cancelation has yet to be confirmed, Live Nation and other organizers have not offered further comments. Recently, gun rights groups have been attempting to contact the festival’s social media page, discussing possible legal challenges following the expansion of the “Safe Carry Protection Act” which expanded the right to carry a gun on publicly and privately owned land (although the latter requires permission from the owner). 

There is another layer to the legislation, entities that hold certain long-term leases for public-owned land are allowed to legally ban guns from their establishment. However, Music Midtown does not fall into this category as they have a short-term lease of the land and therefore are unable to legally bar firearms.

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat