Earlier this week, it was reported that Atlanta’s Music Midtown Festival, which was scheduled for September 17-18 and headlined by Fall Out Boy, Future, Jack White, and My Chemical Romance, was canceled due to a conflict between organizers’ safety standards and Georgia’s Safe Carry Protection Act. Basically, because the state law allows citizens to carry firearms on public land and the festival’s venue, Piedmont Park, is a state park, organizers were not able to ban guns on festival grounds. Clearly, this was a pretty untenable situation, and rather than break the law, the organizers canceled the event.
This move was guaranteed to disappoint and anger plenty of Atlanta residents and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has seized the opportunity to reproach her incumbent opponent Brian Kemp for the results of his “shameful” policies. In a statement, she said:
Brian Kemp’s dangerous and extreme gun agenda endangers the lives of Georgians, and the cancellation of Music Midtown is proof that his reckless policies endanger Georgia’s economy as well. It’s shameful, but not surprising, that the governor cares more about protecting dangerous people carrying guns in public than saving jobs and businesses in Georgia. In dire economic times for so many Georgians, this cancellation will cost Georgia’s economy a proven $50 million. This means that small businesses and workers who rely on events like Music Midtown and their tremendous economic impact have now lost incomes that help put food on the table and a roof over their heads.