Nashville Restaurant Owner Fights Law Allowing Guns in Bars

A new Tennessee law allowing patrons to bring guns into establishments that serve alcohol is unconstitutional as well as dangerous, according to a lawsuit filed by a Nashville restaurant owner.

Reuters reported July 2 that restauranteur Randy Rayburn asserted in the suit that the law, slated to take effect July 14, creates a public nuisance and threatens public safety.

“If it’s called a ’nuisance bar,’ with shootings, it normally gets shut down. But in Tennessee, we apparently are going to have 225,000 vigilantes shooting in bars,” said attorney David Smith, who filed suit on Rayburn’s behalf. The lawsuit claims that the law violates the constitutional rights of bar and restaurant owners, patrons, and workers.

The Tennessee Firearms Association backed the measure.

“Any time you introduce guns into a situation where there’s alcohol, where they can be fights, it’s dangerous,” said Chad Ramsey, a spokesperson for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “We’ve all been to bars. They get crowded and there’s pushing and shoving sometimes. A situation that is ugly can become deadly.”