Tenn. tourism interests don't like guns-in-bars law

We most recently reported in November about a law allowing guns in Tennessee bars. Now the leaders of the tourist bureaus in Nashville and Memphis are saying the law has hurt local tourism efforts. "It's probably the single biggest issue people write and talk about when they're considering coming here," Butch Spyridon, CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau, told Nate Rau of The Tennessean.

"We had international press, and we have gotten letters from visitors who literally have canceled plans to visit," Spyridon added. Bar owners are permitted to post signs banning guns at their individual businesses, but Preston Lam of Memphis-based River City Management says that option isn't attractive to tourism either. "You're kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't," he told Rau. "You put the sign on the door, but somebody coming in says, 'Gosh, is it dangerous around here?'" (Read more)