Tennessee cities adjust to law letting guns in buses, hubs

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The city of Nashville fought a losing battle this spring as a state law passed that lets people with gun permits enter city buses and its main bus terminal with their guns.

Nashville is now among several cities in Tennessee to tweak its bus system rules just enough to follow the new law without advertising that guns can be carried more freely.

To comply with the law, which took effect July 1, Nashville changed its transit system's code of conduct, which had banned all weapons, to banning only those that are "unauthorized." No mention is made of the new law.

But the change in Nashville's rules doesn't provide much comfort to some parents whose children are among the thousands who use the city bus system to get to school every day.

"There's not going to be any way of knowing whether or not someone's gun is 'authorized' or 'unauthorized,'" said Beth Joslin Roth, a gun-control advocate whose son takes Nashville buses to school and who heads the Safe Tennessee Project.

The law, which was strongly supported by the National Rifle Association, gives cities and counties a choice: either they must use metal detectors, hire security guards and check people's bags at many local facilities; or they must let handgun permit-holders bring in their guns.

Between 4,500 and 5,600 students use Nashville's free city bus pass program. All public high schoolers and some students in grades five through eight qualify, and the downtown station teems with students when school is in session, as police and security guards watch guard.