MARYVILLE, Tenn., July 23 (UPI) -- The owner of a Tennessee restaurant wants her customers to feel comfortable bringing guns into her family-friendly establishment and that attitude has caused business at the eatery to shoot up.

Sharma Floyd posted a "Guns are Welcome" sign on the front door of Shiloh Brew and Chew in Maryville to let her patrons know she supports their constitutional right to bear arms even though she doesn't carry herself.


Floyd got the idea for the sign after reading about a North Carolina business that got robbed at gunpoint after putting up a "No Weapons Allowed" sign.

She does try to stop people with guns from drinking by asking people who order beer if they are carrying.

"If they say 'Yes, I have an ankle strap on', I say 'Sorry, then you can't drink,'" Floyd told WBIR. "We sell very, very little beer here, but we do offer it. I don't have a liquor license. I won't get a liquor license."

According to Floyd, the sign helped bring in more than 20 new customers, so she put up a few more.

"I can honestly say I've gotten way more support than the one person who really gave me a lot of grief over it," said Floyd. "The 'Guns are Welcome' signs have helped boost business."