From the Tennessean:

The state Republican Party is again taking shots at Democratic House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh over his role in blocking efforts to close the state’s handgun carry permit database from public inspection.

The GOP’s ammunition in the latest salvo: results of a public information request about Naifeh’s handgun permit.

The party issued a release Wednesday piecing together the timeline of Naifeh’s application for a handgun carry permit, claiming that the Covington lawmaker was using it as “political cover” and that he lied in an April 11 newspaper opinion piece that said he had already applied for his permit.

According to the release, state records show Naifeh didn’t submit his application until 10 days later and he didn’t clear a background check until May 12. Naifeh spokesman Addison Pate acknowledged that the opinion piece should have referred to the speaker’s earning his gun course certificate on March 29, and not the permit that he received later.

It isn’t the first time the state GOP has shown a conflicting stance to the handgun records. In April, GOP spokesman Bill Hobbs submitted a records request for the entire handgun database on the same day he publicly scolded Democrats for their maneuver to keep the information public.

Hobbs said Wednesday’s release wasn’t meant to bring up the debate about the records, but to highlight the discrepancy over when Naifeh filed his permit application.

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