Naifeh, Why Didn't You Kill This One?

Ok, how is he gonna explain this away?*

Bill to close access to state employees' info advances

A proposal to close public access to state and local employees' home addresses and phone numbers has passed the House.

The measure sponsored by Democratic House Majority Leader Gary Odom of Nashville was approved unanimously.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against it. I'm sure there are a lot of CPS workers out there hoping for this protection.

What I have a problem with is this, which I wrote about a couple days ago. House Speaker Naifeh explained why he wouldn't give Carry Permit holders similar protection:

Restricting and criminalizing access to the more than 190,000 concealed-weapons permit holders records does nothing for the protection of Tennessee's 6.5 million residents. And so I voted these bills down.

But sealing .gov employees' information does?

Then there's this:

They, along with most Tennesseans, realize that the balance between those who own firearms and those who do not must be respected.

Now, replace "own firearms" with "work for the government". Any difference?

There is one difference. Tennessee has about 43,000 state employees. It has that many carry permit holders in just three counties. So, a far greater number of residents (190,000) would have been protected by sealing carry permit records, but Speaker Naifeh said it wasn't enough, and that "balance" had to be considered.

So, if the welfare of the 190,000 permit holders isn't enough to warrant protecting their privacy, how can he justify protecting 1/4 that amount?

Via MKS, Uncle.

* No that he will, of course.