Chron Throws Tantrum And Displays Disingenuousness, All In One Editorial

The Houston Chronicle, by newspaper editorial board standards at least, threw a World Class Temper Tantrum this morning...

If ever there were a champion of secret government and an enemy of public access to information, it is state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands. This session he has repeatedly gone out of his way to reduce public knowledge of its own government, decreasing the chance that official corruption will come to light.

On Wednesday, Williams voted with the Senate majority to make secret all information involving permits to carry concealed handguns. The information was produced and compiled at public expense and is owned by the public. Where is the sense of depriving the owners of their property? If carrying a gun deters crime, what's wrong with letting the carrier's identity be known?

Oh, I don't know...how about the fact that if the information fell into the wrong hands, that it could endanger those who carry as well as those who don't? The arguments for keeping the identities of CHL holders secret (absent compelling reasons to disclose the names such as if a CHL holder commits a crime involving his weapon) are and have been well-established for a long time, and it's appallingly dishonest of those in the media to cast the openness of the records as an open-government and property-rights issue. They make a big to-do about "depriving the owners of their property," but apparently they never really stopped to consider the privacy of those who choose to exercise their right to effective self-defense. I guess you could call it more of the same from the mainstream media, but it's sickening nonetheless.
I think I'll drop the honorable senator a thank-you note today.