Blatant Bias? Not the Journal-Sentinel!!

Nope. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel NEVER allows its editorial bias to creep into the news. Ask Marty Kaiser. He'll tell you.

So the JS story today about the "secrecy" provisions of the Personal Protection Act is not in the least bit biased. Of course, the sidebar "statistics" are horrendously misleading--but there's no bias here.

Labeled "The Texas Experience," the meticulously, scrupulously, perfectly journalistic item reads:

A study of the concealed carry law in Texas from 1996-2001 showed that:

41 permit holders were arrested on murder and attempted murder charges
5,314 offenses were committed by permit holders.

Uh-huh. Let's start at the beginning: just how many CCW permit holders exist in the State of Texas? 100? 1,000? 100,000? If it's 100,000, then at the rate of 8 arrests/year in five years, that means that .08% of Texas permit holders were arrested each year.

Horrible! Awful!!! The End of the World! Blood in the Streets!!

Not quite. Note that the JS's intrepid author did NOT include the number of convictions--which could be zero, I suppose. But there's no way to discern what these numbers mean.

As to "offenses," one finds that "Offenses" is a rather broad term. It includes (for example) over 1,300 traffic offenses, such as expired plates, speeding, etc. What are the REST of the "offenses?" Jaywalking? Past-due parking? Spitting on the sidewalk?

I, too, can write sidebars just like the Journal-Sentinel:

54,895 REPORTERS SUED FOR SLANDER OR LIBEL between 1996-2001. REPORTERS ARRESTED FOR 659,536 OFFENSES IN SAME PERIOD.

See how that works? And I bet my numbers are just as accurate as the Journal's!!