CHL Class Wish List

[GlockenHammer]

It seems that the world thinks we (citizens seeking a CHL) are looking for instructors. We are not. We are looking for CHL COURSES. I think it would be a great service to CHL in TX is someone could put together such a resource for us.

Click 1--What courses are close to my zip code. Click 2--I want only Sat/Sun classes. That doesn't seem that hard.

[Greybeard]

Texas Parks and Wildlife does similar for hunter education classes. They are posted on TP&W's site by "city" and "date". (And are typically conducted by volunteer instructors.)

DPS seems to have trouble enough just getting CHL applications processed, so I don't see anything similar anytime soon. And their "Instructor Listing" leaves much to be desired. Heck, after their lawyers got done with it a while back, all it includes now is name and zip code!!!

Next best bet via DPS site is possibly "Approved CHL Ranges", by County - altho last time I looked, those pages seem to been grossly out of date and looked like they were formatted initially by a 2'nd grader.

As you may or may not have seen here, our instructor association does keep a lising by zip code (which DOES tie to contact info.!) : http://www.txchia.org/inst3ne.htm

Beyond that, good old internet search engines with terms such as "CHL" and the "city" frequently yeild pretty good results. Unless ya looking for someone who has no web site and conducts $50 classes at his kitchen table. And heck, some of those even offer "money back guarantee if you don't pass."

[Alric]

Well, if there were enough interest, I could setup and host a database with website front end to hold records of places that offer CHL courses. I haven't had much luck finding places though, so the community would definitely have to pitch in and add new places, times, rates, etc.

[switch]

If you can find an instructor, you can find a class.

If none of the instructors on this list are close enough (and I will travel, if the class is big enough ), try http://www.txchia.org

[wrt45]

Beyond that, good old internet search engines with terms such as "CHL" and the "city" frequently yeild pretty good results. Unless ya looking for someone who has no web site and conducts $50 classes at his kitchen table. And heck, some of those even offer "money back guarantee if you don't pass."

Not everybody lives in the population centers that can support the indoor ranges, the nice classrooms, and the trappings of urban success. We conduct our classes around the kitchen table in the back room of the only gun shop in the county. The shop is open a whopping 2 hours a day M-F, except when its closed early. We have no website, and our advertising consists of a business card ad in the local weekly paper. We teach one class a month. Our tuition covers expenses and very little else, but its a service.

There is one other instructor in the county, but his classes are not scheduled regularly or publicized. There is no instructor in the county to the west of us, only 1 in the counties east and south. 45 miles to the north you can find a wider selection of classes, but its still not a great number.

A big class is 8 people. We limit it to 12, but we've only had that number a couple of times. Still, in the previous year, we have had about 1% of the county's population enrolled in one of our classes. I would bet that is proportional to the classes in the population centers, or possibly better.

I have been listed with TxCHIA on their website for several years (my member # is in the low 30's), but I don't know of a single student who found me through their webite.

PS- I ran a search on Google for "CHL AND Brownfield" and the only relevant returns directed me to this board, not even to TxCHIA.

[cbr600]

If you can find an instructor, you can find a class.

True, but suppose, hypothetically speaking, I wanted to find out who is teaching a 1-day new class on 9/22 within 30 miles of Houston. It would be nice to have an easier way than phoning every instructor in Harris, Fort Bend and Galveston counties until one says they are teaching a class that day.