14 Years of Texas CHL

[ScottDLS]

Noting some of the signatures here with people reporting their application date, days pending, etc. I thought I'd look through my old files and recall my initial experience with CHL. I moved to Texas in 1991 after I was discharged from the US Navy. My parents had moved here in 1989 and I became a resident in 1990 when I realized I probably wasn't going to move back to North Carolina where I entered the service. If I recall the push for concealed carry here started in earnest in 92-93 and then Gov. Ann Richards was not a proponent and vetoed a referendum in '93. Texan's "vetoed" her in 1994 and then Gov. George W. Bush signed the law in 1995. Sept 1, 1995 you could take the class and even get the license issued, but it wasn't valid until Jan. 1, 1996.

I was working and traveling extensively in 1995-96 as I'd just gotten a Master's Degree and started w/ a new job in June 1995. I lived in Dallas, but was on a consulting assignment in Houston and had a corporate apartment there. A friend of mine at work lived there and suggested we take a CHL course and we found one locally. We took it on a Saturday in April '96. I stayed over the weekend instead of going home to Dallas. We took a pre-test which was required at the time and I scored a 80% and my buddy got 90%. We both had read the 1995 CHL booklet, cover to cover. We were the only ones taking the course from a from an off duty Harris County Constable at his condo. He was professional and read carefully from his teaching material, taught us the non-violent dispute resolution stuff. Offered us some iced tea and drilled us on the sections of the booklet. We both scored 100% on the real test, and the instructor didn't read the test to us during training.

I didn't own a semi-auto at the time and was going to borrow my buddy's S&W 9mm auto. The instructor let me shoot his Glock 17, so I took the test with that. Each of us brought a box of 9mm. My buddy shot a big darn hole in the dead center of the target for every shot course. I did OK, 239/250 I think. I took time off the following week and got my prints done at Dallas PD for $10. Affidavits notarized at my bank (NationsBank). That was a hoot! And sent it in... Low and behold, a little less than 6 MONTHS later I got my card. Showed to my roommate from Chicago and he thought Texas had gone crazy.

I got one of those cruddy 2 year staggered licenses back then, so I had to renew in '98. Big drag. Sooooo...how many other CHL forum'ers have had their license since '96 or before. I thought I was slacking for waiting till 4/96 to apply. I'll bet there's some hard core guys out there that got theirs in '95. Do tell. Stories about the "early" days...when having a CHL was only a (dreaded) "Defense to Prosecution" of UCW...

-Scott

[surprise_i'm_armed]

Well I've only had my plastic in hand since 12/4/08.

But on a tangentially-related note: I was talking with one
of the gun counter guys at Bass Pro/Grapevine and mentioned
that I was CHL. He carries a .380 by the way. Doesn't feel he
needs anything bigger.

He pulled out his CHL and he had a 3 digit number for his CHL
number! He had applied right away when it became available,
and I think his number was something like "685". Wow, my CHL
number is 8 numerics long, and only the first character is a zero.

I can't believe that I never got my CHL until recently. I've been in
Texas since 3/2/1995, so I was here when it first became available.
It just wasn't on my radar as being something obtainable in a
straightforward fashion.

All that money I could have been spending on guns, ammo, and holsters
got wasted on other things!! :-)

SIA

[A-R]

Took my first CHL course in January 1998. Don't even remember when I got the license. Wasn't really waiting on pins and needles, because I only got the license at first so I could legally carry in my car. Rarely did I carry on my person at first. Live and learn (and carry 24/7).

[ScottDLS]

Took my first CHL course in January 1998. Don't even remember when I got the license. Wasn't really waiting on pins and needles, because I only got the license at first so I could legally carry in my car. Rarely did I carry on my person at first. Live and learn (and carry 24/7).

Car carry was the real driver for me in 1996 (ok and the coolness factor). I really wanted to carry in my car when I moved to Dallas in '91. I had a very late shift factory job in a bad section of town and lived in the big city, not a suburb. I might have been "traveling" a few times back then...but I didn't that often.

Now I car carry 24/7, but I need to get a pocket pistol like a Walther PPK or something. I just can't carry a "hog leg" like a my Beretta 92 or SIG 226. Better to carry an under-powered .380 than the 15 shot 9mm you left in your car...

[fannypacker]

I had mine and carried in Dallas on 1/1/96. Have never gone out without it since then. The Dallas Marxist News had an above the fold hit piece that day quoteing polititions as saying blood would run in the streets or it was a return to the old west.

[Crossfire]

We waited a whole year. Just to make sure this whole CHL thing wasn't just a fluke! Got ours in Jan '97.

Went to the instructor school when we came up for our first renewal in 2001, and the rest, as they say, is history.

[joe817]

Fascinating thread folks! I hope this turns into a 5 page'r.

[casingpoint]

Equals 14 years of getting bilked for money by the state:

A state may not impose a charge for the enjoyment of a right granted by the federal constitution. Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 U.S. 105

The power to tax the exercise of a privilege is the power to control or suppress its enjoyment. Magnano Co. v. Hamilton, 292 U.S. 40

[ScottDLS]

Fascinating thread folks! I hope this turns into a 5 page'r.

I was kind of thinking people could discuss how things have changed since Texas CHL started and wondered how many people had one from the very beginning.

[joe817]

Me too. I'd love to see how it has evolved over the years with the changes.

[Mike1951]

I took the class in the Fall of '95 at Houston Community College and submitted right away. There were no 'one stop' classes back then, so I went to local PD for prints and a photo shop that advertised passport photos. It was still mid Feb '96 before the license arrived.

Of course, the first two years, any kind of 'no guns' sign was sufficient as 30.06 was added in '97. As 'blood in the streets' scenarios were forecast by the media, many places were posted. I recall Chili's being one of them.

In the pre-TexasCHLForum era, most battles were discussed and organized on the now defunct PackingDotOrg. Whatever it degenerated into, it was the premiere CHL site of its time. As a business would post signs, campaigns of phone calls and letters would be sent. Lowe's is one that used to post. There were many early battles of varying intensity to fight.

Passage of 30.06, in '97, should have improved things, but heated discussions are still frequent.

I can't recall the dates of the improvements since the beginning, so will leave that to others.

[UpTheIrons]

You know what I've been kicking myself for? Back in '99 when I lived in NW Harris County (Cypress), I had the opportunity to take the CHL class for way cheap. Someone was doing them at the time for firefighters, etc., and clergy could get 'grandfathered' in to the 'cheap' price they were offered. Since I was a new preacher fresh out of seminary, I didn't think I'd be able to afford the class, and a handgun, blah, blah, blah...

That sure was stoopid - because it took the election of 2008 to get me off my duff and do something about it. I could have been an 11 year CHL by now!!! Now, where's that kicking myself in the butt emoticon? Guess this will have to do:

[Greybeard]

Did my first CHL instructor school in summer of '95, back in the "the good old days" when Dan Walker was DPS' Head Firearms Instructor. Sad to say that he and some other top drawer people have since retired. Proud to say tho that Dan Walker moved on to even better things - like President of Texas State Rifle Association.

[donniet]

I have never understood the logic of the license numbering system. I received my license early 1996 and it has 8 digits, 0xxxxxxx. If the numbers were sequencial that would indicate there were over 9 million licenses issued by early 1996. If I have my statistics correct, there are only about 300,000 licenses issued todate. Go figure!

[fannypacker]

NRA lifer here. I was an instructor for 2 years. 9/95--9/97. I am safe now.