Changes In the Texas CHL Program, Sept 2003

 

I recently attended the Texas CHL instructor's renewal course at DPS. The following is a summary of new information that may be of interest to CHL holders.

As of 9/4/03, there are 234,754 active CHL's, and 1270 active instructors. DPS has trained over 3500 instructors since the inception of the program. My observation is that the quality of the instructor pool continues to rise as those expecting to 'get rich quick' drop out and those with a long-term committment to teaching the classes stay in the program.

DPS has a great new range in Florence, Texas that is a vast improvement over the old range in Austin. It lacks the nice auditorium that they have at DPS HQ, however. The classroom part of the course was held in a hotel conference room in Georgetown. The DPS trainers responsible for running the instructor certification courses continue to do an excellent job, and more importantly they really do believe in the idea of concealed carry for citizens. One of the DPS firearms instructors shoots IDPA and encouraged all the instructors in class to shoot IPSC, IDPA, SASS or any other type of handgun competition. Over 1/3 of the class raised their hands when asked if they shot competition.

APPLICATIONS

Applying online does NOT speed up the processing time of the application. The 60-day processing time does not begin until DPS gets the completed application (including fingerprint cards).

Proficiency certificates more than 2 years old will not be accepted for new permit applicants.

CHL Applicants born outside the U.S. are eligible if they can provide a Certificate of Naturalization number, Certificate of Citizenship number, copy of Resident Alien Card issued by the U.S. Dept of Justice or a copy of a valid U.S. passport. This is true for new and renewal applications.

A revision to the law (HB 1704) redefines 'felony' to address the issue of crimes which were felonies in the past but are now considered misdemeanors. For example: burglary of a motor vehicle was a felony in 1950, and is a class A misdemeanor now. This change will grant eligibility to those that were convicted of one of these down-graded crimes, provided the other requirements are met (specifically the date of conviction must be 5 years ago or older).

(Additional data from CHL instructor Walter L.) The clarification point has to do with the example of the change of felony to misdemeanor. The problem is that if you were convicted of a felony in 1950 (even if it is now a misdemeanor) you are disqualified because of the Brady law. Texas requires that one must be qualified to purchase a firearm under federal law and the feds are waving old felonies. We had a state senator in our recert class and he explained that the legislative intent was to allow for deferred adjudication. There are a lot of people who received adjudicated sentences so their felony wouldn't show up as convictions. If the crime is still a felony, no CHL. If you have a deferred adjudication for what is now a misdemeanor, then after 5 years, you can qualify. However, it works the other way too. If a crime was a misdemeanor and is now a felony, then you are out of luck. The DPS said they would look at convictions on a case by case basis and make a determination.

The CHL unit has asked that applicants please allow them the full 60 days to process an application before applicants call to check application status. Applicants are encouraged to keep a record of their application number. ONLY the applicant is allowed to check on status.

There is no charge for 'change of address' submission if the change is due to a 911 address change.

RENEWALS

A licensee will receive a renewal notification 180 days before expiration. This will consist of a blue renewal card and a letter with a PIN # that can be used for online renewal application.

If you do not receive a blue renewal card in the mail, more than likely this is because you failed to notify DPS of a change of address.

Licensees are required by law to notify DPS of a change of address within 30 days. Failure to do so earns a 30 day suspension of the CHL. This is not a policy change, but DPS is getting less tolerant of people failed to notify them of change of address.

Any renewal application that has a proficiency certificate older than 6 months will be rejected.

Licensees have 1 year from expiration to renew their license. If you wait over a year after your license expires to renew, you have to re-apply, including re-taking the 'new permit' course. You can request your old CHL number back if you contact DPS to get a special 're-apply' packet.

LAWS

HB 3477 - gives responsibility for establishing reciprocity agreements to the Attorney General (takes that job away from DPS). We were told that Michigan, Colorado and New Mexico were the most likely candidates for the next phase of reciprocity agreements.

HB 284 - allows an eligible adult to carry a handgun in a recreational vehicle, including a horse trailer with living space, or a travel trailer. This fills an important 'gap' in the traveling law.

SB 501 - allows concealed carry in all gov't buildings except those specifically prohibited in 46.03 and 46.035. Meetings of a gov't entity (such as a city council meeting) must post 30.06 signs. Carry on property leased by a governmental entity is also now legal. Basically this change takes away the authority of city and county governments to ban concealed carry in gov't buildings.

OTHER

The Texas CHL is NOT considered a 'valid ID' under Texas law. Only a Texas driver's license or a DPS-issued Texas ID card are. The DL or State ID MUST be carried with the CHL for the CHL to be valid. If your DL expires, your CHL is invalid. They do NOT recommend using the CHL as 'ID'. They recommend that it only be shown to law enforcement officers in appropriate situations as required by law.

There is a new exam with new questions. The new test appears to be an improvement over the old test(s).

The material on conflict resolution is being revised with better content.

As always, many of the changes in the law will be better defined as test cases occur and legal precedents are set.