CCW inTexas?

O

ohen cepel

New member
I'll be moving to Texas soon and would like to find out the policies on getting a CCW permit.
Any advice or a website would be appreciated.

Thanks

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He who dares wins.
NRA Life Memeber
 
The Texas CCW rules go something like this:

1) You send in a post card with some personal information. The Department of Public Safety (TXDPS) does a quick background check and sends you a CCW package.

2) You call a certified instructor and arrange for a 10 hour class which involves both classroom time and a range test (very simple range test)

3) You send in your class certificate with pictures, fingerprints, and lots of personal background information.

4) You wait a few months for your card.

Total cost is $100 for the class including all legal stuff and range fee, $140 to the state for processing. You can download the postcard and get detailed info from this site:


http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administration/crime_records/chl/chlsindex.htm
 
FWIW, a few tips on applying for a Concealed Handgun License (CHL) in TX. :)

The application packet can be a bit daunting--I only say this because I know a couple of people who got the packet, saw how many hoops they needed to jump through, and decided not to proceed. But the process is definitely doable.

Some instructors include fingerprinting, passport photos, and affadavit notarization in their courses, thereby saving time and errands.

The application packet includes a booklet of laws and regulations. Read it through, then read it again. The licensing course presents a great deal of material, and preparing for the course beforehand by studying the booklet may help with some of the detailed questions on the final (written) exam.

The practical exam is not a problem for people accustomed to guns and shooting. It's timed fire, though, which is new to some folks. But the time allowed is adequate. The target is a standard DPS silhouette, reflecting the nature of defensive shooting.

Take the practical exam with a gun of proven reliability. Jams count as complete misses.

Wear a baseball-type cap to the practical exam. Chances are that the student stationed to your left will be at the exact distance for his or her semi-auto to throw brass on your head. :eek:

If you submit the completed application materials by mail, send them certified mail with return receipt requested.

Better yet, submit the materials in person at DPS headquarters, Crime Records Service, Austin. A courteous CRS clerk will check the materials to be sure they're in general order, and provide a dated and signed receipt for your payment.

If you're in Austin to submit your materials, have your fingerprints taken on the high-tech fingerprinting machine at DPS's Crime Records Service (fee: $10), which, I understand, offers the best print quality available. Inked fingerprints will probably be okay. But I know someone who, on the advice of his course instructor, asked CRS to check his inked fingerprints for classifiability before he submitted them. CRS was very cooperative, and determined that the prints were not classifiable and would have been rejected. So he saved himself a lot of trouble by having another set of prints made on the DPS machine. (I don't know if other TX LE organizations have machines like this.)

HTH.



[This message has been edited by jimmy (edited September 04, 2000).]
 
Ohen cepel--
Curezer's reply is generally accurate for across the state. Costs probably average out ----

Texas Concealed Handgun License is good for four years from date of NEXT birthday after application. The $140 state fee is statutory--There are discounts available for those who paid income tax below poverty level, which I think is pretty neat. Often it is the poor who are most vulnerable to being preyed upon. Also for some few others, as set forth in the booklet and the application. Renewal fee, for another four years, is $70.

The $100 figure varies with location and instructor. Most instrs hereabouts charge $100 to 150 depending on what is included. I charge less, but don't do fingerprinting or photography. Sheriff's Office does the two required print cards for $10. If they are kicked back, they are re-done without charge, AND the printing officer is counseled on technique. The County Clerk's Office in the courthouse does passport photographs for ten bucks.

I take my students to a private range where they pay the operator $10 for the proficiency demonstration, and I am the range master. If the student wants to buy a membership at the time, the fee is applied toward that.

I pay the state $5.00 for each training certificate and pay my own copying costs. I charge the student $60 for the instruction and certificate. County employees and their spouses get further discount.

Curezer said,
4) You wait a few months for your card.
I know Texas DPS was snowed under when the law first came into effect. The wait is now down to four to six weeks, unless there is a problem with the background check, and they notify you in writing if there is one.

It is worth saying--The personnel at Department of Public Safety CHL Section and the Firearms Training Section are just GREAT. They are all either pro-gun or, at worst, gun neutral. I have attended two courses, original instructor and instructor renewal. They are all super professional, kind, helpful, trustworthy, clean, reverent--whoops--They are scoutlike in many particulars but I don't know about some of these. I have never even heard of any of their personnel being discourteous in any manner, and I have personally been around when some really silly questions were asked.

We are fortunate in having DPS administering our CHL law.

Welcome to Texas, OC--Where will you settle? Are you retiring? Transferring? Taking up a new situation? (Give me a minute and I'll come up with some other invasive questions.) Just don't look for summers here to be any cooler than in Georgia.

Best regards,
Johnny

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---The Second Amendment ensures the rest of the Bill of Rights---
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Johnny Guest:
The wait is now down to four to six weeks, unless there is a problem with the background check, and they notify you in writing if there is one.[/quote]

I received my Texas CHL on August 10th. It took 12.5 weeks (87 days) from the time that they received the application till I received my CHL. There were no problems as far as I was told. When it was a week late I called them and they said it would be out in the next week or so. When I called back two weeks after that they said it was printed that day and would go out in the mail the next day. I received it a week later.

Just my experiences.
 
2 months seems to be the time it takes to get your permit from them. mine took that long a year & 1/2 ago. a friend got his last may after a little more than 2 months and another friend got his in july after 2 months.
if you shoot at an outdoor range as i did (austin area) take the previously mentioned advice & wear a ball cap. also wear a shirt without a collar or button it up. at my shooting test, we had 12 people lined up shooting at once. i had hot brass from another shooter landing on my neck and staying there because of my collar!! ouch!
there was no time to pick them out as it is a timed shoot. it made a relatively easy test much more challenging. you could tell from my target which shots were fired when a hot casing landed.
 
Johnny Guest: Did I not read in the paperwork from DPS that you must live here 6 months before you can apply or do you just have to prove residency?
 
DPS just rejected my fingerprints and I had to get them redone. They will go in the mail (certified mail with a return receipt) tomorrow.

32 days and waiting!!
 
Mine took 5 1/2 weeks from the day I sent the completed package to DPS, (November of 99).
I think that as was said earlier, the process is a lot more streamlined since the days when the CHL was first introduced here in Texas.

Welcome to God's country...

Cowboy
 
I am taking the class next weekend and feel confident about pretty much everything. The only part that has me concerned is the rejected fingerprints. Sure, you just have to redo them and send them in but that could take several more weeks. I am not a very paitent person. Is there any special steps I should take so that they get them right the first time? (going to Austin is not really an option)
 
Oh yeah, one other question I had, Johnny Guest you said that it is good for four years from the date of your next birthday after the application. My birthday is this month. So If I wait until the day after my birthday to submit the packet, I will essentilaly get another year on the license?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by bdog:Oh yeah, one other question I had, Johnny Guest you said that it is good for four years from the date of your next birthday after the application. My birthday is this month. So If I wait until the day after my birthday to submit the packet, I will essentilaly get another year on the license?[/quote]

That is correct, you would get an additional year.

Cowboy
 
It is from the date the license is issued that they start counting, not when you submit your packet. Go ahead and send in your stuff ASAP so that you can get your license.

P.S. When I inquired why it took so long I was told they were changing computer systems and that there was a lot of renewals coming in at that time.
 
I got my renewal package 7 months before it was to expire. Kinda surprised me to get it this early. I know you can renew anytime from 6 months prior to expiration but for a bureaucracy to do this really caught me off guard.

RKBA!
 
One thing not mentioned for Texas' CHL. When you submit the packet, you will be giving Texas the right to research ALL of your legal records. Even if you have sealed juvenile records, you have given permission for those to be viewed.

A Texas CHL really is a statement of legal character...meaning that you have been a good person and not been to jail very often for your entire life. If you have been arrested, Texas offers you the chance to explain the circumstances.

They also check mental institutions.

So, if you are coming form out of state, expect everything to take longer. There are just more hassles when records checks extend across state lines.
 
Thanks for the info guys.

Johnny, Doing the military transfer thing to Hood. I just hope the humidity and bugs are better there.

A few additional questions:
Couldn't confirm if they will take an Arizona or Georgia license. NRA page was down. Does anyone know for sure?
AZ sounds like the same deal, GA was only a background check so I doubt that will cut it.

Will probably get one even if they accept AZ, I don't need any confusion but I don't want to be without for months.

As a military guy does that six month wait apply?

This is getting to be a real expense everytime I move!

Also, a real sore point for me was GA wouldn't give the wife one since she wasn't a "resident". My military status didn't apply to her. Got into it at the court house about that. I didn't know she lost the right to protect herself by marrying a soldier.
Of course they had no problem taxing her, even though she wasn't a "resident".

D*&^ Beaucrats!

Thanks again for all the info!

------------------
He who dares wins.
NRA Life Memeber
 
I am planning on getting my CHL soon in Texas. I have lived in Texas for about 8 years, and before that lived in New Mexico.

When I was 14 or 15 (and in New Mexico) some friends and I tried to take some nintendo games from the local movie store. We got caught. I wouldn't really say that I got arrrested, but they did call the cops and they showed up, told us that what we did was wrong, and called our parents, and released us to them. I remember afterward that I had to go to some kind of required counseling thing with my parents. I was never photographed or fingerprinted.

After this incident I realized that breaking the law was not the thing to do. I have not got into any kind of trouble since then except a couple speeding tickets. My question is should I include this on the application? I am not worried about it disqualifying me, but I really don't know what happened ie. was I arrested or not? Is there any way for me to check if it will show up or not? I don't want to put it on the form and complicate things if there is no need to. I mean what if I write it down, and then when they do there check it doesn't show up. Then they are going to be wondering what is going on.
 
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