TexasCHLforum.com

rm9792 wrote:[Some people can legally buy but cant get a license. I had to wait a few years for a deferred Adju. to pass but have always been able to buy.

Oops. I didn't think of that.

- Jim

rangerpat wrote:Can it be assumed then that if you can legally buy a weapon through a licensed dealer that you will automatically qualify, or are there other things that the chl check is looking for?

As far as criminal convictions, if you pass NICS, you will be OK with DPS. However, qualification for a CHL also means that you are not in arrears on child support, Texas state taxes, or student loans.

- Jim

The short answer is that GC §411.175 requires the information, and the entire CHL law would not have been passed (after heroic legislative effort) without every jot and tittle.

There is no perfect nationwide database of criminal offenses. A person could well have been convicted of a felony decades ago and have no record of it in databases that are currently available. Requiring an applicant to provide information about all arrests is also imperfect, but it allows for revocation and possible perjury charges if someone who is ineligible omits information from the application.

I agree that it is redundant, but it was a political necessity in 1995. As long as the need for a CHL system exists, it's probably better for the state to be cautious than to issue a CHL to an unqualified person who brings down the roof on all our heads through some illegal action.

- Jim

thejtrain wrote:Let's say for example that Applicant A was not only arrested for non-violent misdemeanor offense B 7 or 8 years ago, and in a state that wasn't Texas, but ended up pleading guilty, receiving probation, and has subsequently been clean as a whistle ever since. When Applicant A volunteers that information on his CHL application, what kind of documentation does DPS expect to see for that?

They want a certified copy of the disposition of the case. With a guilty plea, the judge signs a sentencing order. That would satisfy DPS. (I'm not sure exactly what that document is called in Texas and every other state.)

For an old case where you might never have received the documents, or lost or disposed of them, you have to obtain a copy from the clerk of the court where the hearing or trail was held.

They aren't looking for you to prove that you were arrested. They are looking for you to prove that you were not convicted of a felony or domestic violence misdemeanor, and that your conviction was more than five years ago.

- Jim

I'm sorry for the surprise, but this is a public forum that is open to whole world. You can ask a moderator to hide this thread, but it will be cached in Google already.

- Jim

Amistad wrote:When I filled out that criminal history section, I initially thought about just leaving it blank. However, there were a couple of incidents where I was arrested (one of them where I was photographed and fingerprinted) from way back in the early 60's when I was a teenager. I knew that leaving the page blank would be dishonest.

Congratulations and welcome to the forum.

AFAICT, DPS gives applicants the benefit of the doubt. Even if someone was convicted of a misdemeanor decades ago, it would not be a disqualification now. And they recognize that records are lost or disposed of.

OTOH, you sign an affidavit saying that your application is true and complete. Knowingly failing to provide information is perjury.

- Jim

Welcome to the forum.

If you put the best information that you can on your application, and do not supply documentation of the disposition of cases, DPS will tell you to get a letter from the county clerk saying that you were not convicted of any crime during that period.

You can move the process along by getting those letters A.S.A.P. (one from each county where you were arrested). It takes a while to get them, because the clerk's office has to dig through old archives.

Please keep in mind that you have to list only arrests that involved being photographed and fingerprinted. If the cops take a kid to the station and hold him for his parents to pick up, that kind of arrest does not have to be listed.

- Jim