TexasCHLforum.com

I just want to point out that newspapers and TV stations are universally opposed to secret government records. They were all against making CHL records confidential, even my favorite local newspaper.

I don't know how regulated these background check agencies are, but I would like to see someone looking into how they know information that is not supposed to be available to the general public.

BTW, Mr. Abbott's office is fairly responsive.

I have a hard-copy fax machine. Several years ago I was getting junk faxes from some clowns in the Montgomery County area every day. I sent a sheaf of them to the AG's office in Austin. The faxes stopped. A month or so later I got a letter from the AG's office saying that the matter had been resolved (probably a consent decree, but they did not give details).

- Jim

This is like most of the provisions of law that determine how state government functions. There is no penalty for failing to comply with them.

It's like the requirement that CHLs be issued in 60 days.

There are two avenues for redress:

• If an official or agency is willfully in violation of the law, you can go to court and get an injunction compelling them to comply.
• The state legislature can call hearings and get the noncompliant official dismissed. That seems to have happened with DPS

Unfortunately, in the case of revealing CHL status, you can't put the cat back into the bag.

My feeling on the issue is similar to my having a beard and pony tail: I really don't want to work at a place that wouldn't hire me because of those things. Being out of work stinks, but having a lousy job with a lousy boss is also torture.

- Jim

I would say 99.9% of the population outside of Texas doesn't know what a CHL is. They tend to call it a CCW, CWP, or pistol license.

But this conversation started with hiring by school districts, which are by definition local, unless you're talking about something like the University of Phoenix.

- Jim

Did DPS get rid of PINs for the CHL status page?

Ninety percent of the population of Texas doesn't know what a CHL is, and everyone who still has a job is overworked. They don't have the time or energy for this kind of speculation.

- Jim

They could not legally. Probably that page is obsolete.

PIs have been known to skirt the law, but they had better not be advertising that fact.

- Jim

alw wrote:I assume they can find this out by running the background check through the campus police. I would assume a CHL would show up for them as they have access to the same database as city, county, state and federal officials.

As I said earlier, it is illegal to perform that kind of check on someone who is not a suspect in a crime. When you are stopped for a traffic offense, even if it is something trivial like a burned-out taillight, you are a criminal suspect.

That doesn't necessarily mean that such checks are not used.

There is no single database. There are separate federal and state databases, and not all local information is in the state databases. Congress has taken care over the years to limit the development of Big Brother. Remember the proposed Total Information Awareness system, and the kerfuffle over tapping foreign phone calls?

Probably the NSA or similar agencies can find out almost anything about you from data, but the fourth amendment prohibits that information from being used in a criminal proceeding.

Employment by private parties has always been iffy. Employers can decline to hire people who smoke, or people with bad credit ratings, even if that is not directly relevant to the job. Sometimes they can limit the sex or religion of hirees. Obesity is still under debate.

There was a time when they would not hire single mothers, though that is illegal now.

- Jim

b322da wrote:In the first instance when I was asked for my driver's license and proof of insurance I also, of course, showed the officer my CHL. He responded, "I don't need that." I guess that was a correct response, but his attitude made it sound like I was unnecessarily bothering him when I showed my CHL.

Those exact words, or "I don't need to see that," have been reported so many times that they must be part of some training program or a canned presentation that is commonly used.

I would be more than happy with that response.

As for the fact of your having a CHL being exposed in some way to other members of the community, it is going to happen.

You weren't the only person in your CHL class, were you? Your instructor and the person who took your fingerprints know.

I have written a couple of letters to the editor on CHL-related subjects that were published in the local newspaper. In those letters I did not specifically state whether or not I had a CHL, but it was obvious that someone who did not would have no interest in the topic.

People have to accept the fact that it is perfectly legal and no different from your religion or whether you are single, married, or divorced, etc.

- Jim

Having a CHL would not "disqualify" you for a job. It might cause some bigot to prefer another candidate.

Some schools have shooting teams. They are not universally "anti-gun." It seems to be the urban public schools where the administrators are paranoid.

There are so many applicants for jobs now that it is impossible to know why someone is turned down.

The only thing I can think of is to have a background check run on yourself. You can get relatively cheap ones, which probably are what employers use.



- Jim

Government code 411.192 makes CHL records confidential except for use by law enforcement agencies. There is no legal way to get a list of Texas CHL holders.

This law was passed in 2007. Even before then, members of the public had to inquire about a specific person. They could not get a list.

You can get a list of CHL instructors; and you can pretty much take for granted that they all have a CHL (although that is not automatic).

Not every state has license confidentiality (though most do now). It is possible your colleague is talking about out-of-state licenses showing up.

Also, people who have access to the state criminal information system are not supposed to "run" people who are not suspected of a crime; but it is rumored that they do, for example, cops running guys that their daughters date.

Anyway, if you worry about everything that an employer might use to disqualify you from a job, you'll never get any sleep. Are they going to turn you down for having a mustache, tattoo, or body piercing? Owning a motorcycle? For hobbies? You probably don't want to work for a place run by a bunch of ninnies like that, even though jobs are hard to find these days.

- Jim