TexasCHLforum.com

Hello everyone! I have been lurking on the site for a couple of weeks and finally decided to register.

I have a question about a stupid mistake I made in my past. I enlisted in the Air Force when I was eighteen. During basic training I injured my left knee (medial miniscus). I was taken out of my flight and put into medical hold. This was just after Thanksgiving 1994. My days were filled with Dr.'s appointments and trash pickup around our area. I was completely homesick and just wanted to get out. After talking to some of the characters in medical hold about how long they had been in there and what I could do to get out. One of them suggested that I tell our Training Instructor that I had lied about drug use prior to enlisting and I would be out in a week in time for Christmas.

During the previous two years I had worked as a pharmacy technician in a DFW area chain pharmacy. I had now problem shooting off names of prescriptions that I claimed to have "taken".

Well, it worked... I was out that week with an entry-level separation.

I know that a dishonorable discharge will not allow you to purchase a handgun, however I just purchased my first new handgun, a Glock 17, a few months ago. I went through the system just fine...

Will this youthfull indiscretion bar me from getting a CHL?

By the way I am not nor have I ever been a user of drugs. I was simply desparate to get out and get back home.

Thank you very much in advance for your insight and comments. This is the first time in over 10 years that I have shared this information with anyone other than my wife.

Here are the eligibility requirements;


Text
§411.172. Eligibility.

(a) A person is eligible for a license to carry a concealed
handgun if the person:

(1) is a legal resident of this state for the six-month
period preceding the date of application under this subchapter or is
otherwise eligible for a license under Section 411.173(a);

(2) is at least 21 years of age;

(3) has not been convicted of a felony;

(4) is not charged with the commission of a Class A or Class
B misdemeanor or an offense under Section 42.01, Penal Code, or of a
felony under an information or indictment;

(5) is not a fugitive from justice for a felony or a Class A
or Class B misdemeanor;

(6) is not a chemically dependent person;

(7) is not incapable of exercising sound judgment with
respect to the proper use and storage of a handgun;

(8) has not, in the five years preceding the date of
application, been convicted of a Class A or Class B misdemeanor or
an offense under Section 42.01, Penal Code;

(9) is fully qualified under applicable federal and state law
to purchase a handgun;

(10) has not been finally determined to be delinquent in
making a child support payment administered or collected by the
attorney general;

(11) has not been finally determined to be delinquent in the
payment of a tax or other money collected by the comptroller, the tax
collector of a political subdivision of the state, or any agency or
subdivision of the state;

(12) has not been finally determined to be in default on a
loan made under Chapter 57, Education Code;

(13) is not currently restricted under a court protective
order or subject to a restraining order affecting the spousal
relationship, other than a restraining order solely affecting property
interests;

(14) has not, in the 10 years preceding the date of
application, been adjudicated as having engaged in delinquent conduct
violating a penal law of the grade of felony; and

(15) has not made any material misrepresentation, or failed
to disclose any material fact, in an application submitted pursuant to
Section 411.174 or in a request for application submitted pursuant to
Section 411.175.

(b) For the purposes of this section, an offense under the
laws of this state, another state, or the United States is:

(1) a felony if the offense, at the time of a person's
application for a license to carry a concealed handgun:

(A) is designated by a law of this state as a felony;

(B) contains all the elements of an offense designated by a
law of this state as a felony; or

(C) is punishable by confinement for one year or more in a
penitentiary; and

(2) a Class A misdemeanor if the offense is not a felony and
confinement in a jail other than a state jail felony facility is
affixed as a possible punishment.

(c) An individual who has been convicted two times within the
10-year period preceding the date on which the person applies for a
license of an offense of the grade of Class B misdemeanor or greater
that involves the use of alcohol or a controlled substance as a
statutory element of the offense is a chemically dependent person for
purposes of this section and is not qualified to receive a license
under this subchapter. This subsection does not preclude the
disqualification of an individual for being a chemically dependent
person if other evidence exists to show that the person is a
chemically dependent person.

(d) For purposes of Subsection (a)(7), a person is incapable
of exercising sound judgment with respect to the proper use and
storage of a handgun if the person:

(1) has been diagnosed by a licensed physician as suffering
from a psychiatric disorder or condition that causes or is likely to
cause substantial impairment in judgment, mood, perception, impulse
control, or intellectual ability;

(2) suffers from a psychiatric disorder or condition
described by Subdivision (1) that:

(A) is in remission but is reasonably likely to redevelop at
a future time; or

(B) requires continuous medical treatment to avoid
redevelopment;

(3) has been diagnosed by a licensed physician or declared by
a court to be incompetent to manage the person's own affairs; or

(4) has entered in a criminal proceeding a plea of not guilty
by reason of insanity.

(e) The following constitutes evidence that a person has a
psychiatric disorder or condition described by Subsection (d)(1):

(1) involuntary psychiatric hospitalization in the preceding
five-year period;

(2) psychiatric hospitalization in the preceding two-year
period;

(3) inpatient or residential substance abuse treatment in the
preceding five-year period;

(4) diagnosis in the preceding five-year period by a licensed
physician that the person is dependent on alcohol, a controlled
substance, or a similar substance; or

(5) diagnosis at any time by a licensed physician that the
person suffers or has suffered from a psychiatric disorder or
condition consisting of or relating to:

(A) schizophrenia or delusional disorder;

(B) bipolar disorder;

(C) chronic dementia, whether caused by illness, brain
defect, or brain injury;

(D) dissociative identity disorder;

(E) intermittent explosive disorder; or

(F) antisocial personality disorder.

(f) Notwithstanding Subsection (d), a person who has
previously been diagnosed as suffering from a psychiatric disorder or
condition described by Subsection (d) or listed in Subsection (e) is
not because of that disorder or condition incapable of exercising
sound judgment with respect to the proper use and storage of a handgun
if the person provides the department with a certificate from a
licensed physician whose primary practice is in the field of
psychiatry stating that the psychiatric disorder or condition is in
remission and is not reasonably likely to develop at a future time.



residency requirements have been dropped, but thats it.

Your DD-214 holds the answer: what type of discharge did you receive? From what you describe, you received a general discharge. Such a discharge does not carry any penalty. The reason behind your discharge won't come up in your background check.

Unless you received a dishonorable or bad conduct discharge, there's nothing to restrict you from owning guns or getting your CHL.

Kevin

KBCraig wrote:Your DD-214 holds the answer: what type of discharge did you receive? From what you describe, you received a general discharge. Such a discharge does not carry any penalty. The reason behind your discharge won't come up in your background check.

Unless you received a dishonorable or bad conduct discharge, there's nothing to restrict you from owning guns or getting your CHL.

Kevin

If he was convicted in a military court of a misdemeanor grade in the last 5 years, or a felony grade ever, I don't see where the type of discharge effects the CHL one way or the other.

Thanks everyone... I am going to have to dig up my DD-214. I was not convicted of anything. I only spoke to a counselor on base and then signed away my rights for the GI Bill and disability. After that I was flown back to Love Field in Dallas. No conviction or anything of that nature.

txinvestigator wrote: If he was convicted in a military court of a misdemeanor grade in the last 5 years, or a felony grade ever, I don't see where the type of discharge effects the CHL one way or the other.

He described it as "entry level separation", during basic training, which sounds like a general discharge "for the good of the service". Happens all the time during basic, when the enlistee and/or the service come to the conclusion that they're just not cut out for military service.

He told them he lied on his enlistment papers, that he really did do drugs. I don't see any UCMJ violation there that could result in punishment, especially since the paperwork is completed before taking the oath of enlistment.

If he received a DD or BCD, then there was a conviction. While it's possible to receive a military misdemeanor conviction that doesn't include a discharge, it's unusual. So, if the type of discharge was general or higher, any conviction is unlikely.

This all took place in 1994, so any misdemeanor conviction (other than domestic violence) is irrelevant. A felony conviction would require a court martial, and would result in a DD.

Kevin