Comlained to the Governor

[mondo2000]

I read on another thread that by law the CHL license should be issued or the applicant should be notified of problems by the 60th day after DPS receives the application. A few days after it had been 60 days since DPS received my application on Feb 25, I contacted the CHL department by email. I was worried that there was a problem with my application.

I asked them.

Is there any delays in regard to any of my paperwork or application that I need to correct?

The response was

The response "processing application" indicates that all the procedures involved in processing an application are taking place. When the license has been issued, the phrase will indicate ‘Application Completed - license issued’.

I'm sure they receive a lot of emails by could they actually answer my question, but I was extremely annoyed with this answer. To me this means, "The license will be issued when we get around to it."

Yesterday I checked the status of my application again and it still says "Processing Application." So I got even more annoyed as it has been 77 days since they received my application. Some may say I am expecting too much from an understaffed and underpaid government entity, but I would say we should expect more from our government that this lack of efficiency. I get better service at my local post office!

I contacted Governor Rick Perry to file a formal complaint and asked to get the DPS to follow the law. I contact the governor probably more than most and I always get a response. The last time a nice woman called me and thanked me for my letter. This is the response I got today from the Governor's office.

Thank you for taking the time to contact the Office of the Governor.

I am asking Colonel Thomas Davis, Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, for his staff's assistance in reviewing and responding to you and this office on the information shared.

Please let us know whenever we may be of service in the future.

Sincerely,

Debe Keith
Constituent Communication Division
Office of the the Governor

I would not be surprised if the letter colonel Thomas Davis gets (if he even gets one) gets lost somewhere in his inbox, but I urge everyone to contact the Governor and complain about this slow service of receiving a CHL. I saw someone on this form that a woman still had not received hers after almost 180 days! There seems to be a lot of waste and inefficiency occurring at DPS that we should not stand by and allow to occur. In my opinion this is a way in which the government keeps the people from being able to use a liberty that their creator gave to them.

I had a friend who asked if I got my CHL license yet. When I said, "no it takes a while to come," he told me he probably would not get one due to the long wait.

Contact the Governor's office

[pedalman]

This is a more constructive path to follow. Hollering at the CHL Office is obviously not going to bring any changes. Such changes (budget, staffing, etc) need to be initiated from the top.