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The Oak Ridge North Police Department in Montgomery County offers a $10 CHL class.

Oak Ridge North Police Chief Andy Walters recognizes that offering the course is not common practice among police departments, but to him, it makes perfect sense.

“I have a deep-seated belief that people should exercise their right responsibly, and who better to help them do it than the police department?” Walters said.

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Must be hard on the private instructors trying to cover their expenses.

Montgomery County is north of Houston.

- Jim

Wow! While I agree with the sentiment, I think this sort of 'government' competition (isn't that what Obamacare is supposed to provide) will hurt legitimate instructors trying to feed their families. It looks like the state may be putting us out of business in a couple of years, anyway. Oh well... it was fun while it lasted.

I don't think you'll find the Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, or Austin police offering CHL classes in the foreseeable future.

This is a very small town in a conservative county.

- Jim

And they know everyone that got a CHL in their town...hmmmmm.

Thinking of all the ways police departments spends money, this is possibly one of the best at reducing crime for the money.

Dragonfighter wrote:And they know everyone that got a CHL in their town...hmmmmm.

They can anyway, if they want to. DPS will report the identities of all CHL holders to local law enforcement.

- Jim

Weeeellll, rats.

DoubleActionCHL wrote:Wow! While I agree with the sentiment, I think this sort of 'government' competition (isn't that what Obamacare is supposed to provide) will hurt legitimate instructors trying to feed their families. It looks like the state may be putting us out of business in a couple of years, anyway. Oh well... it was fun while it lasted.

No D.A.CHL that will never, ever happen. And I'll tell you why.....

The town PD's that are offering this, is responding to a need. A need that is not filled at this time by a local CHL Instructor. And there is a demand for that service in that locale. They are merely filling a void that needs filling.

What's the population of Oak Ridge North? From epodunk.com(great website btw) The estimated population, in 2003, was 3,122. That program is filling a need that does not exist at this time. And the citizens deserve that availability.

The vast majority of Texas population resides in the major metropolitan areas, and the immediate areas surrounding them. In those cities there will ALWAYS be a need for your services and those business's in your niche industry. It's to specialized for a larger city, say for Arlington, Houston, Fort Worth, Dallas, Tyler, Amarillo, Lubbock, El Paso, etc etc etc to ever try to implement. It will never happen. Ever.

The services that you and others in your industry provide are invaluable to the vast majority of Texans. NOTHING can or will ever take your place. The cities law enforcement resources are severely overstretched. Cities are laying off LEO's. They can't afford to fund CHL classes.

Not only that. The City of Southlake, north of Fort Worth, east of Dallas, south of Denton, offered a FREE CHL course available only to the residents of Southlake. It was a bare bones course. It did NOT offer: fingerprint services, passport photo services, range fees, lunch, ammo, handguns, etc, etc, etc. The only thing they offered was the course instruction itself; completed TR-100, affidivits, and notary. IMO that is a course woefully inadequate to fill the needs of anyone desiring to get a CHL.

THAT is why your industry is vital to the interests of all Texans, and is why your industry will thrive and flourish.

That is my opinion, and I am unanimous in that.

joe817 wrote:THAT is why your industry is vital to the interests of all Texans, and is why your industry will thrive and flourish.

That is my opinion, and I am unanimous in that.

The state is already moving toward requiring digital prints, considering online CHL testing and tossing around the idea of online video CHL training. It's not as far fetched as you might think.

DoubleActionCHL wrote:

joe817 wrote:THAT is why your industry is vital to the interests of all Texans, and is why your industry will thrive and flourish.

That is my opinion, and I am unanimous in that.

The state is already moving toward requiring digital prints, considering online CHL testing and tossing around the idea of online video CHL training. It's not as far fetched as you might think.

I'd give anything to be able to argue the issue with you intelligently, but I'm not in your business and don't have the inside information that you apparently do. I just don't see it happening, anytime soon. I could be wrong. I've been wrong more than once in my life.

I've not culled enough info about the online testing to make any comment on it other than for now it's for instructors only. And unless they've eliminated the proficiency portion of the exam, how is that to be accomplished.

Am I arguing with you? Well yeah I am. I just think your industry is to important to Texans to just go away.

joe817 wrote:I'd give anything to be able to argue the issue with you intelligently, but I'm not in your business and don't have the inside information that you apparently do. I just don't see it happening, anytime soon. I could be wrong. I've been wrong more than once in my life.

I've not culled enough info about the online testing to make any comment on it other than for now it's for instructors only. And unless they've eliminated the proficiency portion of the exam, how is that to be accomplished.

Am I arguing with you? Well yeah I am. I just think your industry is to important to Texans to just go away.

There are definitely some logistics hurdles to overcome, and some of this may simply be rumor. DPS hinted that the online testing would be tested on instructors next year and, if successful, would be expanded to CHL students. Personally, I don't believe instructors provide an adequate sampling to make such a determination, but what do I know. The idea of online video CHL courses (apparently a company called eLearning is involved) would effectively make instructors obsolete. Yes, we'd still need to do the proficiency training, but I don't think I'd even bother. That's something will likely become a service of the shooting range.

I agree that this is a necessary 'service' we provide, but don't discount the tendency of government to defer to the highest bidder, even if the solution is inferior.

Well, you have much better insight to your industry's situation than I and you may be right. I hope not. There are a whole lot of people out there that don't have internet access in their homes, believe it or not, and the State cannot deny people a basic service if they do not. So I still say I don't see it happening anytime soon.

I think it would be a mistake if that happened. At this point in time anyway.

joe817 wrote:The town PD's that are offering this, is responding to a need. A need that is not filled at this time by a local CHL Instructor. And there is a demand for that service in that locale. They are merely filling a void that needs filling.

What's the population of Oak Ridge North? From epodunk.com(great website btw) The estimated population, in 2003, was 3,122. That program is filling a need that does not exist at this time. And the citizens deserve that availability.

Oak Ridge North is practically in the city of Houston. It is about 10 miles in a straight line from DoubleActionCHL's facility.

I think their offering the course is more a political statement than anything else.

As to online and/or video CHL courses, I don't much care for the idea. You can't have a conversation with a video. You can't clarify your understanding of a topic.

Look how many people come to this forum, after taking the CHL course, and have questions about topics like church, school parking lots, (dare I say it?) alcoholic beverages, etc.

OTOH, I can see where an option other than a course that occupies a 12-hour day would be useful...

- Jim

joe817 wrote:

DoubleActionCHL wrote: The City of Southlake, north of Fort Worth, east of Dallas, south of Denton, offered a FREE CHL course available only to the residents of Southlake. It was a bare bones course. It did NOT offer: fingerprint services, passport photo services, range fees, lunch, ammo, handguns, etc, etc, etc. The only thing they offered was the course instruction itself; completed TR-100, affidivits, and notary. IMO that is a course woefully inadequate to fill the needs of anyone desiring to get a CHL.

That was actually Trophy Club, which shares a zip code with Roanoke, which is where I teach. Southlake is another 2 or 3 miles east. The Trophy Club PD where the class was taught is less than 5 miles from the Roanoke Recreation Center, where our classes are held. And Trophy Club is one of the wealthiest cities in Texas. I don't think they are doing it to "fill a need".

seamusTX wrote:As to online and/or video CHL courses, I don't much care for the idea. You can't have a conversation with a video. You can't clarify your understanding of a topic.

Look how many people come to this forum, after taking the CHL course, and have questions about topics like church, school parking lots, (dare I say it?) alcoholic beverages, etc.

I think the solution is to eliminate the laws that cause such confusion, not mandate classroom time.

Look at all the states that require no instruction at all, or (at most) a DD-214 or certificate from taking a basic handgun instruction course. No tests on state laws required.

What kinds of problems do we see in those states? Among licensees, virtually none. No problems at all. To the degree that we should accept any requirement for licensing, New Hampshire has the gold standard: No class, no proficiency test, no background check, no photo, no fingerprints, just a completed form and $10, and it's must-issue within 14 days. (If they fail to issue or refuse, and you seek redress in court, the town has to pay your lawyer bills!)

The Texas CHL is needlessly expensive, complicated, and hard to procure in a timely manner. It needs a radical overhaul.