TexasCHLforum.com

So....here I am...waiting.

Online application completed on 11/7
Fingerprints on 11/14
CHL class completed on 11/15

So I mailed my packet to DPS on 11/21. It's been nearly 48 hours now!! What is taking so long!!?? :

In all seriousness, not sure how long to expect, so am going to get comfy in here, and try to just try to enjoy my stay in the waiting room. I have a couple of misdemeanors on my permanent record in the principal's office . I included the certified copies of the dispositions from the respective courts, and neither should be a problem in terms of eligibility....but still has me nervous for some reason, and I am expecting this to take forever. Out of my hands now, so am going to try to relax and be patient....which of course means checking the DPS website every day for updates!!!

Took almost a week to show an online update from DPS once they already had the documents for me. Don't get impatient. If you have something on your record that you put down on the app or is over a class c (assuming it isn't domestic violence related) it must be cleared by a reviewing technician. Expect it to take a little over a month to get to you once you see the first update (judging by the speed recent apps and mine personally). If they find nothing and you declared nothing it will be probably a couple weeks to get to you. Time will pass and you may think something is amiss but that is just SOP, so don't freak yourself out. You arn't the first in your situation and wont be the last. It sucks waiting but its an unavoidable part of the process. When you get your license it will be tre exciting, but after that subsides its down to serious business. Having a CHL is a grave responsibility. It essentially says the state trusts in you to correctly and summarily determine that another human should experience no more days on this earth. It should be accepted that matters like this can (and probably should) take an exercise in patience.

Welcome aboard, waiting with people in a similar situation certainly eases the pain. It did for me.

Thanks for the input and support! My impatience is a bit tongue in cheek at the moment, but imagine that after the first of the year it will become a bit more real. I have less than 100 rounds through what will be my carry piece, so want to get much more comfortable with it before I start carrying anyways.

The convictions are both Mis-B's, so had been advised that it might take some time. Seems that the "clean record" processing time has been pretty quick recently, so am hoping that it bodes well for my chances of a reasonably quick turn. The good news is that a friend I had spoken to about CHL a few months ago had gotten his plastic during a period where it was taking up to, and sometimes in excess of, 6 months for processing, so I had more or less prepared myself for a long wait anyways.

For now, will use forum therapy, and maybe get some more advanced training and practice.

Thanks!

The application used to say 60 days for processing. If that's still so, in addition to practising, you could use the time to shop for a Batman cape, handcuffs and a CHL badge.

Oldgringo wrote:The application used to say 60 days for processing. If that's still so, in addition to practising, you could use the time to shop for a Batman cape, handcuffs and a CHL badge.

Don't forget the tiara and the sash.

Oldgringo wrote:The application used to say 60 days for processing. If that's still so, in addition to practising, you could use the time to shop for a Batman cape, handcuffs and a CHL badge.

Not to hijack my own thread, but do people really get and carry those ridiculous badges? I have seen them for sale, and I hear about them....but never met anyone that would fess up to carrying one around. I'm not really sure I understand the alleged purpose of these things?

I don't think there is any real purpose to carrying one other than to make the lay public assume that you have powers that you do not; hence, the Batman cape will serve you just as well. It is widely believed that those people who feel empowered by carrying one generally suffer from gynecomastia and delusions of grandeur. Carrying one will get you laughed at by members of the law enforcement community, and soundly beaten around the head if you show up with one at any CHL gatherings that members of this forum may put on.

When you can add another zero to that round count, you will be about at the half-way mark to how many rounds you should have put through your EDC weapon. Keep reading, watching, thinking, practicing, and shooting. Things should go by more quickly than you think they will.

RJ

Lugnut wrote:

Not to hijack my own thread, but do people really get and carry those ridiculous badges?

I know I use mine to get 10% off at most fast-food restaurants!

Lugnut wrote:

Oldgringo wrote:The application used to say 60 days for processing. If that's still so, in addition to practising, you could use the time to shop for a Batman cape, handcuffs and a CHL badge.

Not to hijack my own thread, but do people really get and carry those ridiculous badges? I have seen them for sale, and I hear about them....but never met anyone that would fess up to carrying one around. I'm not really sure I understand the alleged purpose of these things?

Here is one who does. viewtopic.php?f=83&t=49924" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

It's no sillier than security guards wearing a badge. They're not police either.

Neither are firemen for that matter. Or private dicks. Or bounty hunters. Or.....

bayouhazard wrote:It's no sillier than security guards wearing a badge. They're not police either.

Neither are firemen for that matter. Or private dicks. Or bounty hunters. Or.....

I guess my point would be that security guards and firemen wear badges because it is issued to them as part of a uniform. Am not an expert on what authority or powers that PI's or bounty hunters have in Texas, but these individuals are at least professionally licensed to perform certain duties in their line of work that may, in fact, have use for a badge.

The idea of a private citizen walking around with a badge, whether partially or fully concealed, just looks a bit like "playing dressup" to me. I am as new as they come, and don't even have my plastic yet (per my OP), but from everything I have read and heard from sources I trust, there is no aspect of a CHL that affords any special powers, authority, or obligations to license holders. The same laws regarding the use of force (deadly or otherwise) apply to a CHL as any other Joe on the street, or at least that is my understanding.

But hey, aside from being a bit amused, I suppose it doesn't do anyone harm, provided no one is impersonating or misrepresenting somehow. But that's just me....

And back to waiting..... :

I believe bounty hunters and private investigators carrying badges is very much like CHL holders having the badge. I have never heard of any official entity that awards these people a badge in order to carry out their work. I think they carry because it makes them look a little more "coppish". It may give them an air of authority to some of the public and make their life easier.

RJ