TexasCHLforum.com

Hi,
I am new to the forum, but have had a TX CHL for a number of years.

My wife, brother and his fiance wanted a TX CHL but the price was so high, however we all went to Washington State for a family vacation. So with a little research I found out that WA will issue to non res and only cost $60. And the best part TX will accept WA CHL. So the whole family went to the small town of Sequim PD to get our CHL (I had to get one just because :)) The police looked at us like we were getting ready to go to war, was funny as heck. I explained to them why we were doing this and they all said "hey, that is a great idea". We were all fingerprinted and such, WA you have to go in person to get a CHL.

Well, 3 week later we got the CHL's in the mail!!!???? There was another piece of paper with it stating WA law they have to issue the CHL in 30 days for in state res and 90 days for out of state res. If your prints come back with some "bad news" your chl is void. Well looks like now they think 3 week is too long. Very funny, the family now carrys as we are all "clean".

The only thing that kinda sucks is if my wife loses her CHL (miss place I mean) she has to go back to WA to get a reissue. WA's CHL is just a peice of paper like your SSN card, but most get it laminated.

Oh, and BTW great site, I wished I found this years ago! :)

Brian

Welcome to the forum, Fourman.

There's nothing wrong with taking a family vacation to Washington, but you all could have also stayed right here and taken a Utah class. There's a forum member here who is certified for that.

Quite a few of us from this forum went to a class at the end of January. $59.00 initial fee and a $10.00 renewal every 5 years or so - and no renewal classtime - made it very attractive. At least we have a low-cost alternative.

I am thinking about UT CHL also. As for the WA we were headed up there for other things anyways and did it since we were there.

Fourman wrote: So the whole family went to the small town of Sequim PD to get our CHL (I had to get one just because :))

smal world - I own 10 acres just outside of Sequim

NE corner of Finn Hall and Gunn road in Agnew, WA

My wife and I go there every year for a week or so. I hope to retire there some day. Oh well....

Fourman wrote:I am thinking about UT CHL also. As for the WA we were headed up there for other things anyways and did it since we were there.

A forum member here "llwatson" and her husband are certified to teach the Utah CHP...Some of us have qualified for that certification recently...

Its a good bang for the buck...I highly recommend it...You can PM her here on this website for additional info...

Stevie,

Thanks for the info, when I got some extra time and $ I think I will do that.

Brian

A question comes to my mind in this process. If you are asked by a LEO to identify yourself and you present your TX drivers license and the WA CHL, do you not think that might raise some questions in his mind? Second, if you are involved in a shooting under your WA CHL and then go to court in TX to defend yourself, do you not think that might be a problem?
I have a couple of out of state CHL as well as my TX, but I have always thought of them as "in case" I travel to those states or into a state where TX has no reciprocity, but my other state does.

rgoldy wrote:if you are involved in a shooting under your WA CHL and then go to court in TX to defend yourself, do you not think that might be a problem?

IIRC IANAL BTW
if you are justified in using deadly force, and you are legal to carry, regardless of where, and you were abiding by the laws of the state you were in, you should be square.
where you have your license would only be interesting to the newspapers.

Most (including me) will advise that if you live in TX, you should get a TX CHL. However, I am not aware of any real legal difficulties in being a TX resident and carrying under another state's CHL (if honored by TX). Whether or not you get "hassled" until they figure out there are no legal problems, that is another matter.

I think of it as reminding our lawmakers and others how important CHL is to TX when they look at the statistics and see how many of us have taken advantage of this. Yes, there is a minor cost over other states, but I think it is worth it in peace of mind.

rgoldy wrote: A question comes to my mind in this process. If you are asked by a LEO to identify yourself and you present your TX drivers license and the WA CHL, do you not think that might raise some questions in his mind?

Let me relate my personal experience in this matter.

In 2001 I moved here from RI. At the time, I held both RI and FL CHL's. I knew that a FL CHL was honored in TX. But I wasn't sure if that would apply for someone who was a TX resident. I also knew that (at the time) I would have to wait 6 months after becoming a TX resident before I could apply for a TX CHL. So before moving I called DPS and asked them if they would honor a FL permit held by a TX resident. The public information officer who I was referred to wasn't sure, so she took my nunber and said she would call me back. A couple of hours later, she called and said she had researched it with "the legal dept." and determined that TX law was SILENT on the matter of whether an out of state CHL from a reciprocity state would be honored if held by a TX resident in the case where the TX rsident did not have a TX CHL.

She then said that since the law did not EXCLUDE TX residents holding out of state CHL's, she told me that it was the official position of DPS that such CHL's WERE honored.

A couple of months after coming to TX I was stopped for speeding by Austin PD. I was carrying at the time. I wasn't sure if my FL CHL would show up when the cop "ran" me, but I knew that TX law required a CHL holder who was carrying to declare as much to the cop and present his CHL. So to be on the safe side I made the declaration and presented my FL CHL.

The CHL showed my RI address, as I had not had it updated yet. And my TX drivers license had my TX address. The cop was a bit confused and first asked me where I actually lived. I told him Texas, of course. Then he asked me if I was sure if the FL CHL was good here, considering that I was now a TX resident. He suggested that I "check up on it" so I "didn't get in trouble". So I related my previous conversation with DPS.

BTW, I thought it was really odd that HE would "ask" ME about something like this. Back in RI, if you're carrying a gun, and there is ANY DOUBT whether or not you have a valid CHL, they will arrest you on the spot and let the DA sort it out.

Anyway, at that point, he said, "Well, I said you should check up on it, and you apparently already have. So I guess there's no problem here."

Then he finished writing me up for the speeding violation and I was on my way.

No drama, no hassles, no problems.

Of course, how any given person makes out IN THE SHORT TERM (the stop itself that is) is probably somewhat dependent on the particular LEO that they encounter, their attitude towards CHL's, and what training they have received. But in the end, no charges will be filed as far as I can tell.

rgoldy wrote: Second, if you are involved in a shooting under your WA CHL and then go to court in TX to defend yourself, do you not think that might be a problem?

Not at all. If it is a righteous shoot, and you have a righteous CHL, you should be OK.

That's assuming that you don't do anything stupid like talk yourself into prison, run away, tamper with the evidence, or embelish the truth - but that's another thread.

BTW, I am not a lawyer, and nothing above should be taken as constituting legal advice.

One thing to keep in mind if your RI CHL does not have a the current address it may not be valid anymore. In Texas I think you have something like 30 days after that it is not valid. All of our WA permits do have the current TX address and by law are valid in TX. I have a TX CHL, but my wife does not (just WA) since she will only "carry" when I have to leave my gun in the car due to work. In time that may change....

Brian

Fourman wrote:One thing to keep in mind if your RI CHL does not have a the current address it may not be valid anymore. In Texas I think you have something like 30 days after that it is not valid. All of our WA permits do have the current TX address and by law are valid in TX. I have a TX CHL, but my wife does not (just WA) since she will only "carry" when I have to leave my gun in the car due to work. In time that may change....

Brian

I wasn't carrying on my RI CHL. RI CHL's were not recognized in TX until recently. The above incident happened in 2001.

I was carrying on my FL CHL. That CHL had my old RI address on it. But that didn't matter, as the permit was still valid. FL requires that you notify them if you move, which I did, but DOES NOT require that you get a new permit with your new address on it. (You CAN but you are not required to.) Your existing permit remains fully valid until it expires, no matter where you live, as long as you have properly notified the Sec. of State's office.

And TX honors VALID FL CHL's.

Ya know, I'm having a difficult time remaining silent on some of these out-of-state-license-to-beat-the-system threads. But, I'm admittedly biased by interactions with thousands of various types of students over the years, many having moved to Tejas from another state.

But, the first 3 students that really soured my view on the subject were actually died-in-the-wool Texans. I had a rednecky and rather mouthy 60-something year old dad and his equally rednecky and mouthy two 30-something year old sons in an evening hunter ed. class "home study completion" class several years ago.

During the first break, they got to visiting with some other students and, as I was returning from the restroom, the Dad was spewing forth the old "If you shoot a burglar outside your house, drag 'em inside before the cops get there" advise to all listening. I was simply not going to let that one be passed along to anyone on my property, and stepped into that conversion immediately.

When I eventually ask the guys why, at their ages, they were taking the hunter ed. class, come to find out, it was because they had heard about the "loophole" of Florida recogniizing a hunter ed. card as "proof of training" for their handgun carry permit. 5 years for $117 (at least at the time) and recognized in Tejas. (v.s 4 years for $140.)

It really chapped my you-know-what to realize these yahoos would soon be carrying in the same environments as other Texans who had obtained their licenses through a minimum 10-hour class hours involving laws specific to Texas CHL - not some distant states' "standards", myths, internet bull, watercooler war stories or old wives tales!

Rant off. For now. Thanks for listening.

Greybeard wrote:It really chapped my you-know-what to realize these yahoos would soon be carrying in the same environments as other Texans who had obtained their licenses through a minimum 10-hour class hours involving laws specific to Texas CHL - not some distant states' "standards", myths, internet bull, watercooler war stories or old wives tales!

If it makes you feel any better, I've heard the same kind of "watercooler wisdom" spouted by people who've graduated CHL class. I've even heard seriously wrong information from LEOs, although nothing to the degree of that particular bit of folklore.

I try to comfort myself by knowing that if those people are involved in a shooting, it's more than likely going to be justified, but any "scene modifications" they perform are going to cost them a lot of legal fees and courtroom time.

Kevin

Greybeard wrote: It really chapped my you-know-what to realize these yahoos would soon be carrying in the same environments as other Texans who had obtained their licenses through a minimum 10-hour class hours involving laws specific to Texas CHL - not some distant states' "standards", myths, internet bull, watercooler war stories or old wives tales!

Rant off. For now. Thanks for listening.

I don't know if you were referring to anything I posted or not. But know this. I wasn't trying to "get around" anything by carrying on a FL permit in TX. I had been carrying for 9 years in RI at the time of my move. I am a graduate of Massad Ayoob's LFI-I course, which is a 40 hour course dealing primarily with self defense and the law. And while it wasn't specific to TX law, the criteria for the proper use of deadly force in self defense is not much different in TX than it is anywhere else. If anything, TX allows MORE latitude for the proper use of force than many other jurisdictions.

As soon as I qualified (by length of residence) for a TX CHL I took the course and got one. I found that the "shoot / don't shoot" info was very much in line with what Ayoob teaches, except that with 40 hours to play with Ayoob can go into a lot more detail.