Having doubts, is a CHL even worth it anymore?

[HoserBoi]

Good day all,

I'm new to this site, love it so far. So this past Saturday I took the CHL course and it left me with more doubts and questions. Going into the class I was pretty sure I wanted a CHL but coming out of it I left wondering if obtaining the license is actually even worth it. It is already legal to carry in the vehicle without a license, it's legal to have a weapon in your home without a license, and where we are allowed to carry with a license is pretty limited as it is, so having a license seems to only make you more liable and identifies you as an armed citizen. So I guess, I'm looking for some pro's I may be overlooking that could tip the pros vs, cons scale for me. Any and all input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[Keith B]

Welcome to the forum.

Thats is a personal decision each person needs to make based on their own circumstances. If you are always either in your car or your house, then maybe not. However, carrying into grocery and retail stores, restaurants, shopping malls, etc is worth the spend for me. Besides, you've already been through the class, so why not follow through?

[HoserBoi]

Thank you Keith, I greatly appreciate your comments. Definitely need to ponder this a little more. But I am leaning more toward applying.

Thank you.

[Teamless]

Many reasons to get your CHL
1 - without your CHL, while it is legal (sometimes!) to have it in your vehicle, should you simply drive past a school, you are in violation of the federal law.
-- With CHL you are exempt from that law
-- Next time you are driving around your city, count how many times you drive within 1000 feet of a school.
--------------You may be surprised at the number. Even if it is low however, do you want to chance it?

2 - you are going to the mall, the bank, or grocery shopping. Yes, your gun is in your car/truck, but you aren't. You are in those places.

3 - Yes, you can carry at home, without a CHL. But do you ever leave your house or your car (as noted above?).

Personally, I think anyone who is legally allowed to get a CHL, should. If for no other that it is expressing your 2nd amendment rights (debate on whether a license is required aside)

[WildBill]

Good day all,

I'm new to this site, love it so far. So this past Saturday I took the CHL course and it left me with more doubts and questions. Going into the class I was pretty sure I wanted a CHL but coming out of it I left wondering if obtaining the license is actually even worth it. It is already legal to carry in the vehicle without a license, it's legal to have a weapon in your home without a license, and where we are allowed to carry with a license is pretty limited as it is, so having a license seems to only make you more liable and identifies you as an armed citizen. So I guess, I'm looking for some pro's I may be overlooking that could tip the pros vs, cons scale for me. Any and all input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Welcome to the forum HoserBoi.

Acually there are more places that you can carry than not.

Prior to getting my CHL I thought that all of the non-licensed handgun signs that you see at grocery stores, gas stations, convenience stores, etc appied to CHLs. They do not. The 51% signs are just about the only signs I see that forbid carrying. I have only seen one legitimate 30.06 sign.

[jbarn]

Good day all,

I'm new to this site, love it so far. So this past Saturday I took the CHL course and it left me with more doubts and questions. Going into the class I was pretty sure I wanted a CHL but coming out of it I left wondering if obtaining the license is actually even worth it. It is already legal to carry in the vehicle without a license, it's legal to have a weapon in your home without a license, and where we are allowed to carry with a license is pretty limited as it is, so having a license seems to only make you more liable and identifies you as an armed citizen. So I guess, I'm looking for some pro's I may be overlooking that could tip the pros vs, cons scale for me. Any and all input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

The only way having a license makes one more liable is that you will carry more often. It makes you less likely to be killed by felonious assault if you carry. I also don't see how it identifies you as an armed citizen.

You're not really much limited as to where you can carry. In the last week I carried to dinner, shopping at the mall, at a concert, a carnival, Lowes, Home Depot, Best Buy and bowling.

Also, google "On Sheep, Sheepdogs and Wolves", by Col Dave Grossman. What I stress to my students who are on the fence like you is this; Imagine if you were out, and for whatever reason you failed to carry. You were at lunch with a loved one, and a man drove through the front window, exited from his vehicle and started murdering people with a firearm. Imagine if you had opportunity to take out this homicidal maniac, but your gun was home or you neve bothered to apply for a license, and your loved one was killed? Imagine that feeling...... And that is not a far fetched idea, either. It happened right here in Texas.

Before you make your decision, please watch this video https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... 95hynK8ffg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Jim Beaux]

Welcome to the board.

Question to ask; when & where will you need to protect your wife and children? Only in the car or house? Never while walking across a dark parking lot or at a convenience store late at night?

I like to use the spare tire analogy. Where will you be willing to leave your family on the side of the road while you go for tire repair?

[Pawpaw]

Good day all,

I'm new to this site, love it so far. So this past Saturday I took the CHL course and it left me with more doubts and questions. Going into the class I was pretty sure I wanted a CHL but coming out of it I left wondering if obtaining the license is actually even worth it. It is already legal to carry in the vehicle without a license, it's legal to have a weapon in your home without a license, and where we are allowed to carry with a license is pretty limited as it is, so having a license seems to only make you more liable and identifies you as an armed citizen. So I guess, I'm looking for some pro's I may be overlooking that could tip the pros vs, cons scale for me. Any and all input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

As for the part in red above, are you referring to this part of the law?

PC §46.035. UNLAWFUL CARRYING OF HANDGUN BY LICENSE HOLDER. (a) A license holder commits an offense if the license holder carries a handgun on or about the license holder's person under the authority of Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, and intentionally fails to conceal the handgun.
(b) A license holder commits an offense if the license holder intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly carries a handgun under the authority of Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, regardless of whether the handgun is concealed, on or about the license holder's person:
(1) on the premises of a business that has a permit or license issued under Chapter 25, 28, 32, 69, or 74, Alcoholic Beverage Code, if the business derives 51 percent or more of its income from the sale or service of alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption, as determined by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission under Section 104.06, Alcoholic Beverage Code;
(2) on the premises where a high school, collegiate, or professional sporting event or interscholastic event is taking place, unless the license holder is a participant in the event and a handgun is used in the event;
(3) on the premises of a correctional facility;
(4) on the premises of a hospital licensed under Chapter 241, Health and Safety Code, or on the premises of a nursing home licensed under Chapter 242, Health and Safety Code, unless the license holder has written authorization of the hospital or nursing home administration, as appropriate;
(5) in an amusement park; or
(6) on the premises of a church, synagogue, or other established place of religious worship.
(c) A license holder commits an offense if the license holder intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly carries a handgun under the authority of Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, regardless of whether the handgun is concealed, at any meeting of a govern-mental entity.

It is a common mistake to stop reading right there, but if you go on down a little bit, you will find this:

(i) Subsections (b)(4), (b)(5), (b)(6), and (c) do not apply if the actor was not given effective notice under Section 30.06.

Which really makes them no different from anyplace else, like your local drug store. Paragraph (i) shortens the list of prohibited places quite a bit.

[mojo84]

Here's a little different way to approach it, what places do you go to regularly that you believe you can't carry? I very seldom have to remove my firearm.

Welcome.

[Jumping Frog]

I need to disarm when I vote, when I go to court, when I enter a school building, in a Post Office, and when I go to the 30.06-posted Medical Center.

All of those events combined can be counted on the fingers of one or two hands per year. Other than those isolated events, I carry 365 days per year.

(FWIW, I do not attend professional or school sporting events.)

[RetNavy]

in the small city i live in i have only see three valid 30.06 signs and they were on the hospital and a nursing home. The TABC 51% ones I dont go to... havent been to a bar in the 13 years i been here... some of the places here have the gunbuster signs but those few and far... since I've received my plastic plastic in early March I have been carrying pretty much all the time... only place i dont carry is where i go for physical therapy, it has a gunbuster sign and the owner knows its invalid but i dont carry there because its kinda of hard doing some of the exercise with a full size 1911 on the hip.

Welcome to the forum as one newbie to another... as the wise old sage said... "the decision is yours, Grasshopper"

[HoserBoi]

Well, consider me convinced. This especially tipped the scale for me. Thank you all for your input. I look forward to exercising my second amendment right and contributing to this forum. The Luby's massacre in Kileen, TX and Suzanna Gratia Hupp's testimony are the main reason why I even began considering a CHL. Thanks for clearing up my blurred vision. Ya'll take care now!

Good day all,

I'm new to this site, love it so far. So this past Saturday I took the CHL course and it left me with more doubts and questions. Going into the class I was pretty sure I wanted a CHL but coming out of it I left wondering if obtaining the license is actually even worth it. It is already legal to carry in the vehicle without a license, it's legal to have a weapon in your home without a license, and where we are allowed to carry with a license is pretty limited as it is, so having a license seems to only make you more liable and identifies you as an armed citizen. So I guess, I'm looking for some pro's I may be overlooking that could tip the pros vs, cons scale for me. Any and all input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

As for the part in red above, are you referring to this part of the law?

PC §46.035. UNLAWFUL CARRYING OF HANDGUN BY LICENSE HOLDER. (a) A license holder commits an offense if the license holder carries a handgun on or about the license holder's person under the authority of Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, and intentionally fails to conceal the handgun.
(b) A license holder commits an offense if the license holder intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly carries a handgun under the authority of Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, regardless of whether the handgun is concealed, on or about the license holder's person:
(1) on the premises of a business that has a permit or license issued under Chapter 25, 28, 32, 69, or 74, Alcoholic Beverage Code, if the business derives 51 percent or more of its income from the sale or service of alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption, as determined by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission under Section 104.06, Alcoholic Beverage Code;
(2) on the premises where a high school, collegiate, or professional sporting event or interscholastic event is taking place, unless the license holder is a participant in the event and a handgun is used in the event;
(3) on the premises of a correctional facility;
(4) on the premises of a hospital licensed under Chapter 241, Health and Safety Code, or on the premises of a nursing home licensed under Chapter 242, Health and Safety Code, unless the license holder has written authorization of the hospital or nursing home administration, as appropriate;
(5) in an amusement park; or
(6) on the premises of a church, synagogue, or other established place of religious worship.
(c) A license holder commits an offense if the license holder intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly carries a handgun under the authority of Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, regardless of whether the handgun is concealed, at any meeting of a govern-mental entity.

It is a common mistake to stop reading right there, but if you go on down a little bit, you will find this:

(i) Subsections (b)(4), (b)(5), (b)(6), and (c) do not apply if the actor was not given effective notice under Section 30.06.

Which really makes them no different from anyplace else, like your local drug store. Paragraph (i) shortens the list of prohibited places quite a bit.

[jmra]

It's a shame your instructor didn't make that perfectly clear during your class.

[Keith B]

It's a shame your instructor didn't make that perfectly clear during your class.

Many times students are coverd on this and just don't remember it. There is a ton of info thrown at you when going through the class, so it is a very common thing to forget it or miss it entirely.