How you came to get a CHL

[geoelectro]

I thought I would describe my journey to getting a CHL. I did not grow up around guns and never went hunting. We didn't have guns in the house when I grew up. (we didn't even lock the front door!) We had BB and pellet guns of course.

I was in the Army 1969-1971 and was introduced to the M16. After I got out, still not much interest.

In 1973, I walked into a holdup. My friend and I went to a Whataburger at Wirt and Long Point in Houston around 9:00 pm. This was the old A-frame style where you ordered on the left side, past the chips and hot peppers and finally, paid for your meal on the right side. At first the place looked closed. As we walked up, there was a guy by the register. We went in and ordered from the guy behind the little window. I'm getting chips as I walk toward the guy by the Register. He reaches over the counter and opens the register. I think that he must be the manager and is going to count the drawer for the end of the day. You see, my friend and I are both Radio Shack managers and we have to do that everyday before we leave. He then lifts the money drawer out of the register and I'm still thinking this confirms my guess. Then, he picks up a bag with his right hand and dumps the drawer full of money into the bag. A lot of change missed and hit the counter and floor. Suddenly, things no longer looked right. He picked up a large chrome revolver (357) hidden on the other side of the register and points it right in my face. I'm maybe two to three feet from this 357! I suddenly see my short life pass before me. I can see the rounds in the cylinder and they look like rockets! The barrel looked like a cannon. He said, "Jimmy wins again, get down on the floor!" I am frozen. Then I realize I was supposed to be doing something...Oh yeah, getting on the floor! Man, am I not moving fast enough? Did I just make him mad? As I finally turned to lay down. I see my friend crouching in the corner. I thought I heard him leave but didn't want to look and him still be there. Someone else said, it's OK, he's gone. The clerk behind the register was already on the floor when we walked in. The guy in back was still cooking hamburgers. He never knew. Cops came and we never got any burgers.

In 1978, I inherited a Ruger 22 revolver. I kept it by my bedside and a couple of times got it out when I heard something go bump in the night. Once I was roaming in the front yard at night with it chasing a noise or something and thought, what the hell am I doing?!? In 1979 while playing at a new Years Eve party, it was stolen when my house got broken into. That break in really got to me and it took months to almost a year before I could come into my house at night without going through all my rooms and closets. Still, at this point, I didn't think carrying a gun was necessary and of course, legal.

Then the story of the Luby's massacre came out and that was the first time I realized that carrying was in fact necessary. At least for some. As time went by my job brought me more and more into some depressed communities in and about the Houston area not to mention that Houston itself seemed a little more scary as the years went by. I heard about the CHL system and began to think, yeah, someday I'll do that.

Last year there were two things that made my mind up. The election, and finding out a friend and colleague has his CHL and carried. He helped my to understand what I would have to do to get the license. Once I knew what to do, I went for it. I think not knowing stops many.

By myself I walked into a gun range for the first time in my life and asked to rent a Glock 19. (My friends recommendation) I was surprised that they so easily gave me a Glock 19, a box of rounds and a target! Geez, they don't even know me! It felt strange seeing so many people coming in and milling around with Tactical weapons and small arms. Must be normal I guess. The Glock was great and I even hit the target with all fifty rounds.

That weekend, I went to the local gun show and bought one. I started going to the range once a week. In Feb, I took the CHL class. Now, (after nearly 6 months) I have my CHL, I have some new friends and have discovered many old friends who also have an interest in getting their CHL. I have been able to take them to the range and maybe help them get closer to taking the class.

I'm still learning and I don't carry 24/7 but that seems like a goal. At least I can carry when I feel I need to and to practice. I hope and pray I never find myself in a situation where I would have to face whether or not to pull out a weapon and pull the trigger. That said, I continue to practice and learn from others so that if I do find myself in that position, I would make a few mistakes as possible.

Geoelectro

[USA1]

several years ago some drunk was banging on my door at 03:00.
at that time , i didn't own a gun . turns out he was at the wrong house and finally left .

immediately after that was when i realized i had no real way of protecting my family .
first thing i did was to go get a 12 gauge pump action shotgun.
that's when the fever started .

i decided to get a CHL . took the class , paid the fee , sent it off ....DENIED
it seems something i did when i was 17 made me ineligible.

there were no forums then . i was winging it

after the requirements changed in 2007 , i thought , OK , second chance .

i didn't pursue it right away , but watching things get worse and worse , i decided to go for it .
the rest is history .

.................................................end of transmission

[C-dub]

There were guns in my house growing up (dad was a cop once), but I did not grow up with them. Dad took me out to shoot every 2-3 years. It was fun, but I didn't like the noise. Scary event happened when I was 10y and didn't touch a gun again until I was in boot in the Navy. Fast forward about 15 years and I have a newborn daughter. One day someone tried to pry my backyard gate open during the daytime, while my two Rotties were trying to eat his fingers. When I yelled he got into a truck and took off. Wife was calling police. Nothing ever happened AFAIK because I did not get the license plate or a decent description of the man through the fence.

Talked to wife about getting a gun. NO! I said she needed to be sure and get a good description of the person that takes her daughter. She said, "house alarm." I repeated myself saying that the BG would be gone before the police arrived. The dogs will keep them out. I told her that wasn't deterring the guy trying to get in the yard and that if someone really wanted to break in and rob us or take our daughter they would kill the dogs before hand to get them out of the way. Then what? The fact that this had happened to a friend of ours' neighborhood a year before helped make this a more credible possibility. She said, "Okay."

After some research I got my Glock 22. A few months later and after many trips to the range, kids started to be stolen from parents in parking lots. CHL application arrives, I take the class, and plastic arrives couple months later. Carry Glock 22 for a little while before getting Glock 27. Me like!

First renewal went very well. Second is not for a couple more years.

Although I frequently read my handbook to keep things fresh I do not have as much memorized as others do, but I try. I like this forum is so much better. There are discussions and folks present real life situations and we can try to become more prepared for whatever we may encounter.

Daughter is curious and has helped me clean them a couple times. She's not interested in any more than that for now. She has seen a small bolt action rifle with a pink stock at Bass Pro that got her interest. We may do that soon.

[TLE2]

My wife didn't like guns and therefore I didn't have guns, much. A rifle or shotgun occasionally over our 40 years of marriage. After she passed away, I had no reason not to have guns.

My first was a 1911, and I liked it. Very much. I now have a couple of shotguns, couple of rifles and handguns. I ran out of money before I ran out of desire.

I took the CHL basically to be able to carry, not because of an incident. Took Charles Cotton's course (highly recommended), joined PSC (also recommended if your in the area) and then the Obamanation got elected. So, I practice when I can find ammo. Not the best way.

As an aside, I started to think about CHL because a good friend of mine got her license several years ago. She was the last person I would have ever thought to carry (Dem, liberal, etc.) I had lunch with her a few months ago and asked if she was still carrying. She gave me a wry smile and told me "no". I still love her as a friend, but to give up your gun on the altar of the Obamanation?


I am also looking forward to teaching my grandson "the way of the gun". He wants to help every time I clean mine, asks about them. I talk straight to him and think he knows their purpose and the danger. I hope he can fit a Cricket next summer, so we can go to PSC together.

[TexasGal]

I grew up in what is now the most southern part of Arlington back in the 60's and 70's. I loved the Fort Worth area then. People were friendly. Life had a slower pace than now. The roads were not congested and I could see the milky way just sitting on my front porch at night. I could go pretty much anywhere day or night and had no fear for my safety. Things are different now. Every night, the news tells of some hapless victim who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Where I work, our office has been broken into 3 or 4 times over the years and even within the past month, someone tried again to break in the door with a block of concrete overnight. I am often the last person to leave and lock up. Suspicious-looking men sometimes drive slowly through our parking lot after hours looking into my office windows when I am there alone. An ice cream vendor was murdered nearby for the $20 he had in his van early one morning a few years back. They never caught the killers. Yet, in spite of all this, I did not want to carry a gun. I was afraid I would somehow get in trouble with the police. I tried to be careful, but I had not faced the fact I was without any good defense should serious trouble present itself. My husband started bringing up the subject of taking a CHL class every week or two. Finally, I agreed. It was an eye-opening day in class. The light went on so to speak. It struck me with some surprise when the policeman teaching the course sternly looked at each of we women present and stated he believed every woman should have a CHL, be trained, and be armed whenever possible. In the months since then, I have poured over forums like this one and read several books. I came to a full understanding that I am responsible for defending myself within the law. Calling 911 is a great idea; but until they get there , I am on my own. I now bring this subject up to other women whenever possible and encourage them to take a CHL class even if they are unsure they want to carry. I encourage learning gun laws, safety, and the use of firearms even if they just want to be able to defend themselves from an invader in their homes. I may never need to draw my gun and pray I don't. But, If I do, I will be glad I have it to give me a chance I likely did not have without it.

[longtooth]

The Short Story

Closer to 60 than any other age that does not have a fraction in it & not gorwing old very gracefully.
Been shooting since a kid needing a rest for my .22.
Bought my first hand gun (S&W 38sp) at legal age.
Carried hunting, traveling, until CHL. Then more regular.
Wife & I had been talking about 24-7 for a while. I got serious about learning about gear.
9-11-2001, I added my first SA to the revolvers & have been 24-7 since.
Mom got hers in 003, & wife followed suit in just a few months.

[The Annoyed Man]

I grew up in Southern California in the 1950s. Back then, "gun control" was hitting what you aimed at, and the state was no more or less controlling than anywhere else. We owned two guns — my dad's old sidearm from WW2, and a .22LR bolt rifle with a broken firing pin, given to my dad when he was a kid by his father. But we never saw either gun, as dad kept them both stowed away in the garage attic, and they were strictly off limits. Most of the time, my brothers and I were never even aware that they were there (out of sight, out of mind), and we had little or no ammo for them anyway.

Fast forward to August 31, 1990, the day my dad died. I was still not a gun owner until that point, and the totality of my firearms experience was shooting a friend's .22 rifle once, when I was about 18 years old. After he died, I inherited dad's old .45, and my youngest brother took his .22. My son was 8 months old, and I figured that, if I was going to have a gun in the house, I should know how to safely handle it, field strip it, load it, and shoot it. So I asked a couple of buddies of mine who were both NCOs in the California National Guard at the time if they would take me to a range and show how to do this thing — which as any of us who has been asked the same by a friend knows, they did so enthusiastically. (They were both NRA members, and one of them was a transplant from Sturgis, South Dakota, and he had a CCW permit from there.)

After that, it was "Hello, my name is Chris and I am a gun addict." I slowly started to build a collection as I could afford it. The operative word here is "slowly," as I couldn't afford much. But I did become a real enthusiast. I went to the range frequently. I got interested in rifles too. And, it felt good knowing that I could defend my family in a pinch. I kept the .45 loaded and reasonably accessible for night time duty. I occasionally carried it, or my little Colt .380, in the car if I had to make a night run to the grocery store or bank; but two things really bothered me about it, and that was that A) it was illegal to do so; and B) I still had to leave it in the car and make an unarmed walk at night from car to ATM or from car to supermarket door. To that point, I was strong and healthy, and I felt confident in my ability to deal with an unarmed, or lightly armed attacker. I had been a fairly serious student of the martial arts and I knew a thing or two, but I was realist enough to know that wouldn't mean much against someone armed with a gun.

Fast forward a few more years, and I suffer a couple of major health setbacks. One is a bout of Graves Disease, a thyroid condition, which ends up in my weight ballooning out of control for a while. The other is that I so completely lose the disc between L4/L5 that I'm literally walking bent over like an old man, dependent on a cane just to do the most basic things, and I realize that I've become more or less helpless and unable to defend myself if the need arises. I started carrying a good tactical knife, and I upgraded my cane to a real Shillelagh made of hawthorn root. But even so, those possibilities meant having to get up close and personal, in a very physical way, with an assailant... ...and me with limited physical capacity. I really wanted to be able to carry a gun, but in California — particularly L.A. County, where I lived — there was no way to do so legally, and the penalties for getting caught were severe.

I moved to Texas in 2006, and getting my CHL was on the forefront of my mind almost from the first. I applied and took the class in late 2007, and got my plastic in February 2008. I had back surgery in 2005 — had the two vertebrae fused and a bunch of titanium hardware put in there, and that part of my health has been gradually improving. I'm working on the weight loss right now and making slow but steady progress, but the truth is that, at 56 years old, all the old athletic and motorcycling injuries are starting to catch up with me, and I don't realistically ever again expect to be in the shape I was in 20 years ago, nor as pain free. Thus, my being able to carry a pistol has in some ways replaced the physical confidence I had when I was younger and healthier.

It is said that God made men, but Samuel Colt made them equal. That's how I feel about it. My being able to carry a weapon levels the playing field for a guy like me. I've never had to use it "in anger" yet, and God willing, I never will.

[garcia946]

Short Story.....
Grew up in a household with guns in it.Dad always had guns, done hunting and so on.
Was in JROTC in High school , rifle team , was really good at it.Did competitions.
Fast forward several years. Got back into firearms myself. Loved going to the range
Brother in law got his CHL , thought about it a couple of years getting one myself. So I did it, took a class with some friends, couple months later had my CHL.
Couple years later thought about it more and became a CHL Instructor , so I can teach others .
Now teaching my son about firearms and as soon my lil lady( 4 months) gets of age I`ll do the same with her.

[pdubyoo]

I've always had an interest in guns in general. I had the Crossman BB/Pellet gun that is required for any kid growing-up in the country. From then through the 90's, I never really had much interest in guns, except to watch shows on the Discovery Channel and History Channel about military weaponry. I thought that stuff was way cool.

I moved from the DFW area to OKC for work, and was close enough (3/4mile) to the OKC bombing that I heard it, felt it, smelled it and saw the mushroom cloud immediately following. My first thought was about a propane distributor a few blocks down the road...it looked that close. I quickly heard on the news that it was a bomb attack on the Murrah building on the other side of downtown OKC. As that whole event revealed itself, and I learned that a terrorist group was responsible, it started the wheels turning about how and what I would do to defend myself and my wife personally.

After a few years, I took a job in the far western suburbs of Chicago. For the most part, it was a pleasant experience (except for January~February). My wife and I decided that we wanted to get a sandbox for our kids, and the only toy store location that had the item we wanted in stock was a location deep in the south side of Chicago. For those of you who have been there, you know where I'm talking about. It's not a safe place to be in even during broad daylight. We went and picked-up the sandbox, and as the manager was helping us load the box in the back of my Ford Exploder, he told us to keep our heads low and don't make eye contact with anyone, and to get on the highway as fast as possible. Again, the nagging question of how I would defend the family became immediately important. Of course, Chicago is the land of the Obamanation and thug politics. I could have a weapon in my home, but that's it.

In 2006, I jumped on a golden opportunity to move back to TX, where I knew I could defend myself and my family properly. My in-laws both had their CHL's and had encouraged us to do the same. Then the news reports of all the crime that moved to Houston after Katrina really started catching my attention. My new job required me to travel the state by car, and during my travels, I had a couple of very uncomfortable encounters with people who had no regard for my life. My new neighbors started telling me stories about how bad crime has been after Katrina, and how home invasions were becoming much more prevalent. I got my first pistol and received training on how to use it. I frequented my in-laws ranch and practiced my shooting skills along side of my father-in-law, who is an incredible marksman. I still do go shooting there every chance I get. But I still had not taken the steps toward CHL. In early 2008, I personally chased a peeping tom through my neighborhood. I witnessed him peeping through my neighbor's bathroom window at 6:00 in the morning. We lost him (me and the cops), but I decided that it was time for the CHL. I immediately started the CHL process, and several agonizing months later (supposedly delayed by Ike), I got my plastic. Been carrying almost 24/7 since then.

[74novaman]

Grew up around guns at home. Dad had an old AR we'd shoot occasionally, but mainly we'd go rabbit plinking on the farm with a scoped .22 which was a lot of fun.

When I came down to school as a freshman, I was on a service road that narrowed to one lane from two. Some guy thought I cut him off, pulled in front of me, stopped his big lifted truck in front of my car and came at me. I was so surprised I didn't do anything. He tried to open my door so he could beat the heck out of me ( he was big and very angry). Luckily, my car automatically locks the doors when its put in drive, and he gave up when my door was locked. Otherwise, I would have gotten pretty black and blue. That was my wakeup call that there are idiots and dangerous people who may try to cause you and your loved ones harm at the slightest real or imagined provocation.

I got mine as soon as I could afford it after I turned 21 a few years later.

[TxCommish]

The Smith County Courthouse shooting.

I stood helplessly at a third floor window and watched two people get murdered in cold blood and an officer friend horribly wounded. My wife was with me in my office and we were all scared to death because in spite of all the "expert" opinions you may have read about this incident, the BG was indeed trying to get in the Courthouse. If he had made it in, there is no telling how many people he would have killed. He might have even made it to my office on the third floor and killed us because we were sitting ducks. The next day I told my wife I never wanted to feel that helpless again and that I wanted to get my CHL and carry a gun. She paid for the license and bought my S&W 642-2 for my birthday present. Now, I always carry. Always. Because I can't stress to you enough that things can go from a normal dull day to all hell breaking loose anytime, anyplace.

[Y2bad4u]

I want it because after working as a guard, sgt and lt in the state prison system and I have read what alot of the felons in Texas have done. The life that they take over something so trivial, I swore I would do everything I can to keep my family safe and try to make the world a better place. I have some severe opinions on what should be done to turn this society around, because of my ten years of working there. And until it does turn around, a cop is to heavy to carry.

[lonewolf]

I just read a news article where there is an average of one home invasion in Haltom City a day. That's not far from where I live.

HALTOM CITY (CBS 11 / TXA 21) KTVT / KTXA
(6/28/2009)
A crime alert continues in Haltom City. Last week, we told you about a surge in residential break-ins around town. They haven't slowed down. And, Haltom City has average one a day since.

There have been two others in the news the last couple days from Dallas. My neighbor (a high school principal) two doors down had his front door kicked in during broad daylight and some minor electronics stolen. That was a month or so ago. A week ago, someone broke the window of a neighbor's car across my street and stole his GPS while the wife and I were out of town. My elderly father was home alone and heard nothing (the car alarm did go off).

Fortunately, here in Texas, I don't need a CHL to carry around the house, and with the MPA can carry in the car legally. All fine and well. Unfortunately, the loonies are everywhere, and it doesn't take much to set them off. I'll be prepared everywhere its legal to do so. For the benefit of my family and myself, as well as others in extremis. I'm not a cop, a vigilante or a nutcase whacko.

I have had a couple of discussions relating to firearms with others (never divulging that I am applying for CHL, none of their business) and heard some of the anti-gun rhetoric. Ridiculous stuff. I simply counter that mankind has been defending itself with weapons since the dawn of time. Those spears and rocks and such from the distant past were just as much to protect themselves as they were for putting food on the table (or rock slab, as the case may be.) I'm pretty sure that if Neanderthal A was enjoying a nice Mammoth steak, safe in his cave, he wouldn't appreciate Neanderthal B and C coming in and taking it. They could go get their own.

For those with other beliefs, I'm pretty sure Adam wasn't going to let some wild carnivore partake of Eve as an afternon snack.

People have been defending themselves since the dawn of time. If they hadn't we wouldn't be here. Period.

Self defense is still something that all are entitled to regardless of belief. Survival of the fittest, as it were. When some greedy goober decides that he should take what he wants rather than earn it or work for it and gets hurt or kiilled in the process, that is just culling the herd. The herd is better off for it. Stronger and more fit.

Just two more of my cents, for what its worth.....

[USA1]

well said lonewolf

[joe817]

Just two more of my cents, for what its worth.....

Lonewolf, it's worth a LOT more than 2 cents, my friend. I share that same sentiment, and I'm sure many of us do.