Category: General

Texas Concealed Handgun License

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texas chl class

Persons with Concealed Handgun Licenses (CHL) take notice, new Texas legislation has passed affecting CHL issuance, where CHL holders can carry and requirements of renewal.

Texas law allows citizens to carry concealed handguns for self-protection with the issuance of a license to carry concealed. The following is a summary of the new laws, and all effective dates are Sept. 1, 2013 unless otherwise noted:

CHL Classes

Previous law required a ten hour Concealed Handgun License Certification Course outlined by the State Department of Public Safety.
With the new legislation class time is reduced from a minimum of 10 hours including range time, to 4-6 hours not including range time. It allows Texas CHL holders renewing their license to take the classroom instruction and the written exam online. Shooting instruction and techniques will be eliminated from CHL classes as of September 1, 2013.

CHL Renewal

After September 1, CHL renewals will no longer require a renewal class. To renew your license you will have to register with the state, pay the renewal fee, and sign an “information form” confirming you are knowledgeable of use of force and concealed handgun laws. This legislation eliminates the one year grace period after licenses expired. If your license to expires, you will have to attend a class as a new student to be re-issued a CHL license. Renewal applications can be submitted on the internet. This legislation reduces the CHL renewal fee for certain honorably discharged veterans, current members of the state military forces, certain peace and correctional officers to $25.

Weapons Categories

Non semi-automatic and semi-automatic license categories have been eliminated.

Hotels with Restrictive Firearms Policies

Hotels are required to tell patrons in advance of any restrictive firearms policies.

School Employees

CHL holders who are employed by a school district or charter school who receive additional training, and have written authorization from their employer, will be allowed to carry a concealed handgun inside the school of their employment.

Currently the Department of Public Safety has not established this new curriculum and training requirements.

This legislation makes it illegal for college campuses to institute policies restricting CHL holders from leaving a firearm in their vehicle on a college campus or in parking lots.

Display of a Firearm

The phrase “Intentional fail to conceal” is changed to “Intentional display of a handgun”. It clarifies that the display of a concealed handgun is authorized to prevent the use of force, not just the use of deadly force against the CHL holder.

Fingerprinting

The Department of Public Safety must provide the means for people who live in a county with a population of 46,000 or less and are not within a 25-mile radius of a facility capable of processing digital or electronic fingerprints to submit their fingerprints. Fingerprints are required to apply for a CHL.

Seized Firearms

Seized weapons not returned or claimed by the owner can be sold at a public sale. Only a licensed federal firearms dealer can purchase the weapon, and proceeds go to the law enforcement agency that seized it.

Social security

Applicants for a concealed handgun license will not be required to give their Social Security number to the Department of Public Safety.

Interchangeable Guns Allowed

The new legislation allows CHL holders to carry a weapon that may be of a different category than they demonstrated handgun proficiency with prior to being issued a CHL. If you qualified with a revolver, you were limited to carrying a revolver. Earlier law stated that if someone qualified with a semi-automatic weapon, they could carry either a revolver or a semi-automatic. If they only qualified with a revolver, then a revolver was the only gun that could be carried. The new legislation lifts that restriction.

School Safety Task Force

The new legislation provides for a School Safety Task Force that will examine how to improve emergency operations planning and will develop a school safety certification program. Provides for the task force to be comprised of the chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management or a designee; the training director of the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State University-San Marcos or a designee; the chairperson of the School Safety Center or a designee; and the agency director of the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service or a designee. Effective immediately.

Handgun Instructors

Provides certification for qualified handgun instructors in school safety training in the areas of the protection of students, interaction of license holders with first responders, tactics for denying an intruder entry to a classroom or school, how to increase accuracy with a handgun under duress. The certification course will require between 15-20 hours of instruction.

School Marshalls

The “Protection of Texas Children Act” creates a school marshal position in public K-12 schools and charters. Marshals will be allowed to carry a gun, and their identity would only be known to the school’s head administrator and law enforcement. When working in a classroom or around children, the school marshal’s weapon will be locked away but within reach. Effective immediately.

For those CHL holders who wish to take the popular field instruction that will be eliminated on Sept. 1, contact your local CHL class facility to register for available classes in August.

Which is Better? Online Vs. Local Gun Stores

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GrabAGun is an online gun shop and a local gun store.

There is a lot of debate as to which is the best place to purchase a firearm. Should you go to one of the many online gun shops or one of your local gun stores?  This seems to be a fairly polarizing argument that should be examined further. Since we started both as a local gun store and are now primarily an online gun shop, we thought we would take a look at this argument.

I think the optimal place to purchase a firearm is not as cut and dry as most people think and everyone should be asking themselves several questions before moving forward with their next purchase.

What To Consider When Buying a Gun

1) Have you ever seen or held this firearm prior to making this purchase? It is a good idea to have seen or shot a firearm prior to buying. This will save you a lot of headache and disappointment from buying guns that you don’t really like. Your best bet for a good deal is to browse the local gun stores and gun shows to try and put your hands on the gun before making a purchase. Then compare the prices online to make sure you are getting a good enough deal.

2) Have you looked at all the costs associated with purchasing the firearm? Whether you are looking local or at online gun shops you need to make sure you take into account sales tax, credit card fees, FFL transfer fees and shipping costs. Many online gun shops have great prices but then have hidden credit card fees. Similarly your local gun store will quote you cash prices that do not take into account sales tax. It’s always good to make sure you see every fee up front before making your decision.

3) How quickly do you want this firearm? In a lot of cases you would think your local gun store is the obvious place to go for this. But if you consider that many online gun shops have a much more comprehensive selection of firearms you might be much better off buying online. You should also look at the shipping times for each of the online gun shops to make sure you have an exact understanding of how long it will take to receive your firearm. Make sure you have them quote your shipping times up front!

Shopping at GrabAGun

Purchasing firearms from GrabAGun is an easy and fun experience. If you take your time and ask plenty of questions up front you should have a much more enjoyable experience. Have a question? Make sure you reach out to our knowledgeable customer service team to ensure you get what you need. Shop all handguns or rifles in various brands such as Ruger, Winchester, Remington, or Glock at GrabAGun today!


CHL and Mouse Guns

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CHL and Mouse Guns

This is the third in a series of articles that should be of particular interest to CHL holders.  My first article was on the necessity of obtaining a CHL in today’s world, along with some of my basic convictions that one should consider when carrying concealed.

The second article, and to my mind, the most important subject to CHL holdersis is the legal aspect of carrying—both before and after a shooting.  You never want to be in the unenviable position of discharging your weapon and saying: OMG. What happens now?

It would be wise to keep in mind that CHL could also be read as Carry Hidden and Legal.

This article is about mouse guns.   So what’s a mouse gun?  No bunko, it’s not a gun for shooting mice, chipmunks, or any other critter that can be weighed on a postal scale.  A mouse gun is one of small caliber but not necessarily in a small frame.  Some mouse guns are as big and of sufficient weight to be classified as heavy weights, and there in lies the rub.  Actually there are three rubs to consider when choosing your personal carry weapon; regardless of what category you might put it in; namely: Caliber, Size, and Weight.  These criteria’s must be carefully measured against your strengths and weaknesses if you’re serious about carrying daily.  A gun that is too heavy or to big or to powerful for you to handle is a gun that you will leave at home more often than not and that is a rub that can, if you pardon the pun, get you rubbed out.  The solution to this conundrum is simple: You need more than one carry gun.   And one of those guns will, out of necessity, be a mouse gun.

Mouse gun calibers are all of the rim fire cartridges, 25ACP, 32 ACP (AKA 7.65mm Browning) and all antique cartridges, such as the 32 S&W, 32 S&W Long, and all other calibers that fall under the power curve of the 38Sp.  It was not to long ago that the.380 ACP was also in the mouse gun category.  But due to the advancements in metallurgy and propellants, the .380 has had a status upgraded.  It is now considered by many to be the minimum caliber one should carry as an every day carry gun.  In fact, there are many gun writers today that believe that the 38 Special should be your minimum carry caliber.  In reality, and to put in plain and simple language, the minimum caliber that one should carry will vary from day-to-day and from month-to-month.  In other words, what gun you’ll be carrying during the winter months is not going to be the same gun that you’ll carry in the summer months.  And that’s good.  Now you have sufficient justification to purchase more than one gun.  And that’s a nice place to be.  If I knew that my day would end badly, I would carry a sawed-off 12 gauge shotgun; but I’ve been told that it isn’t considered PC to do so in polite society.  This is why mouse guns and other alternative carry options, such as Kimber’s Pepperblaster II have become vital additions to add to one’s personal protection arsenal.

On of the more popular mouse guns available today is the 32ACP, and one of the smallest guns in this caliber is the Kel-TEC P-32.  With a 7+1 capacity and an AOL (over all length) of 5.1 inches, and a 6.6 ounce frame, it is more than likely to be left in one’s pocket as opposed to being left on the kitchen table.  A step up from this cartridge is the .32 H&R (Harrington & Richardson) Magnum.  This caliber works nicely in the Taurus 731 Ultra-Lite DA (double action) Revolver.  The Taurus 731 weighs 17 ounces with an OAL of 6.5 inches.  The .32 H&R Magnum propels an 85 grain bullet to a muzzle energy of 237 ft-lbs.  This is a nice increase over the .32ACP, which propels a 71 grain bullet to a muzzle energy of only128 ft-lbs.  We can make a quantum leap in muzzle energy (334 and 435 ft-lbs depending on load used) when we go to the Ruger SP101 revolver in .32 Federal Magnum; but the leap is so great that it propels this cartridge out of the mouse gun category and into the full frame category. The Ruger SP 101 has an OAL of 8 Inches and weighs 28 ounces, which is bigger than many .357 Magnums and too similar in size to many .45ACP semi-auto pistols.  This gun is definitely not a mouse gun, regardless of the criteria you wish to judge it by.

Let’s get back on course…mouse guns are by definition dimensional small, light weight guns of minimal caliber.  A gun that can’t be dropped into your pocket and forgotten until needed is not a mouse gun but rather a serious carry gun.  When your mouse gun starts to look more like a S&W 340 M&P (Military & Police) .38/.357 revolver with a carry weight of 13.3 ounces and an OAL of 6.3 inches, it’s time to reconsider your mouse gun requirements; that is, if you have any at all.

Now that you’re carrying a mouse gun, have you thought about tactics?  It’s a MOUSE GUN bunko…it’s not a go to war gun.  It’s a get out of a bad situation weapon.   It’s your “Mae West” and that in it self is a comforting thought.

Mouse gun Tactics (Good advice for any CHL holder to heed)

  • If you are in a situation that is going bad, get a grip on you mouse gun quickly, if not sooner.
  • Do not draw your concealed weapon until absolutely necessary.
  • Absolutely necessary for me is when the Bad Guy (BG) is within three to four yards and closing.
  • If possible exit the situation before it escalates into a shooting match.  Don’t start the confrontation.  Remember that you are holding a mouse gun and not a Glock, Sig, S&W, or customized 1911.
  • Stay calm…draw from a concealed position or when the BG isn’t looking your way.
  • No preamble to shooting like “Make my day.”  If you must shoot, then shoot and shoot and shoot until the BG is down.
  • And my favorite piece of advice…Pray to God for guidance that all will end well for you and for all the innocent people that have walked into a bad situation.  And also pray that your attorney is not vacationing in the Keys when you pull the trigger.

If any of you are wondering what mouse guns Scorpio carries, wonder no more.  I carry a .22 WMR High Standard Derringer, two Kel-Tec P3ATs, and the Kimber Pepperblaster.  And I’m still looking for another mouse gun that can fulfill my particular requirements.

My final thoughts on mouse guns:  If you can handle and hide something bigger, please do.  But always keep in mind that any gun is better than no gun at all.  Forget what you have in your gun safe; when you need a gun, you need it NOW.  Hence, the popularity of the mouse gun prevails and always will prevail wherever and whenever a small defense weapon is the only option open to you. You can buy pistols online , revolvers, handgun ammo, holsters, at GrabAGun.com.

Scorpio

Pax vobiscum (Peace be with you)