Texas Concealed Handgun License Backlog

Texas Concealed Handgun License Backlog

The Texas Department of Public Safety issues concealed handgun licenses--and they are getting backlogged for an interesting reason. From the May 8, 2008 Houston Chronicle:

AUSTIN — Demand for concealed handgun licenses has risen nearly 40 percent in Texas in a year, an increase being attributed to many factors, even presidential politics.
Though the exact cause may be unclear, what's certain is that the spike in applications has caught the Department of Public Safety unprepared.
The state is taking a month longer than the 60 days allowed by law to process original applications and 80 days longer on renewals, which are supposed to be handled within 45 days.
"We're trying really hard, but there have been delays because of the tremendous increase in applications," said Tela Mange, a DPS spokeswoman.
She said the department is paying overtime and hiring temporary workers to reduce the backlog. Mange said she doesn't know why applications last month were 39 percent higher than they were in April 2007.
But Ross Bransford, who trains 1,000 Texans a year to qualify for a concealed handgun license, said he believes the looming 2008 election is a big factor.
"People are not sure what's going to happen after the election," said Bransford, who owns Austin-based CHL-Texas.com. "Both Democratic candidates are anti-gun in one fashion or another."
He said Sen. Barack Obama, who is leading the race for the nomination, is a "friend of (Democratic Senator) Ted Kennedy, and that scares everybody to death."
Other instructors mentioned an increased interest from young adults after last year's Virginia Tech massacre and recent changes in Texas law about carrying concealed weapons.

It might well be that Presidential politics is driving this--although whoever wins the election won't affect CHL issuance in Texas. Perhaps young people are applying for CHLs more in awareness of how vunerable they are from incidents like Virginia Tech--and are hoping that Texas changes the law to pre-empt state college rules on the subject this year.

I keep hoping that incidents like Virginia Tech (and the Omaha mall shootings, and the church in Colorado Springs, etc.) will generate the groundswell of support for doing something about the disgraceful condition of mental illness treatment in America. To make that happen, however, requires everyone to be able to work together. Applying for a concealed weapon permit doesn't require any collective action at all.