CHL in Texas and good handguns?
I will be 21 in a month, and I live in Tx. I am hoping to get my concealed hand gun license. I am trying to figure out what I need to do, and what type of gun I should get. The reasons for wanting a gun are a) I live alone most of the time and b) I work until midnight, if not later. I do sometimes walk home, which is about a mile and c) I also don’t get out of school until around 10pm some days. I also have a shoulder injury, so whatever I get can’t have too much recoil. I used to shoot my dad’s hunting rifles, but it has been a while (ever since I got hurt 7 years ago, I have been scared to try the hunting rifles.) I have looked online, but just end up confused. I am hoping to get some answers that will a) tell me the procedures for a CHL in Texas and b)give me some ideas on guns so I am not walking into the gun shop looking stupid. Thanks! 
Congratulations on your decision to take responsibility and take your personal safety into your own hands. What part of Texas are you in? I live in Texas as well. Here all you need to do is take the state certified Concealed Handgun Class and fill out a little paperwork. The class cost varies, and you will also have to pay a state fee to receive the permit. The class consists of lessons on gun safety, laws regarding legal carry and the use of deadly force, as well as a live fire portion where you will actually fire at a target with your gun. Then you get fingerprinted and submit your packet to DPS, who will do a background check and then issue your permit in a couple weeks. If you don’t already have a gun you will need to either buy one prior to attending the class or make sure to find a class where you will be allowed to borrow a gun from the instructor. If you do buy one, I would strongly suggest a semi-automatic over a revolver, because if you take the class with a revolver, that is all you will be allowed to carry, whereas if you take the class with a semi-auto you will be able to carry either. If you would like, email me and I will go into further detail about all of this and I would also be happy to assist you in finding a good class in your area. There are many instructors but it is extremely important to find one that really knows what he/she is talking about, because if they tell you wrong, and you use deadly force inappropriately as a result of it, you will still be the one going to prison. Choosing a CHL instructor is not something to take lightly. Unfortunately there have been situations in the past when a student was educated wrong and ended up in trouble because of it.
As for gun selection, I would love to know a little more about you to make the best suggestion, such as height and weight, so again please feel free to email to discuss this further. The recoil of most any handgun you would choose is not going affect your shoulder all that much. If you go shooting a lot, depending on what is wrong with your shoulder, you may experience some discomfort but that will be whether you are shooting a .22 or a .45. Don’t be afraid of recoil, if you have a proper shooting technique even very small people can very easily handle quite large weapons. That being said you don’t have to have an enormous gun, but you don’t want a tiny one either. The smaller a gun is, the more recoil you will feel as opposed to a larger gun in the same caliber. So a tiny 9mm like the Kel-Tec PF9 9mm will have a lot more recoil than the larger, more robust Ruger P89 9mm, even though they shoot the same bullet, because the bigger weapon has more mass to absorb the energy before it is transferred to your body. A lot of females make the mistake of choosing a small gun because it fits in their purse nicely or because the bigger ones are too intimidating, and end up with a gun they will hate because the recoil is nearly unmanagable. For instance, the gun I carry is a full size 1911 in .45ACP, a quite large and heavy gun, and it’s recoil isn’t even half of the recoil on my little Kel-Tec P3AT in .380ACP. When choosing a gun, choose one that is comfortable in your hand but as big as is reaonable. This will do two things, reduce recoil AND give you greater capacity. Choose a caliber no smaller than 9mm. I say this because anything smaller than a 9mm like a .380, .32, .25, or .22 does not have sufficient penetration and expansion potential to give you the best chance of inflicting a lethal injury on an attacker if you need to use your gun to defend yourself. This is why there isn’t a police agency or military organization in the world that carries anything smaller than a 9mm. The other two main calibers used for concealed carry are .40 and .45. Personally, I think .45 is the way to go for several reasons. Ammunition is cheap, plentiful, and you don’t have to buy expensive rounds for it to be effective. 9mm ammo is a little cheaper of course BUT the regular rounds aren’t good enough for self defense, you need to buy the more expensive +P JHP rounds for it to be sufficient, whereas a .45 is effective nomatter what you have in it. There is an age old debate of which is better, 9mm or .45, because if you have two guns of the same size chambered one in each caliber, the 9mm will have greater capacity than the .45, but the .45 will have much better stopping power. A lot of people say .40 is the way to go because it has more capacity than a .45 but more stopping power than a 9mm. I personally do not like the .40 because I believe the stopping power is much more important than capacity, because the vast majority of defensive shootings are only 1-2 shots. It’s true you never know how many you will need but many .45′s hold as many as 13 rounds, which will more than likely be enough. Losing that extra stopping power isn’t worth the extra two rounds a .40 can hold. And a 9mm only holds 2 more rounds than that, so to me it’s a no brainer.
Making the decision to get your CHL is the right thing to do. The Texas CHL is one of the hardest in the country to get, so there is a bit of pride when you get it in the mail.
Texas does recognize all other state’s CHL’s so that rout is an option, but I don’t recommend that at all. Please think long and hard before getting a non resident, out of state license. Since you live in Texas, you should have a Texas license.
A concealed carry is not a ticket out of trouble, but it is a good tool to help if or when you need it.
I think Josh said it quite well and I agree with most of what he said. But …When it comes to guns and ammo everyone has a different opinion, so mine is below. I added some approximate price info to help budget for it.
The process in Texas is to find a CHL instructor and sign up for the class. That easy. The class will last about 11 hours, usually on a Saturday. (Texas law requires 10 to 15 hours of in class time.) Most instructors will have the forms on hand, (but you can now complete them on line), your required photo, and fingerprints should be included in your class price. The class is then followed up with a range qualification where you shoot a silhouette target from several distances. You will fire 50 rounds in the range test, and must score 150 on range test. You must use a .32 or larger hand gun. Use an automatic since qualifying with an auto allows you to cary both a revolver and an automatic, using a revolver only allows you to carry a revolver. (most instructors will almost insist you use an auto)
The overall average class price is $125.00, but there are some out there that are below 100.00 now. The license fee is $140 (at least it was last I checked)
All Texas CHL instructors are state certified, and are supposed to teach from the same script, but do some asking around before signing with one. Sitting in class for 10 or 11 hours with a monotoned instructor is difficult.
Like Josh said, the recoil for most guns will not cause a problem for most people. I don’t know anything about your shoulder, but if you can lift your arm straight out holding 2 pounds or so without a huge pain, you will probably be OK for most handguns. The real impact of recoil is bringing the gun back down after the shot to get on target for follow up shots. The more recoil, the longer it takes. Several gun ranges do have rental guns for you to try. I live in the DFW area and know there is one in Fort Worth and one in Dallas.
As as a rule of thumb, the smaller the gun, the larger the recoil, so if recoil is a problem choose a larger handgun, but the bigger the weapon, the harder it is to conceal and carry around all day, so there is a trade off between the two. Bigger is less comfortable so be sure to choose one you can hide and carry.
I carry a Kel Tec .380, my wife carries a Taurus .380. At short distance (6-15 feet) the .380 is a very effective round. Most self defense needs are12 feet or less, so I am very comfortable with it. There are also decent larger 380′s like a Bersa Thunder out there also. My Father in law has hand arthritis, and carries a Bersa.
Some think that since those guns are not the most expensive, they must be cheap and have problems, but I have several of them, and have never had a single, not one, problem out of any of them.
All of these will run you $250 to $325 new and much less if you don’t mind buying a used one. (I never did). There are also a lot of compact 9mm out there as well which are larger, and may help if recoil is a problem for your shoulder.
What ever gun you decide on, make sure you take it to the range and get comfortable with it. You don’t want to fumble with it when you need it.
Good Luck !
It’s Josh again, my first answer is too long and it won’t let me add anything. First, this is not to argue with the other answerer, we are on the same side.
TX isn’t a hard state to get a CHL in. The class here is no more costly than other states, it’s more relaxed, and easier to schedule. I am more qualified to speak on this than others as I have held permits in other states. In NC after finding a course, there was a 9 month wait, and another 3 months to get my ccw. In TX I found an instructor and got into a class that weekend. I had my permit in 3 weeks. It can’t get much better. Also, TX does NOT honor permits from ALL other states. It does from 40, good, but not all. TX does not honor permits from DC, IL, ME, MN, NH, OH, OR, VT, WV, or WI. You can go to handgunlaw.us and click on TX to see for yourself.
And yes, all instructors are certified and supposed to teach the same thing, but that doesn’t mean they do. Some of the things people are commonly told wrong concern where you are and aren’t allowed to carry. Almost anywhere that doesn’t have a 30.06 sign is legal. You can’t carry in courthouses, police stations, places like that, but everywhere else has to have a 30.06 sign. Many instructors will tell you that if the place has a “no guns” sign you can’t carry there, untrue. It’s only illegal if there is the right sign, with specific qualities. It has to be bigger than the other signs, posted conspicuously at every door, no less than 1″ letters, contrasting colors, and the 30.06 statute named and quoted verbatim in english AND spanish. If any of that is missing, you can carry there. Some will say you can’t legally carry in a bar, false. A bar is any place that makes 51% or more of it’s profits from alcohol sales alone. Most restaurants don’t fall into that category, but for those that do in order for it to be illegal there has to be a sign posted to the same specs as the 30.06 sign, except with the 51% law on it instead, and it has to have a red 51% watermark taking up the entire background. I should also mention that these things I am telling you are not just my opinion, the information comes not only from endless hours of research on the topic, but also from several years of experience working in LE.
As for the caliber thing and gun selection, I stick by my original comments. I’ve heard it before, “I have that gun and I’ve never had a problem with it.” Wait, you mean that when you were on the range, under no pressure, shooting at paper, no adrenaline, the target not threatening you, and you didn’t have to hide behind cover to avoid being shot yourself, your gun didn’t jam? Amazing. Look, I’m not saying a Taurus will blow up in your hand. I’m also not saying a Glock can’t malfunction. It can. All guns are machines, and all machines fail. Again, you get what you pay for. If you think it’s a good idea to save a few bucks and buy a no name gun and trust your life to it, go for it but it just doesn’t make sense to me. Carrying is about preparedness, if you’re going to do something do it right. Why make the decision to carry and choose a gun that has a lower probability of getting the job done?
What I said about not carrying less than 9mm is valid, and I’m saying this for the OP and the other answerer, I don’t want either one of you to carry an inferior caliber. The .380 is NOT sufficient as a defensive caliber, and here’s why. The FBI does extensive testing often on these rounds and they have a rule of not clearing a round for service without a minimum penetration of 21″ in ballistics gelatin. Why? Humans aren’t 21″ thick? Humans wear clothes, sometimes thick ones like leather jackets. We also have skin and bones on the inside. If a round cannot penetrate at least 21″ into ballistics gel then you cannot reliably count on it to penetrate a leather jacket, a layer or two of clothing, skin, some muscle and fat, bone, more muscle and fat, and a vital organ. Why would anyone arm themselves and do so with a caliber that is known to be ineffective in such a situation. I have done these tests myself, with countless types of guns, ammo, and conditions. Tens of thousands of rounds. Stop and think about how many that is. Most people even in the military or LE don’t shoot that many in a lifetime. I have and I am here to tell you that the .380 is not what you want in your hand when you need the first round to do the deed. The only thing worse than having to take a life is failing and having to try again. If you’re going to arm yourself, don’t do it half hearted. Think about it this way, if the .380 isn’t good enough for the cops, why is it good enough for you?
Get a Glock, get it in 9mm, learn to shoot with Winchester white box NATO FMJ ammo, carry Winchester Ranger T 127gr +P+ ammo.