CHL article in Houston Chronicle

[P_Pac]

Found this in Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4423938.html

[Rallyman]

Interesting article. But the "Hero" of the article scares me to death!

One day, he said, he noticed a man across the street stealing from a construction site and decided to stop him.

He grabbed the gun and ran outside, firing one of the blanks.

A struggle ensued, and the man knocked the gun out of his hand and ran. The police officer who arrived at the scene a few minutes later had some advice for Virtue.

This is behavior that gets people killed!! Call the police and get a tag # if possible. For all he knew that could have been the foreman of the site getting some stuff for another construction site.

There was no threat to anyones life, but Rambo decides to charge out with his "blank" gun... geez

ETA:

This reminds me of a 60 something gentleman in my CHL class. The instructor was talking about your options when you witness a property crime, much like the one mentioned above, when the older gentleman asks " If we see them doing it then can we make a citizens arrest?"

You could have heard a pin drop. Even the instructor was taken aback. At lunch we started a "how long till he gets killed sticking his nose in a domestic disturbance pool"... I took 9 months. (I hope he's OK)

Owning a handgun and/or having a CHL doesn't make you a LEO or give you any additional powers. Use common sense, don't put yourself or others in a potentialy life threatening situation when you aren't 100% sure of what is going on.

[TX Rancher]

For me there were some interesting comments in the story.

“…although those 55 and older represent just 28 percent of the state's population older than 21, they carry 42 percent of the permits.� Wow, I’m actually in the majority for once!

“…72,345 people have concealed handgun licenses in Texas…�. According to one sites census data, in 2005 ~14 million Texans were 21 and over. That means ~0.5% of the over 21 group have carry permits. That’s roughly 1 in 195. I wonder how many of those that have permits actually carry on a regular basis?

“Tom Smith, director of the General Social Survey at the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center, said that, with hunting on the decline among younger Americans, older adults are more likely to be current or former hunters who keep rifles and shotguns in their homes.�. Not sure how that statement applies, since we’re talking handguns exclusively for concealed carry. I wonder how many folks in Texas own handguns? By the way, I’m glad there’s no way to know for sure. I’m not what you would call an advocate of registration.

“But what of the risks, especially since elderly people are more prone to health problems and loss of mental acuity?� But hey, this implies I had mental acuity in the first place (can’t lose what I never had) . As for health problems, I am more apt to use the firearm option now for defense then when I was younger and fit. Things like arthritis and decades worth of accumulated injuries has really taken they’re toll and I’m just not able to defend myself as well as I used to (even though my ego is having one tough time letting go ).

“…Most of his customers tend to be in their 50s and older…�. That was certainly true for my renewal class. I would say well over half were over 50. Just out of curiosity, I wonder what the age breakdown is on the forum?

“He hasn't started carrying the gun, but if the need ever arises, he said he'll be ready.�. To me this is a mistake and is indicative of a certain mind set. I carry as often as I can because I can’t foretell the future. I have no idea when the “need� will arise. If I could, I just wouldn’t go there in most cases…

[Skiprr]

To: melanie.markley@chron.com

Dear Melanie:

Just a quick correction to your article of December 24 titled "Over 60 and Licensed to Carry." The story notes: "Although 72,345 people have concealed handgun licenses in Texas, there is no way of knowing how many people in the state, or anywhere else, actually own guns."

If you will consult the Texas Department of Public Safety, Regulatory Licensing Service (http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administra ... ummary.PDF) you will see that, as of December 2005 there were 247,345 concealed handgun licenses active in the state of Texas. That number has increased during 2006. I can only assume your reported number of 72,345 licensees was a typographical error.

Thank you, and happy holidays.

[TX Rancher]

Thanks Skiprr, that changes my calculations to:

~1.8% of those 21 and older have permits...

That's roughly 1 in 56....

[Diode]

Good write up though. Geezers with Guns... Il love it.

[G.C.Montgomery]

My wife called my attention to the article this morning. First thing I noticed was the photo of a who guy came by Top Gun a couple weeks back. He was requesting permission to bring the author and a photographer by for photos and interviews because he thought it was such a swell place. Apparently he recently renewed his permit with Top Gun.

Understandably, the owners weren't interested in having the media anywhere near the shop. It's funny though...The guy kept swearing he didn't have "a cart in the race" but seeing him in the article proves my suspicions correct. While there may have been no monetary gain to be had, he definitely wanted his name and picture in the paper. I also noticed the statistical error for the number of permits in Texas. May be she meant 72,000 "seniors"but, I didn't bother to look it up.

[Skiprr]

Geezers with Guns... I love it.

Anybody wanna slap Diode on the knuckles with a ruler?



And good catch, G.C. maybe she did mean only seniors with CHLs. Seniors 60 and over accounted for right at 55,000 in December 2005; I could possibly believe 12,000 more added in 2006, but that increase in one year might be a stretch. Nothing else about that 72K number makes any sense.

But the error in total CHL numbers is pretty egregious. If I don't hear back from the author by mid-week next, I'm going to drop a note to the newsdesk editor(s). The number of licenses she quoted is off by about 350%. Kind of a large journalistic miss. And I think it makes a difference about how CHLers are perceived: a quarter of a million Texans isn't an extremist, splinter group.

Also, I would suspect street-punk BGs don't read the paper too much, but if they do I'd like them to see 250,000 instead of 72,000.

[McKnife]

Sent an email to MELANIE MARKLEY with Houston Chronicle to acknowledge the error.

Linky to most current number of owners (Dec 2005):
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administra ... ummary.PDF

[stevie_d_64]

Melanie Markley and another reporter Zanto Peabody (both with the Houston Comical and AP) have been pretty middle of the ground on gun-control and CHL issues, topics and commentary for a few years that I can recall...

At least I haven't seen anything as aggregious, that they have not at least responded to me, on the side, that they either errored, or have been appreciative of my interaction with them when they get something right...

In this case if the statistical error in the number of active CHL's in Texas may have been printed in error, I don't think that bothers me as much as some of the other stuff we've seen reported around the country...

I just don't think they are anywhere near the rabid gun-grabbing, gun-control supporters as some others are that I have seen...

[Armybrat]

The Austin American Statesman ran the same article yesterday (Christmas). I sent them a contact email with your DPS link informing them of the error, so we'll see if they print a correction anytime soon.

I did notice the link shows there have been over 3,000 licenses revoked, but doesn't state over what time frame. I wonder what the most common causes are for that drastic type of action?

[Skiprr]

The Austin American Statesman ran the same article yesterday (Christmas). I sent them a contact email with your DPS link informing them of the error, so we'll see if they print a correction anytime soon.

I did notice the link shows there have been over 3,000 licenses revoked, but doesn't state over what time frame. I wonder what the most common causes are for that drastic type of action?

Thanks for sending that correction to the Austin American Statesman. I suspect the story was posted to the AP, and others may have picked it up, as well. Though I haven't tried to check.

For revocation reasons, this link at the DPS site does a pretty good job of summarizing it, though the data is outdated (1999). I don't know if DPS is still keeping these stats on suspended and revoked licenses; it could be that they decided the numbers were statistically low enough that it wasn't worth the effort and cost to keep track.

[Armybrat]

Got this reply from the American Statesman a little while ago:

Thank you for contacting us about the handgun story that we ran Monday on B4. I have passed your information on to editors at the Associated Press who provided this story to us so that they can check their reporting.




Sandra Kleinsasser
Executive News Editor
Austin American-Statesman

[Liberty]

Got this reply from the American Statesman a little while ago:

Thank you for contacting us about the handgun story that we ran Monday on B4. I have passed your information on to editors at the Associated Press who provided this story to us so that they can check their reporting.




Sandra Kleinsasser
Executive News Editor
Austin American-Statesman

It's interesting that they are going to wait for AP to correct the story rather run the correction themselves. Sounds to me like they are too lazy to check the facts themselves even though all the references were provided.

[Venus Pax]

He hasn't started carrying the gun, but if the need ever arises, he said he'll be ready.

That statement bothered me as well. So many people believe that they're "safe" in certain places or parts of town.
I wish that were true, but it just isn't.