I want to talk about something a little off topic but I want to hear from CHL holders.
Can anyone explain or provide comments to this point. I had a harder time getting a Texas Driver License then I had getting a CHL. I know the CHL has the waiting process, but I'm not talking about that. I'm referring to the application. I began to think I had to give my first born to get a drivers license. When I applied for CHL last year it was cut and dry and all I had to do was wait until it came.
There was the biggest stink of proving I was an American citizen to get the drivers license but nowhere near as much trouble to apply for the CHL. Does anybody see something wrong with being able to receive a CHL with less trouble than a drivers license?
And by the way, I'm a born and bred American who served 25 years in the military before I retired. I haven't used my birth certificate in 27 years so I couldn't find it and had to order another to get my license. I had so much paperwork to prove who I am, my SSN, residence, military service, registration, etc etc. I even had a court order, but it wasn't for a name change or gender change that I found out in the office had to be the only court order they would accept and they held firm to this ridiculous rule. I even had my DD214 which proved my service and that I retired as a commissioned officer. Although you can enlist without being a citizen, you cannot be a commissioned or warrant officer without being a citizen. But not having my birth certificate stopped everything. Not to mention I'm already in the system because I already have a CHL with background check and the whole nine. Where does common sense prevail?
Although everything is ok now--I have license in hand--I'm still troubled we give permission to carry weapons easier then getting a drivers license. And I have to give it to them, they stand by their rules because I went two offices and got the same story, so it wasn't one person having a bad day that gave me a hard time. And for those who don't know, Texas has a new law as of July 2011 that states you prove citizenship when getting a drivers license but you won't read that on the site about getting a drivers license and what to bring. I just took all the items I had the site required, plus a few more, to cover what I needed but the citizenship question came up and nothing I had would do. No common sense used with some of my paperwork and IDs and the fact that I have a CHL (which I produced) to show I'm in the system and with background check.
Please tell me I am not the only one thinking that something is wrong here?
I'm just venting with hopefully like minded people.