TexasCHLforum.com

txinvestigator wrote:You guys realize that state law gave him two appeals, one of which a Justice Court Judge agreed with DPS' ruling, the other appeal he did not make in the time allocated by law.

He ain't getting a CHL in Texas, regardless of how much money he spends on an attorney.

I disagree. I think he may be able to get a Texas CHL, especially with a good attorney. I will agree that his time limit for the appeal is gone and he cannot now appeal the denial.

But, Texas has a two year statute of limitations on general torts. Since the Government Code specifically says the license is a benefit, he MIGHT be able to sue the state under the general torts act.

A much better way would be to just apply again and go through the whole procedure over again, this time with the lawyer at the ready. Interestingly enough, I find nothing in the law (and I may have missed something) that says a person denied a CHL cannot reapply at some later point in time. I feel he must be able to later, because what if he was denied for a class B misdemeanor within the time limit. As soon as the time limit is out, he could reapply and get it. So, Kungfu might be able to reapply and go through the procedure again, this time with an attorney to appeal to the County Court at law.

Of course, this would be much more expensive than just getting a reciprocal from another state.

It's clear that DPS and the JP were wrong in the way they decided this case.

It is clear that DPS and the judge were RIGHT.

It is not that clear to me. When I just checked the Government Code, it said a conviction does not include anything that was expunged. No where in that definition did it say anything about it having to be qualified for expunction under Texas law or a charge that could be expunged under our law. It just said expunged. And the only court that can expunge a record is the court with the original jurisdiction. So, since Texas has no say over an Arkansas expunction, as Arkansas has no say over a Texas record, I would go with the Arkansas expunction as being valid and Kungfu should get his CHL.

Note that the part about it being a felony under Texas law is in a different section of the code, so the logic does NOT necessarily follow across. If the logic about our law applying on the expunction did follow, DPS then did it correctly. If it does not follow, DPS was wrong.

Kungfu,

Let me join in on the IANAL crowd, along with the strong advice to get a lawyer. As I read this law and the federal law, your rights were restored by a court of competent jurisdiction, therefore the feds would let you have the firearm.

Other than a good lawyer, you might call the ATF and ask them how they would interpret this section. That would let you know fairly quickly what the feds think, but I generally do not trust their informal answers. To them, if it is not in writing, it did not happen and if it is in writing it still is not necessarily binding.

If it helps to understand this, I was just looking at the Arkansas statutes on Findlaw. Their code section 16-90-1201 says that a felony for drug possession will be expunged BUT that the effect will be as in the case for sex offenses (section 16-90-901). In the referred section, it says the record is sealed and isolated but not physically destroyed.

And in the next section (16-90-902), it says this:

(a) An individual whose record has been expunged in accordance with the procedures established by this subchapter shall have all privileges and rights restored and shall be completely exonerated, and the record which has been expunged shall not affect any of his or her civil rights or liberties unless otherwise specifically provided by law.
(b) Upon the entry of the uniform order to seal records of an individual, the individual's underlying conduct shall be deemed as a matter of law never to have occurred, and the individual may state that no such conduct ever occurred and that no such records exist.

As I read it, Kungfu may have a good case to go to court against DPS, despite the 30 day limit. But I would simply not tell Utah or Florida about the incident, if I understand it correctly.