During my 1st background check, which happened at a time when there were significant delays for all applicants because of a sudden rush of new applicants, I got a letter from DPS demanding further documentation of something 42 days into the process. I provided that documentation, and my background check finished processing and I had my plastic in hand about 34 days later.
The issue was that, while I was born a U.S. citizen (American father, French mother), I was born outside of the US, at Casablanca, Morocco. The document DPS wanted was a copy of my certificate of live birth signed by the American Consul in Casablanca at the time of my birth. I sent them a copy of it, and that was that.
FWIW, this was not harassment. This was just them doing their jobs. I didn’t like it, and it was inconvenient, but it was within the law. At each of 3 renewals since then (I first applied in December of 2007 and received my license in March of 2008), they’ve never again asked for that documentation.
Maybe look at it the same way. Maybe DPS received information prior to your renewal application this time, that they simply didn’t have the previous times and so it wasn’t a prior issue. Now they have the information, and they’re just doing their jobs. Be angry at the law. Don’t be angry at DPS; they’re just applying their required mandate to the law, as it is written. Yes, it IS a pain in the hind parts; but it is also (for them) not personal… not harassment. They’re just doing what the law requires of them, given the information they currently have at their disposal, and from which course they are not allowed to deviate.
I believe that the 2nd Amendment, uninfringed, should be the law of the land in all 50 states and US territories. That’s what I believe, and that’s what the Constitution SAYS. Unfortunately, that is not the actual reality on the ground as respected by nearly all 50 states or the fedgov’t—including even here in Texas. Given that truth, then one of the benefits of at least some rigor in LTC background checks is that our LTCs are honored by 35 other states besides our own, because our rigor is compatible with their own. I’d rather that not be the current state of affairs, but it is a fact that it is so.
So, and I say this with all due respect, it seems like you’ve only got one choice, and that’s to suck it up and jump through their hoops; because if you don’t do it now that DPS has that info, and you decide to let your LTC lapse completely, it seems to me that you run the risk of becoming a prohibited person in possession of a gun if you decide to rely on Constitutional Carry instead. Just a thought.
