From
TCHA: CHL History
"74th Legislature, 1995
Two years later the 74th Legislature passed SB 60, and the new Governor George W. Bush fulfilled a campaign promise to sign the first Texas concealed carry bill.
Throughout the long struggle to get a concealed handgun law passed for Texas there were a number of people who risked their political lives to accomplish what many thought might be an impossible task. Two stand out.
One is Texas Senator Jerry Patterson, who sponsored and shepherded a number of the bills, including the successful 1995 effort and the equally important 1997 revision. He happens to be a classmate of mine from Texas A&M University, Class of 1969.
The other is Suzanna Gratia, who rose from the tragedy in Killeen to provide essential testimony at a critical time. As Suzanna Gratia-Hupp she become a Representative in the Texas Legislature and served several terms, always speaking up for gun owners.
The law went into effect September 1, giving the Texas Department of Public Safety about three months to write all the procedures, design the paperwork, and train enough Qualified Instructors to teach the required course DPS wrote. They did it.
About 2,000 newly-minted Qualified Handgun Instructors began teaching the ten to fifteen hour CHL new-license class September 1, facing an initial flood of about 200,000 applicants. The new concealed handgun licensees started legally carrying January 1, 1996. It was somewhat anticlimactic, as the predicted bloodbath failed to materialize.
There was an initial surge in "No Handguns" signs on businesses that had been convinced the knuckle-dragging CHLs would invade in their camo clothing, tromping through stores in muddy boots spitting tobacco everywhere and running decent customers away. Instead, it was the decent customers who politely informed store owners that unless the signs came down their business would go elsewhere. Six months later "No Handguns" signs were an endangered species."
I got mine in 1997 and I've reupped 4 times, the last time I did not have to attend a class and now I get the old person's d$scoun$ for the license fee. In all that time I've never had to unconceal my weapon. I've also not been stopped by the police and had to even show my license. I figured realistically I didn't even need to get my CHL, but since it was now "allowed', I was proud to take the class, pass it, get approved by the LEOs and know if I had to, I could protect myself. I hope that never changes...