On March 7th in Austin, the Texas State Rifle Association, the NRA state affiliate, honored State Representative Dan Flynn (HD2) of Van, Texas, as their 2014 Legislator of the Year, during the association’s annual members meeting. House District 2 includes Hopkins, Hunt, and Van Zandt Counties
Several years ago, the Texas Department of Public Safety ran critically behind in processing and issuing Texas concealed handgun licenses. Representative Flynn stepped up to the plate and began working to make changes to Texas law to fix problem plus to streamlining the licensing process in general.
During the 2013 session, Flynn passed HB 48, providing Texas licensees with an online renewal process, thereby eliminating both the cost and time of a renewal class. The immediate impact has been to provide licensees with an almost “perpetual CHL” and still benefits of having a nationally recognized concealed handgun license: ease of travel across states, substitutes for the NICS check when purchasing a firearm. The renewal is now accomplished with a click instead of the previous time-consuming, scavenger hunt.
Also, during the 2013 session, Representative Flynn worked to pass legislation to lower the number of classroom hours required to obtain a concealed handgun license.
HB 47 by Flynn reduced the number of classroom hours without impacting time spent qualifying on the shooting range. This has made the Texas concealed handgun license more accessible to busy adults while protecting public safety.
