There are about 17 million Texas residents.
I have a lot of friends who live around the country and have HUGE misconceptions about Texas. Like the Highway Troopers are like Nazi torture experts, we ride horses, everyone owns an oil well, we all live on ranches, the people are all right-wing, ignorant hicks, yadda yadda yadda.
For me personally, that's fine if people have misconceptions about TX. Their ignorance may keep more out-of-staters from moving here. All the damn Californians and Rust-belters (Ohio, Indiana, etc) who are moving here know NOTHING about Texas and our culture, like Bob Wills, Don Walser, Tex-Mex, Willie, Waylon, Stevie, Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept, Bluebonnets, the Hill Country, Friday Night Lights, Guadalupe/Llano/Colorado Rivers, firearms/hunting, REAL BBQ - not some half-assed attempt at fire+meat, etc. I wish they would stay home. If you want to live in a place like California, then go back there.
A lot of people have a CHL here, but most people just go about their business and don't concern themselves with it. Although almost everyone that I know here owns firearms, none of them have a CHL. A few are considering it. I will get mine soon. But we have only had a CHL program for a few years now, so maybe that explains the relatively low numbers.
Also, in Texas I can legally carry a handgun when I'm travelling, which is when I feel that I need it the most, when I'm going to Houston, Dallas or San Antonio. Since I can already carry in my time of need, that may have contributed to my tardiness in obtaining a CHL.
I think there are many people who are unregistered carriers here. There are a few other loopholes in the laws for carrying a handgun. You can legally carry a longarm in your car, loaded or not, at any time. You just can't bring it within 1000 feet of a school, prison, etc. Some people carry long guns in their cars here, but it's a little rare. Everyone that I know who has firearms have both pistols and long guns.
I don't think your interpretation of those statistics to mean there are more gun owners in Connecticut is valid. I would guess that 75%-90% of households in Texas have firearms. My 80 year old granddad has a loaded AR-15 next to his bed. And he needs it in his neighborhood in Baytown. Who knows how many firearms there are in Texas and how many owners there are, but I would guess 10 million people in Texas own firearms, and there are probably 30 to 60 million firearms here.
Also, I wouldn't rely on statistics that are learned from hearsay. That isn't a very good authority. Does anyone know for sure what the #'s are?
I have a lot of friends who live around the country and have HUGE misconceptions about Texas. Like the Highway Troopers are like Nazi torture experts, we ride horses, everyone owns an oil well, we all live on ranches, the people are all right-wing, ignorant hicks, yadda yadda yadda.
For me personally, that's fine if people have misconceptions about TX. Their ignorance may keep more out-of-staters from moving here. All the damn Californians and Rust-belters (Ohio, Indiana, etc) who are moving here know NOTHING about Texas and our culture, like Bob Wills, Don Walser, Tex-Mex, Willie, Waylon, Stevie, Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept, Bluebonnets, the Hill Country, Friday Night Lights, Guadalupe/Llano/Colorado Rivers, firearms/hunting, REAL BBQ - not some half-assed attempt at fire+meat, etc. I wish they would stay home. If you want to live in a place like California, then go back there.
A lot of people have a CHL here, but most people just go about their business and don't concern themselves with it. Although almost everyone that I know here owns firearms, none of them have a CHL. A few are considering it. I will get mine soon. But we have only had a CHL program for a few years now, so maybe that explains the relatively low numbers.
Also, in Texas I can legally carry a handgun when I'm travelling, which is when I feel that I need it the most, when I'm going to Houston, Dallas or San Antonio. Since I can already carry in my time of need, that may have contributed to my tardiness in obtaining a CHL.
I think there are many people who are unregistered carriers here. There are a few other loopholes in the laws for carrying a handgun. You can legally carry a longarm in your car, loaded or not, at any time. You just can't bring it within 1000 feet of a school, prison, etc. Some people carry long guns in their cars here, but it's a little rare. Everyone that I know who has firearms have both pistols and long guns.
I don't think your interpretation of those statistics to mean there are more gun owners in Connecticut is valid. I would guess that 75%-90% of households in Texas have firearms. My 80 year old granddad has a loaded AR-15 next to his bed. And he needs it in his neighborhood in Baytown. Who knows how many firearms there are in Texas and how many owners there are, but I would guess 10 million people in Texas own firearms, and there are probably 30 to 60 million firearms here.
Also, I wouldn't rely on statistics that are learned from hearsay. That isn't a very good authority. Does anyone know for sure what the #'s are?
