CHL: License to carry or license to kill?

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The Paper – Community News Paper Serving The Woodlands, Spring, & North Houston Areas

For better or worse, American Sniper, the film based on the life story of U.S. Navy Seal Chris Kyle, has prompted vibrant discussion among both supporters and skeptics of the Iraq War, where Kyle saw four tours of duty. The film has also raised questions among Second Amendment advocates and opponents alike, regarding the wisdom of open carry and even concealed handgun licenses, and if individual gun ownership is a license to carry or, to the extreme, a license to kill.

“I’m not sure that a sniper movie has much to do with CHL anymore than a B-1 bomber has to do with a Volkswagen,” James B. Towle, a 25-year security and law enforcement veteran, observes.

Conversely, Towle’s experience has taught him that the vast majority of rational individuals do not invest in the time it takes to obtain a CHL license with the thought that it’s a license to kill.

Towle says that, by far, the majority of CHL holders are homeowners, parents and business owners who consciously and responsibly believe they need to protect themselves, their businesses, their families, and their property because law enforcement cannot reasonably be expected to be available to protect them, twenty-four/seven.

“Normally, these people have had a gun in their hand before,” Towle says of CHL holders. “Certainly there are exceptions, but I don’t know of anybody who’s ever been in a class, or who I’ve spoken to, who hasn’t been around guns before who suddenly decided they wanted to get one.

One exception would be women who may have had exposure to guns through fathers or brothers who hunted, but they never handled guns before they decided to protect themselves and obtain their CHL.

By the time that class ends, individuals will be skilled and familiar with the responsibility of carrying a concealed handgun. If not, instructors will dismiss them, or they will drop out voluntarily, Towle says of almost all cases.

The Texas Department of Public Safety backs up Towle’s claim. The number of murder and manslaughter convictions of CHL holders, during the reporting period between 1996 and 2011, totaled 30. This number translates to less than one percent of every 100,000 concealed handgun licensees being convicted of murder or manslaughter.

Founder of American Trigger Sports Network, James B. Towle hosts Stop The Threat, a program featuring a round table of expert guest panelists who analyze dramatic reenactments of life-threatening, real-life crime scenes. Stop The Threat airs Monday night on Sportsman Channel at 9:30 p.m. central time (DirecTV Channel 605/Dish network 395HD and 395) and Friday night on Pursuit Channel at 9:30 p.m., central time (DirecTV Channel 604/Dish network 393).

For more information on Stop The Threat or James B. Towle, please visit www.stopthethreat.tv.