How to interpret Texas CHL statistics from the DPS website?

[Nite]

Hi, everyone. I'm not sure how to interpret some DPS statistics.

One great thing that the DPS does is break down the number of "License Applications: Issued" according to county. When the numbers change for a particular county, what does the change mean? Also, does the number of issued licenses account for brand-new licenses AND renewal licenses, OR does the number of issued licenses represent brand-new licenses alone?

Here's an example.

Let's compare the statistics from 2004 vs. 2005.
2004: http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/rsd/chl/reports/2004Calendar/ByCounty/CY04CountyLicAppsIssued.pdf
2005: http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/rsd/chl/reports/2005Calendar/ByCounty/CY05CountyLicAppsIssued.pdf

And for the sake of argument, let's look at Dallas county.

2004 Dallas County: 4,431 License Applications: Issued, Overall population of 2.2979 Million. (U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division - Google Public Data Explorer)

2005 Dallas County: 4,943 License Applications: Issued, Overall population of 2.3172 Million.

The change in CHL licenses issued from 2004 to 2005 is: +512.

Which is correct?

• a.) The number of CHL holders in Dallas county at the end of 2005 is the sum of 4,431 from 2004 and 4,943 from 2005, which is 9,374.
• b.) The number of CHL holders in Dallas county has increased only by 512 between 2004 and 2005. The number from 2005 represents ALL of the CHL holders in Dallas county up until this particular moment in time.

Kinda hard to believe that ( 4,431 / 2.2979 Million ) = 0.193% of the total population had a CHL in 2004. I figured that more people would be licensed. I'm sure this number is low because the overall population would also include infants and children. My gut instinct tells me that there would be more than 4,431 gun owners in Dallas County in 2004.

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[Robb in Austin]

Sure there are more gun owners than that.

No idea on the other data. There was a thread I saw earlier where someone asked about the statewide data and why so few folks have a CHL. There are many answers to that question.

 

[smtimelevi]

Hi, everyone. I'm not sure how to interpret some DPS statistics.

One great thing that the DPS does is break down the number of "License Applications: Issued" according to county. When the numbers change for a particular county, what does the change mean? Also, does the number of issued licenses account for brand-new licenses AND renewal licenses, OR does the number of issued licenses represent brand-new licenses alone?

Here's an example.

Let's compare the statistics from 2004 vs. 2005.
2004: http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/rsd/chl/reports/2004Calendar/ByCounty/CY04CountyLicAppsIssued.pdf
2005: http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/rsd/chl/reports/2005Calendar/ByCounty/CY05CountyLicAppsIssued.pdf

And for the sake of argument, let's look at Dallas county.

2004 Dallas County: 4,431 License Applications: Issued, Overall population of 2.2979 Million. (U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division - Google Public Data Explorer)

2005 Dallas County: 4,943 License Applications: Issued, Overall population of 2.3172 Million.

The change in CHL licenses issued from 2004 to 2005 is: +512.

Which is correct?

• a.) The number of CHL holders in Dallas county at the end of 2005 is the sum of 4,431 from 2004 and 4,943 from 2005, which is 9,374.
• b.) The number of CHL holders in Dallas county has increased only by 512 between 2004 and 2005. The number from 2005 represents ALL of the CHL holders in Dallas county up until this particular moment in time.

Kinda hard to believe that ( 4,431 / 2.2979 Million ) = 0.193% of the total population had a CHL in 2004. I figured that more people would be licensed. I'm sure this number is low because the overall population would also include infants and children. My gut instinct tells me that there would be more than 4,431 gun owners in Dallas County in 2004.

Thanks so much for your help!

Are you an accountant or something?

 

[Bithabus]

Those numbers are for carry permits. In Texas you don't need a license to own a firearm.

 

[txinvestigator]

As Bithabus wrote, those numbers have nothing to do with gun ownership. Heck, a CHL holder might not even own a gun.

 

[Nite]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm not an accountant. I'm trying to get some numbers together to justify to the bank that I have a valid consumer base to open an indoor gun range. I'm at least 100+ miles away from the closest indoor range, and 30+ miles away from the closest outdoor range. I'm doing my research, that's all. I want to overwhelm the bankers with numbers and statistics that'll prove that I'll be able to pay back their loan.

 

[Bithabus]

Here are data on NICS checks by state, for each year: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/reports/080112_1998_2012_State_Monthly_Totals.pdf

 

[Lost Spurs]

Here is data on NICS checks by state, for each year: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/reports/080112_1998_2012_State_Monthly_Totals.pdf

Cool info. Those Kentucky boys must know how to party. Even if half of the NICS checks result in an actual gun sale those numbers do say some interesting stuff.


Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[smtimelevi]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm not an accountant. I'm trying to get some numbers together to justify to the bank that I have a valid consumer base to open an indoor gun range. I'm at least 100+ miles away from the closest indoor range, and 30+ miles away from the closest outdoor range. I'm doing my research, that's all. I want to overwhelm the bankers with numbers and statistics that'll prove that I'll be able to pay back their loan.

Nice, thats upstanding! You definitely want to look into overall gun ownership for that. There's only 500,000 -600,000 CHL holders in TX.

 

[smtimelevi]

Cool info. Those Kentucky boys must know how to party. Even if half of the NICS checks result in an actual gun sale those numbers do say some interesting stuff.


Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

No kidding. Theyre double what we are here.
I'm kinda surprised how high Illinois and California are. I wonder if it has to do with their state laws requiring private party transfers go through a dealer and having the NICS check ran on both parties...

 

[stdreb27]

The answer is A. 9k odd applications over that 2 year period. Although you want to use background checks not chl apps...