what is a license to carry in texas
Gun laws in Texas The Texas handgun carry permit was previously called a "Concealed Handgun License" or CHL. This has changed on Jan 1. 2016 to LTC "License To Carry" and at the same time the laws changed to include "Open Carry". Permits are issued on a non-discretionary ("shall-issue") basis to all eligible, qualified applicants. Texas has full reciprocity agreements with 30 states, not including Vermont (which is an "unrestricted" state and neither issues nor requires permits), most of these having some residency restrictions (the holder must either be a resident of Texas or a non-resident of the reciprocal state for the Texas license to be valid in that state). Texas recognizes an additional 11 states' concealed-carry permits unilaterally; those states do not recognize Texas' own permit as valid within their jurisdiction, usually due to some lesser requirement of the Texas permit compared to their own.