black gun owners range train
(AP Photo/Lisa Marie Pane)

Texas is coming up on two years since permitless carry passed in the Texas Legislature, which has allowed Texans to carry handguns without a license since September 2021. Although they don’t need a permit to carry a handgun, over 200,000 people in Texas still obtained licenses in 2022.

According to Texas instructors like [Michael] Cargill who teach license-to-carry classes, the reasons for their students’ presence is clear. There are still benefits to taking the class and receiving a permit: knowledge about the law, ability to carry a gun across state lines and peace of mind. …

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, there was a huge spike in licenses issued during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Licenses issued increased nearly 56% from 2019 to 2020. That number dipped a bit in 2021 and dropped even further in 2022, the first full calendar year after permitless carry went into effect.

It’s unclear whether these numbers could include renewals of licenses. Texas DPS did not respond to requests asking for more specifics on these statistics.

The demographics of those receiving licenses have remained relatively the same, except for Black Texans. The number of Black Texans issued gun licenses rose steeply throughout the last seven years, going from 24,758 in 2016 to 28,359 in 2018 and then surging to 58,858 in 2020. The number dipped slightly in 2021 and is around the same as it was six years ago.

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60 COMMENTS

  1. But wait — asshole dacian says that Republicans hate blacks and work to deprive them of their rights, especially in red Texas.

    • What really terrifies dacian and miner49er is that blacks are waking up and leaving the reservation. miner is a Benevolent White Tyrant that believes that poc have to be treated like unruly children. Look at the left. Corporate billionaires and old white guys in office.

      dacian is just a sick racist puppy that thinks he looks good in Hugo Boss. Of course he wants minorities disarmed. It’s scary when they can fight back.

      • The gatekeepers are terrified that they no longer have control of the levers for communication.

        Channels like, I smoke Hip Hop, Coach Greg Adams, Fresh Out, Kwame Brown Bust Life, Anton Daniels, Walter Lee Hampton II, Young Rippa 59, Clifton Duncan. Candace Owens. Jessie lee peterson, The Tree House News. etc,etc.

        Locs and Load, black Rambo, Yoki Sturrup , DA Mon Stith, etc, etc.

        There are many others most folks have never heard of. The “Ghetto conservative” and others are here to stay. And that terrifies white liberal/leftists.

        • thanks for that list, christinky. i never would have found all those.
          i’ve only heard of candace, she’s all over the place.
          diverse ‘hood here, it’s nice to relay stuff that folks can hopefully relate to.

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  2. This is quite interesting when you considerthat black women almost entirely vote Democrat. This whole idea that a new gun owner is more likely to vote Republican as they exercise their 2nd Amendment rights is nothing more than complete bs. There is much America hate in this too.

    • Prndll,

      The problem with evil and True Believer Pr0gre$$ive Democrats (but I repeat myself) is that they can play and reap the benefits of both sides at the same time.

      For example:
      A welfare recipient is of course a strident Democrat voter (since Democrats keep renewing his/her welfare “benefits”, a.k.a. “free” money) and would never vote Republican because that would threaten to end the welfare gravy train. And yet that welfare recipient benefits from Republican policy which enables the masses–including that welfare recipient–to get concealed carry licenses without ever having voted for Republicans.

      And the same goes for a violent criminal who robs people. That violent criminal benefits from his/her robberies–and also benefits (in other ways) from a stable society (in which he/she lives) that non-evil policy makers enabled.

      Last example: an evil state. An evil state has no limits on just how far and heinous they will go to further their state’s interests–such as sending an assassin to carrying out a threat to poison and kill the 10 year-old child of a key policy maker who initially opposes the interests of that evil state. And yet the non-evil state where that policy maker lives cannot go carpet bomb the town where the assassin lives in retaliation (because that would kill innocent people as collateral damage).

      Moral of the story: good people and governments have a HUGE uphill battle to oppose evil.

    • “This whole idea that a new gun owner is more likely to vote Republican as they exercise their 2nd Amendment rights is nothing more than complete bs. “

      Maybe they’ll come around now?

    • NOT my registered republican beautiful black wife! Breaking: ILLANNOY supreme court keeps so-called ASSault weapons ban 4-3. Prickster gleefully happy his $1000000 bribes worked🙄😕

    • No Sir, it is not BS at all. Democrats look at demographics, and expect one or another demographic to be a solid block of voters they can count on. Hispanics in California threw a monkey wrench into their political machine with Proposition 8. Hispanics swung the vote in favor of Prop 8, much to the surprise of Democrats. Their only recourse was to file a suit, heard by an activist judge who legislated from the bench.

      Every minority person who purchases a gun is one more person who runs a good chance of “waking up” to the D party propaganda. Of course not every black female who buys a gun is going to turn Republican. That expectation is ignorantly naive. But, if 15% of those black women start voting R some of the time, or most of the time, those women can swing an election. Especially so in contested states, of which we saw 5 in the last race for the White House.

      Every minority person who buys a gun is a Good Thing. Blacks, male or female, Asians, Latinos, Pacific Islanders, you name it. When they become POTG, they’re less likely to drink the Dem’s Kool-Aid.

      • There might be pockets of normalcy here and there and I’m not suggesting otherwise. But after 2020, things changed. I’m happy to see more firearms within the general population. It makes me feel good to see more women at the range these days. What I am saying is that buying a gun is NOT a reflection of that buyers politics any any particular direction.

  4. I don’t need the people of Texas to be Republican, I need them to be Second Amendment advocates. We do not need the Republicans to do what they promised as much as we want to have the Democrats feel that they need the Second Amendment voters of their own party so much that they have do what the Republicans promised..

    • Wheaton Jaeger,

      I regret to inform you that your sentiment is wishful thinking.

      Democrat politicians and bureaucrats will do whatever their Party tells them to do with exceedingly few and insignificant exceptions.

      Note that the official Democrat Party platform and unofficial Democrat Party member statements make it crystal clear that they vehemently oppose the Second Amendment. There is nothing that you or anyone else can say or do to cajole or convince the Democrat Party to support the Second Amendment. That is the sad reality of our world.

      Just like you cannot cajole or convince a committed stalker to stop stalking his/her target, you cannot cajole nor convince the Democrat Party to do anything other than actively oppose the Second Amendment. Plan accordingly.

        • You’re nearly 60 years out of touch.

          Do you still pine for the glory days of democrat Jim Crow laws?

        • And the h0m0sexu@l elected leadership of the state of California, all agree with Gov Reagan. The gays hate open carry too.

          Because gays are s0ci@list pr0gressive in their p0litic@l 0rientati0n. They and the potheads are creating their utopia in California.

          Where no one will need a gun. Because all the drugs have been made legal and all the crime will go away.

        • And yet only Republicans voted against Mulford. Democrats universally voted for it making it pass with a veto-proof majority that the gipper had to sign.

          And the democrats cared about it’s racist nature so much that none of the supermajorities they’ve held since have touched it. Because they love blaming others for their own actions.

        • A california man that’s been dead for just shy of 20 years had backwards ideas on right to carry.

          Call me shocked

        • to dog of war
          Someone had to be first. It just so happens that it was the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, who were first to protest for the right to open carry.

          Were they the best example of good and responsible gun owners? Looking at the news pictures I’d say no. But the news likes to show only the worst pics of a pro gun protest event.

          The big mistake the panthers made was to walk onto the legislative floor with their guns. Out in the hall ways or outside the state capital building they were OK up to then.

          btw
          And in the Jim Crow South, the Deacons for Defense and Justice, didn’t have to ask for permission.
          It was widely accepted by the white establishment that black people and everyone else, have the right to open carry guns.

          But the image of an organized group of civilians openly carrying guns, at any state capital building, does concern people. In the 1960s.

          The “banana in my holster” protest in Texas. I believe gave America its “first inauculation” to the idea of civilians openly carrying guns peacefully.

          Just like the recent Bruin decision, that Texas protest had long-term, positive ramifications for our civil rights.

        • MINOR Miner49er. WRONG! As usual. It seems that the anti gun laws started in 1936 with the FFA. You Leftist control freaks have been at it ever since.
          While President Reagan was right about most things, as far as gun control goes, he was dead wrong.
          I recommended that you read Christopher A Crofts book A few Common Sense Gun Laws, did you bother to read it?

  5. Getting a carry permit is still a wise thing to do even in CC states.
    And, not just for crossing state lines but the carry license should
    tell anyone especially enforcement that you have enough discipline
    to take the training which so many politicians and enforcement folk bitch about.

  6. Even with Texas Constitutional Carry passing almost 2 years ago, having a LTC has many advantages, including no FBI NICS background check each time you purchase a gun. ( the only BGC in NICS is when your apply for LTC ) You walk in, show your LTC and payment and walk out with your gun in 2 minutes. You still have a 4473 form, but there is no electronic record at the FBI that you bought the gun. 4473’s stay in the gun store.

    • MB (the real MB),

      “… there is no electronic record at the FBI that you bought the gun. 4473’s stay in the gun store.”

      Your statement is technically true.

      Pro tip:
      Gun stores are required to keep 4473s for 20 years and, if the gun store closes shop, is also required to hand over all remaining 4473s to the federal bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms. The only way that fedzilla will not acquire your 4473 is if your gun store stays in business more than 20 years after your purchase AND your gun store has the presence-of-mind to destroy your record at the 20 year mark. I dare say that fedzilla will ultimately acquire about 90% of all 4473s. So, if you want to be confident that fedzilla never learns of your firearm purchase, buy your firearms from private individuals in private transactions.

      • But when the Nazi, i mean the ATF, come to inspect the record keeping at the store, they use their phones and make copies of the 4473’s and enter them into their database. I waited for the so called Constitutional Carry to pass instead of getting a permission slip from the government that allows me to exercise my constitutional right that i already have. To me this says that i agree that our government has the right to deny my God given rights. Just my way of looking at it.

      • @uncommon, in 20 years I will be long gone or just drooling on myself sitting at window. Just thought people should know that Constitutional Carry does not provide the same benefits as LTC. Also Constitutional Carry doesn’t protect you in places where firearms are restricted. LTC does provide a little more safety, and crossing state lines in a state that supports reciprocity will prevent you from ending up behind bars in another state.

      • I wonder if that was part of the plan of the current administration going gung-ho in revoking FFL licenses: embiggening The List.

    • Not really. Many stores have gone electronic with no physical paper being used. Then there is the process of what happens with those 4473’s when a store closes. What about all those reported ATF raids?

      The problem is the 4473.

  7. “going from 24,758 in 2016 to 28,359 in 2018 and then surging to 58,858 in 2020. The number dipped slightly in 2021 and is around the same as it was six years ago“

    Those numbers do not compute.

    Claim:

    24,758 in 2016
    28,359 in 2018
    58,858 in 2020

    “The number dipped slightly in 2021 and is around the same as it was six years ago“

    So if the number is “around the same as it was six years ago” (2017), the number is approximately 26,000, representing a drop of over 50% from 2020.

    It seems now that Biden is in office black folks feel a little safer.

    • minor49iq…Number crunching doesn’t matter to you one iota. What matters to you is using numbers as a means to do an about-face to praise Jim Crow Gun Control democRat joe. Got news for you…The evidence shows no one is safer with joe doing the driving including you.

    • The original reporter wasn’t clear; the sentence should read:

      “…and then surging to 58,858 in 2020. The number dipped slightly in 2021 to 45,804 permits issued, and in 2022 the level dropped off to around the same as it was six years ago with 26,433 permits issued.”

      After peaking at record high levels during 2020, licenses issued among ALL Texans dropped by approximately the same percentage since then, although renewals have now gone up during the past two years. In 2020 there were ~235,000 licenses issued; in 2021, ~149,000 and in 2022, ~55,000.

      “It seems now that Biden is in office black folks feel a little safer.”

      Asserting facts without evidence. The number of permits have dropped off because Texas hasn’t required a license to carry concealed for nearly two years.

  8. The democRat Party is worried because their plantation is shrinking. I mean History Confirms a Black American belonging to the democRat Party makes as much sense as a Jew belonging to the nazi party.

    The primary reason gullible Blacks vote for the Party of their Slave Masters is because the media has taken Racist from around the neck of the democRat Party and hung it around the neck of the Party of Lincoln. And that was and is the fault of wimpy Republicans.

    Nonetheless media trickery pales in comparison to the race based atrocities that History Confirms belongs lock, stock and barrel to the democRat Party. Once Black Americans realize they have been played for fools well watch out democRat.

    • It is interesting that Debbie continues to support a family whose racist history is a matter of public record.

      “United States v. Fred C. Trump, Donald Trump, and Trump Management, Inc.
      1:73-01529 | U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
      Filed Date: Oct. 15, 1973
      Closed Date: 1977”

      https://clearinghouse.net/case/15342/

      • Wait a minute, I read your article and it’s pretty weak:

        “Taken together, these statements clearly suggest that Biden believes all black people think alike.“

        And you’re outraged by that?

        But can you show where Biden had a continuing pattern of unlawfully denying public accommodations to Black folk, as Donald Trump has?

        I provided the name and case number were Donald Trump and his father were sued because they were systemically denying black Americans equal access to the rental properties.

        Your turn Debbie, provide case name and number for the lawsuits against Joe Biden for racial discrimination.

      • Also, Miner49er apparently can’t read AND comprehend, confirmation bias will do that to ya Miner49er.

    • People vote for whoever will give them the most free shit. Screeching ad nauseam about racism will not change that.

      If you want to change things, you first have to acknowledge the actual problem instead of repeating the same ignorant stuff.

  9. minor49iq…Never mind DJT in the 1970s, his family, etc. A time when DJT was a democRat Party contributor like you still are today.

    Your rhetoric shows you are aware of the democRat Party coast to coast race based atrocities yet you still are a democRat who just praised the racist joe biden. A pos who attempted to lynch Justice Thomas on TV duing his confirmation process. And joe as were bill and hilliary very close pals with sheets byrd, etc. You are grasping at straws.

    Fact is America witnessed DJT on his TV show and as POTUS. America knows those him calling him a racist are slanderous disgruntled desperate marxist democRats like you trying to sway public opinion. You have no podium whatsoever slave master.

    TRUMP 2024.

    • “minor49iq…Never mind DJT in the 1970s, his family, etc“

      Never mind? So what Donald Trump did in the 1970s isn’t relevant today?

      So why do you keep harping on what some Southern Democrats did in the 1870s?

      Again, the historical record shows Donald Trump and his entire family unlawfully discriminated against black folks. And even after they were proven innocent, Donald Trump demanded the death penalty for the so-called central park five because they were black.

      Face it, Trump is a racist, it’s in his blood the record also shows his father was arrested at a Klan rally, why do you continue to believe Donald Trump is the chosen one when it’s clear he’s just another wealthy elite bigot.

      Not to mention he’s also a traitor to the United States Constitution who conspired with others to overthrow the free and fair election as mandated by the United States Constitution.

      But all good Americans can look forward to Donald Trump being hauled before the bar of justice and held accountable for his treasonous behavior.

      Stay tuned, more to come!

  10. Racial data shouldn’t be collected like this.
    The entire premise of asking an applicant what race they are only fuels a system of quotas, restrictions and bias.

    Instead of a nation of people wanting this harmful question removed from bureaucracy we have an abundance of people demanding more options to label, discriminate and marginalize themselves.

    Problem #1: a permit exists at all
    Problem #2: said permit wants to know your race, gender, your neighborhood, where you work and by virtue of a fee checks your financial status.
    Problem #3: the application requires you have a valid ID and we’ve all been told a thousand times not everyone can get an ID and it’s discriminatory to ask for one.

    Abolish permits. Abolish IDs. Abolish bureaucracy.

    • “Racial data shouldn’t be collected like this.”

      Applicants have the opportunity to refuse to specify their ethnicity; 12,285 of the 2022 applicants are listed as “Other/unknown.”

      • The Texas info is drawn from their carry applications, not the 4473.

        But you are correct about race and ethnicity; both are required answers on the 4473.

  11. black people
    are tired of their blue city governments
    ignoring crime
    especially violent crime
    and this is a direct result

  12. So, just which party wants to eliminate the Second Amendment again? Which party is pushing censorship of any dissent? Which party demands everything be viewed through the lens of race? Which party is demanding racial segregation in schools and workplaces? As well as special treatment for certain groups?
    Racist overlords always seem to prefer frightened, disarmed victims instead of armed and capable citizens.

  13. LTC IN TEXAS , TRAINING ALWAYS GOOD . ALSO CAN CONCEAL CARRY THEN .
    I LIKE MY LTC , CONCEAL CARRY FOR ME …

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