RUSK LIONS CLUB
Club hears program on gun licenses
BY BILLY WATSON

Tom Ball presented a program on applying for a license to carry a concealed handgun at a recent Lions Club noon luncheon.

A person may obtain a request for application materials from a handgun dealer, persons or entities approved by the Texas Department of Public Safety in Austin.

The request for application materials must include the applicants full name, address, race, sex, height, date of birth, and drivers license number or other identifying information as required by department rule. The Texas Department of Public Safety will make the proper form available. A person must fill out the form and mail it to Texas Department of Public Safety, P.O. Box 4143, Austin 78765-4143.

After proper review the department will determine if a person is qualified to receive a handgun license. If a person is qualified then the department shall forward to the individual the appropriate application materials. The applicant must complete the materials and mail to the Austin address.

If a person wishes to get in contact with Tom Ball, they may call him at (903) 683-2525 or visit him and Bill Hanson at Cherokee Arms and Pawn Shop on U.S. Highway 69 S in Rusk. Mr. Ball is a retired Texas State Trooper. He was also a Houston policeman for nine years.

He said that they had sold more than 9,000 guns, pawned over 14,000, has sold over 32,500 pawn tickets.

He began teaching a course in carrying concealed weapons in 1995 and it is a 10 hour class. Renewal is five hours. Licenses are good for four years and the price is $140 until age 60, then it drops to $70.

Renewals are good for five years until age 60 then it drops to $35. After the fourth time you renew, then you don't have to attend class, just send your money in every five years. Mr. Ball has to go to the Austin office every two years for recertification. He said that 20 million people had license to carry weapons.

Toni Guinn gave a short program on helpful hints for operating Dream Tree this year in December.