Pro-gun Texan lawmakers in the state Senate got one step closer to passing a bill that would allow people to openly carry handguns.

On Monday, the Texas Senate voted in favor of legislation that would allow licensed gun permit holders to openly carry handguns. The vote was split down party lines as all 20 Republicans approved the bill and the 11 Democrats rejected it, reports The Associated Press.

The bill was also taken up for a vote on Tuesday, and passed in a 20-10 vote.

Now, it's up to the House to vote on SB 17. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has already announced that he would sign the bill should it pass both branches of the state Congress.

The bill, which seeks to overturn the state's 140-year ban on open carry, would grant concealed handgun license holders the right to display their guns outside of their clothes.

"I think what we're talking about here are responsible citizens who are trained who have gone through a background check and we will expect them to act responsibly," argued state Sen. Joan Huffman, a Republican from Houston, on Monday, reports USA Today.

Tensions flared in the Senate on Monday between the bill's author, Sen. Craig Estes, a Republican from Wichita Falls, and Sen. John Whitmire, a Democrat from Houston.

According to Whitmire, they should add an amendment to exempt the capitol complex from the bill.

"The idea that somebody's going to grab that gun, I think, is far-fetched," said Estes in response.

"It's not only offensive, it's dead wrong, to say that it's far-fetched that there's not disturbed people in this building," Whitmire replied.

Critics of the bill say that the law would send children the wrong message.

"On the one hand, they're getting a lockdown drill (at school)," said Stephanie Lundy, a spokeswoman for ​Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America. "On the other hand, they're being told that it's perfectly acceptable."