UPDATED: Democrats say that the support the poor, but when it come to letting the poor defend themselves, if it were up to Democrats in Texas, they would never have lowered the fees paid the state for permits. In Texas only Democrats voted against reducing the fee to get a concealed handgun permit from $140 to $40. In the Texas state Senate 54% of the Democrats voted to lower the fees for getting a permit. But in the Texas state House, only 32% voted for the bill both times that it came up. If there had been only Democrats in the state legislature, the bill would never have been passed the first vote in the state House.

Texas state Senate

In March, by a 26 to 5 margin, the Texas state Senate has voted to lower the fee for getting a concealed handgun permit from $140 to $40. Renewal fees will also fall from $70 to $40. Texas’ permit fee is the second highest for any right-to-carry state, behind only Illinois. While all 26 Republicans voted to lower the fee, Democrats were divided with 6 voting to lower the fee and 5 voting “no.” This is consistent with the actions in other state legislatures where Democrats have opposed lower concealed handgun permit fees. The only difference here is that a slight majority of Democrats actually supported a lower fee.

This is consistent with the actions in other state legislatures where Democrats have opposed lower concealed handgun permit fees. The only difference here is that a slight majority of Democrats actually supported a lower fee. Dr. Lott’s research has shown that it is primarily poor blacks who live in high crime urban areas who benefit the most from having permitted concealed handguns. High fees discourage these very poor people from having the opportunity to defend themselves.

The vote was as follows (Democrat Senators are in Bold):

Yeas: Bettencourt, Birdwell, Buckingham, Burton, Campbell, Creighton, Estes, Hall, Hancock, Hinojosa, Huffines, Huffman, Hughes, Kolkhorst, Lucio, Miles, Nelson, Nichols, Perry, Schwertner, Seliger, Taylor of Galveston, Taylor of Collin, Uresti, Whitmire, Zaffirini. Nays: Garcia, Menendez, Rodrıguez, Watson, West. Texas state House The Texas state House on May 2nd wasn’t quite as lopsided. SB 16, as amended, was passed to third reading by (Record 607): 111 Yeas, 30 Nays, 2 Present, not voting. However, on May 2nd, out of 54 Democrats in the Texas state House, 21 voted Yea and 30 voted No. Between the two votes on May 2nd and 3rd, only 17 voted Yea both times (32 Democrats voted No at least once, one was absent both times, and two were absent on at least one of the votes). Democrats are shown in bold. Vote on May 2nd Yeas — Allen; Alvarado; Anderson, R.; Ashby; Bailes; Biedermann; Bohac; Bonnen, D.; Bonnen, G.; Burkett; Burns; Burrows; Button; Cain; Canales; Capriglione; Clardy; Cook; Cortez; Cosper; Craddick; Cyrier; Dale; Darby; Davis, S.; Dean; Elkins; Faircloth; Fallon; Farrar; Flynn; Frank; Frullo; Geren; Goldman; Gooden; Guerra; Guillen; Gutierrez; Hefner; Herrero; Holland; Huberty; Hunter; Isaac; Johnson, J.; Keough; King, K.; King, P.; King, T.; Klick; Koop; Krause; Kuempel; Lambert; Landgraf; Lang; Larson; Laubenberg; Leach; Lozano; Lucio; Martinez; Metcalf; Meyer; Morrison; Mun ̃oz; Murphy; Murr; Neva ́rez; Oliveira; Oliverson; Paddie; Parker; Paul; Perez; Phelan; Phillips; Pickett; Price; Raney; Raymond; Rinaldi; Roberts; Rodriguez, E.; Sanford; Schaefer; Schofield; Schubert; Shaheen; Sheffield; Shine; Simmons; Smithee; Springer; Stephenson; Stickland; Stucky; Swanson; Thierry; Thompson, E.; Thompson, S.; Tinderholt; VanDeaver; Villalba; White; Wilson; Workman; Wray; Zedler; Zerwas. Nays — Alonzo; Anchia; Are ́valo; Bernal; Blanco; Coleman; Collier; Davis, Y.; Deshotel; Dutton; Gervin-Hawkins; Giddings; Hernandez; Hinojosa; Howard; Israel; Johnson, E.; Minjarez; Moody; Neave; Ortega; Reynolds; Rodriguez, J.; Romero; Rose; Turner; Uresti; Vo; Walle; Wu. Present, not voting — Mr. Speaker; Kacal(C).

Absent, Excused — Anderson, C.; Bell; Miller.

Absent, Excused, Committee Meeting — Gonzales; Longoria. Absent — Dukes; Gonza ́lez. Final vote on May 3rd Unofficial Totals: 129 Yeas, 17 Nays, 1 Present, not voting Yeas – Allen; Alonzo; Alvarado; Anchia; Anderson, C.; Anderson, R.; Ashby; Bailes; Bell; Biedermann; Blanco; Bohac; Bonnen, D.; Bonnen, G.; Burkett; Burns; Burrows; Button; Cain; Capriglione; Clardy; Cook; Cortez; Cosper; Craddick; Cyrier; Dale; Darby; Davis, S.; Davis, Y.; Dean; Deshotel; Dutton; Elkins; Faircloth; Fallon; Farrar; Flynn; Frank; Frullo; Geren; Giddings; Goldman; Gonzales; González; Gooden; Guerra; Guillen; Gutierrez; Hefner; Hernandez; Herrero; Holland; Huberty; Hunter; Isaac; Johnson, E.; Johnson, J.; Kacal; Keough; King, K.; King, P.; King, T.; Klick; Koop; Krause; Kuempel; Lambert; Landgraf; Lang; Larson; Leach; Longoria; Lozano; Lucio; Martinez; Metcalf; Meyer; Miller; Morrison; Muñoz; Murphy; Murr; Neave; Nevárez; Oliverson; Paddie; Parker; Paul; Perez; Phelan; Phillips; Pickett; Price; Raney; Raymond; Rinaldi; Roberts; Romero; Rose; Sanford; Schaefer; Schofield; Schubert; Shaheen; Sheffield; Shine; Simmons; Smithee; Springer; Stephenson; Stickland; Stucky; Swanson; Thierry; Thompson, E.; Thompson, S.; Tinderholt; Turner; VanDeaver; Villalba; Vo; White; Wilson; Workman; Wray; Wu; Zedler; Zerwas Nays – Arévalo; Bernal; Canales; Coleman; Collier; Gervin-Hawkins; Hinojosa; Howard; Israel; Minjarez; Moody; Ortega; Reynolds; Rodriguez, E.; Rodriguez, J.; Uresti; Walle Present, not voting – Mr. Speaker(C) Absent, Excused – Laubenberg Absent – Dukes; Oliveira

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concealed handgun permit fee, impact of gun control on the poor

By johnrlott

