AUGUSTA (AP) — The Maine House on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would keep as confidential personally identifying information on concealed weapons permits, such as name, birth date and street address, rather than leaving it subject to Maine’s open records law.

Representatives voted 106-40 in favor of the bill, following the recommendation of the Judiciary Committee’s majority. It faces further House and Senate votes.

Rep. Corey Wilson’s bill would allow public release of aggregate information about concealed weapons permits, as well as information such as the permit holder’s gender, town, date of issuance and expiration date.

“That’s important because it allows transparency throughout the process to ensure that permits are being issued in a fair and reasonable way,” Wilson, R-Augusta, said after the vote.

What was hailed as a compromise bill was approved after the House rejected a proposed amendment that would have kept permit records open except for certain protected groups, such as police officers, judges, prosecutors, those protected by court orders and others who can show that release of their name might harm them. After a lengthy debate, the amendment was turned down by a 111-35 vote.

The bill came up for debate a week before a moratorium on the release of any concealed weapons permit information is due to expire. The moratorium was put in place in a hurried legislative vote two months ago. It came in response to a Maine newspaper’s request to municipalities and police across the state for information about all of Maine’s concealed weapons holders, through the state’s Freedom of Access law. While the Bangor Daily News insisted it never intended to publish identifying information, lawmakers and weapons owners worried that such requests would erode permit holders’ privacy protections.

Supporters of the failed amendment said that no law guaranteed privacy in Maine laws regarding concealed weapons.

Just as there is no right to a concealed weapons permit in Maine, there is no right to privacy in the issuance of concealed weapons permits, said Rep. Charles Priest, DBrunswick, who led the charge for the amendment that was rejected.

“To make a concealed weapon permit secret means you place all of your trust in the police and the issuing authorities,” added Priest, House chair of the Judiciary Committee, which reviewed the bill.