LANSING, MI -- The gun lobby had plenty of reason to celebrate Thursday in Lansing, where Michigan's Republican-led House approved a series of bills designed to make gun ownership records confidential, lift a ban on short-barreled shotguns and clarify what it means to "brandish" a weapon.

A six-bill package, now headed to the Senate for consideration, would amend the Michigan Handgun Act to exempt gun ownership records filed with the government from Freedom of Information Act requests.

"This protects the privacy of those individuals who practice their 2nd Amendment rights, said sponsoring state Rep. Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton). "These are law abiding citizens that went through the legal means, that went through the process and I believe what we're putting into statute is good policy."

The Michigan Supreme Court, in a 1999 opinion, held that disclosing gun records of private citizens through FOIA would be an "unwarranted invasion of privacy," but the case law is not currently codified by state law.

The new legislation was inspired by a suburban New York newspaper that published an interactive map showing names and addresses of local pistol permit holders in the wake of the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Connecticut.

The map was widely criticized as an irresponsible use of public information and prompted a swift response in New York, where state lawmakers temporarily restricted public access to gun records and later allowed owners to remove their names and addresses from a database. Some other states followed up with more restrictive proposals.

Jane Briggs-Bunting, a retired journalism professor who now heads the Michigan Coalition for Open Government, said the legislation appears to be "reactive rather than reflective" and would continue a trend in Michigan of limiting access to traditionally public data.

A resident may want to know whether their neighbor owns a gun before sending their child across the street to play, Briggs-Bunting noted, or a journalist covering a story like Sandy Hook may want to verify whether an alleged shooter had a concealed pistol permit.

"More and more information that used to be public is becoming private, and that's the special interests running the Legislature and not looking out for the public interest," Briggs-Bunting said. "There seems to be an attitude that when the public comes in asking for a record, we're treated as customers, and the customer is no longer always right. We're not customers. We're the boss. We're the employer."

House Democrats were split on the FOIA bills. State Rep. Jim Townsend (D-Royal Oak), who voted against the package, had proposed tie-barring the bills to his own universal background check legislation, but the Republican majority rejected his amendment on Wednesday.

"I want to make sure that the gun permitting system we have is not one that has a loophole the size of a truck you can drive through," Townsend said, noting that federal law does not require background checks at gun shows and state law requires them for handguns but not long guns. "Every day we don't act on this legislation, that we allow this loophole to exist, puts Michigan residents at risk."

Another two-bill package, this one introduced and advanced with bipartisan support, would clarify what it means to "brandish" a gun, excluding weapons that are holstered or on a sling. Instead, "brandishing" would be narrowly defined as pointing, waving about or displaying a gun in a threatening manner.

Open-carry advocates say the legislation would reinforce their rights under Michigan law, provide guidance to law enforcement officers and reduce the chances of an improper arrest. Both brandishing bills are also headed to the Senate for consideration.

Senate Bill 610, making its way toward the governor's desk after Thursday's 103-6 House vote, would lift the state's long-standing prohibition against manufacturing, selling or possessing a short-barreled shotgun or rifle.

Sponsoring Sen. Mike Green (R-Mayville) has said the legislation would align Michigan with a majority of states that allow residents to own short-barreled weapons -- not the sawed-off variety -- if they meet federal requirements, including a background check and a $200 tax.

The House also adopted a resolution urging Illinois, which recently adopted its own concealed pistol law, to recognize Michigan concealed pistol permits for gun owners who cross the border.

Jonathan Oosting is a Capitol reporter for MLive Media Group. Email him, find him on Google+ or follow him on Twitter.