A bill to crack down on unauthorized paramilitary training passed the House Wednesday despite concerns from Republicans that it is unconstitutional.

Rep. Laurie Osher (D-Orono) sponsored the bill in response to a neo-Nazi training facility planned for the Penobscot County town of Springfield in 2023.

“While that facility did not ultimately take shape in large part as a result of significant public pressure, those events highlighted the need to clarify language in current law and provide better remedies to ensure such activity can be prevented and stopped if necessary,” Osher said earlier this year.

On Wednesday, the House voted 72-71 on final passage of the bill, sending the bill to the Senate for one last vote.

The bill prohibits someone from “intentionally or knowingly” teaching someone about firearms or bombs if the training is intended to be used to commit “civil disorder.”

It also prohibits gathering with others to be trained in techniques to cause civil disorder, which is defined as “any public disturbance involving an act of violence by a group … that causes an immediate danger of injury to another person or damage to the property of another person.”

Several Republicans spoke against the bill Wednesday, saying they believe it runs afoul of the First and Second amendments to the Constitution.

“We don’t have to like what said Nazis did,” said Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn). “We don’t have to like what they stand for. We don’t have to agree with their positions. We don’t have to think well of them. But you know what we do have to do? We have to protect their First Amendment right to free speech and association.”

In response, Rep. Sue Salisbury (D-Westbrook) said the bill does not infringe on constitutional rights.

“We’re not trying to stop people from legally owning weapons or legally learning about those weapons,” she said. “Civil disorder. That’s what we’re talking about.”

Rep. Tavis Hasenfus (D-Readfield) said a prosecutor would have to prove that the training is intended to lead to violence for the activity to be found illegal.

“What they have to know is that the training is intended to perpetrate an act of violence,” he said. “If your intention is not to be violent then you have absolutely nothing to worry about.”

But Rep. Michael Lemelin (R-Chelsea) said he worries that a group of teenagers might gather to train with firearms and get in trouble because of the prohibition against paramilitary training.

“This bill is very vague,” he said. “This bill just doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do. I ask everybody to really give this some thought and realize that this is a huge mistake.”