Maura Healey gun protest

Gun owners protest Attorney General Maura Healey's interpretation of the assault weapons ban at a rally outside the Statehouse on July 21, 2016. (Shira Schoenberg / The Republican)

BOSTON - Yoni Argov of Brookline owns semi-automatic guns. They're a hobby and a passion for him. He hunts turkey and deer, but mostly he shoots paper targets.

"I followed the letter of the law every single step of the way in Massachusetts," Argov said.

Attorney General Maura Healey's announcement this week that guns that are substantially similar to assault weapons fall under Massachusetts' assault weapons ban means guns of the type that Argov owns are likely considered illegal.

Argov knows Healey has said she will not prosecute anyone who purchased a gun legally before this week. But he also sees it as a gray area, since Healey is saying that the guns he bought were illegal under state law, even though neither the dealers nor the purchasers knew that.

"I'm here basically to make sure I don't become a felon," Argov said, during a protest outside the Statehouse Thursday evening.

Healey's sudden announcement on Wednesday that she was clarifying the state's assault weapons ban has drawn ire from gun dealers and gun owners.

Healey says gun manufacturers were taking advantage of a loophole in the law, which bans assault weapons and copies or duplicates of assault weapons. She said manufacturers were making guns that had only slight changes from assault weapons, then marketing them as "state-compliant." Around 10,000 of these guns were sold in Massachusetts last year.

Healey's directive to gun manufacturers clarifies that if a gun's operating system is the same as that of a banned weapon or it has components that are interchangeable with those in a banned weapon, the gun will be illegal to sell in Massachusetts.

Healey only notified gun dealers of the directive in a letter sent Tuesday, and she said the ban on selling the guns was effective Wednesday. Gun dealers with existing stock would have to transfer them to dealers out of state.

Healey, a Democrat, and several members of law enforcement agencies said banning these guns is an important public safety step, taken in response to mass shootings conducted with assault weapons elsewhere in the country.

Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, said he largely supports Healey's actions. But he said it is important that she not prosecute anyone who bought a gun legally before this week. He also urged her to provide clarity on which guns are banned.

"I support the Second Amendment to our constitution, as well as Massachusetts' gun laws, including the ban on assault weapons and believe the Attorney General should take enforcement action against gun manufacturers who seek to skirt the Commonwealth's laws," Baker said in a statement.

"Given that her recent action potentially leaves tens of thousands of law abiding citizens open to criminal charges, I believe it is important to protect those who purchased firearms they understood to be legal on or before July 20th of this year," Baker said. "I agree with the Attorney General that it would be unjust to prosecute those who simply sought to follow the law and I strongly encourage her office to provide clarity for law abiding citizens simply seeking to follow the rules."

Gun owners are planning a protest on Saturday. Some protesters also showed up at the Statehouse on Thursday.

"We're protesting the fact that the attorney general has reexamined laws that were written 20 years ago and reinterpreted them with no due process and no votes," said Eric Connely, a gun owner from Lynn. "It's not right."

Doug White of Lexington said he is a competitive target shooter. He said the AR-15 style rifles that would be banned by Healey's interpretation have become the preferred target rifle for many competitions.

He pointed to 2014 FBI data, which shows that not a single homicide that year was known to be committed with a rifle in Massachusetts. There were 33 homicides by handguns and 48 by unknown firearms. (The remaining 50 homicides in the state were committed with knives, other weapons or hands and feet.)

"Where's the problem? The problem is in Orlando, it's in lots of other places," White said, referring to the site of a recent nightclub massacre. "But Massachusetts has a unique system where they ban bad gun owners, they don't ban gun ownership and they don't ban necessarily a large number of firearms that have perfectly legitimate sporting and self-defense uses. This whole thing is nothing but political grandstanding."

"We're just here to protect our freedoms," added Ian Murphy of Walpole, who uses semi-automatic guns for sport, hunting and protection.

Murphy sees the protest in line with Jeffersonian traditions of reminding rulers "that the spirit of rebellion exists within its people."

Matthew Solander, of Quincy, a gun owner and hobbyist, said banning these guns for law-abiding citizens will not keep them out of the hands of criminals.

"I believe everyone has the right to own semi-automatics for recreation, hunting and sport," Solander said. "Frankly, just outright banning them will not stop a criminal from obtaining them, and they don't understand that."