Gun lovers threatened to boycott a Maine restaurant this week after it banned assault rifle owners and people who support owning the military-style weapons for personal use.
In a Facebook posting, Anne Verrill explained why she was banning some gun owners from her Foreside Tavern & Side Bar in Falmouth and Grace restaurant in Portland.
"I have spent 12 years, intentionally, not being political on this page," Verrill wrote on the Grace Facebook page. "Let me be clear, this is not a political issue. This is a human rights issue. If you own this gun, or you condone the ownership of this gun for private use, you may no longer enter either of my restaurants, because the only thing I want to teach my children is love."
Verrill included a photo of what appeared to be an AR-15 assault rifle with her post.
“I cannot, in good conscience, accept anyone inside of my restaurants who believes that this is OK,” she said.
Verrill told WMTV that she wanted to be able to tell her children that she did more than "liked some Facebook memes and talked to like-minded people about our outrage and sadness."
"Or will I say that I used the loudest voice I knew to shout my outrage and condemn the violence and beg for change in the most effective way I could see. Will I stand on the right side of history?" she remarked.
Maine Gun Owners Association President Jeff Weinstein predicted that Verrill's plan to ban assault weapon owners would not work.
"The same question to be had, 'Why would somebody buy a 600-horse power automobile?'" Weinstein opined. "It's a good question. I don't think anybody has a really good answer other than, 'I like it.'"
