(CNN) -- It started off as a letter, but for former Marine Joshua Boston it was more than that. It was about his freedom. The Afghanistan veteran wrote an open letter to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, saying that he would not register his weapons with the government even if a ban on assault weapons is passed. The letter started on CNN iReport and gained mass attention online, obtaining a quarter-million views as of Friday evening and appearing on several other news outlets. Boston said he was inspired to send in the iReport because he felt as though some gun owners were being unfairly targeted. He is angered by "the fact that I'm supposed to be punished for doing nothing more than owning a rifle that looks scary because its stock isn't made out of wood," he said.
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Former Marine says he will not register his guns even if a federal law is passed
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Marine's open letter goes viral online; draws fiery responses from CNN commenters
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Sen. Dianne Feinstein said after the Newtown school shooting that she plans to introduce a ban on assault weapons
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The bill aims to revisit a 1994 assault weapons ban that expired in 2004
"I own the guns I own because I acknowledge mankind's shortcomings instead of pretending like they don't exist," @placeholder wrote.
This is untrue; in fact, my guess is that he swore to defend the country and respect its laws when he entered the @placeholder."