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Representatives of the state’s gun industry voiced their outrage Wednesday that proposed gun control laws were done in secrecy and behind closed doors.

Jonathan Scalise, the owner of Ammunition and Storage Components in New Britain, said he doesn’t know if his 150 employees can return to work Thursday if the legislation is approved. The company, he said, manufactures high capacity magazines that can hold up to 40 rounds.

“I have employees asking me if they can come to work tomorrow, and I don’t know what to tell them,” he said.

Despite Gov. Dannel Malloy’s assurances Tuesday that the proposed legislation won’t impact state  manufacturers, representatives of the industry said they don’t believe his word.

“The fact that the governor said manufacturers are exempt, that doesn’t mean anything at all,” said Jake McGuigan, a lobbyist with the National Shooting Sports Federation based in Newtown. “This is a mental health issue, not a firearms issue.”

McGuigan said they just received the proposed bill about two hours ago and have yet to review the legislation.

“Is it illegal for a truck driver to leave the factory,” he asked. “He would be in possession. We just don’t know.”

Both McGuigan and Scalise argued that they were cut out of the conversations with lawmakers about two weeks ago, shortly after Vice President Joseph Biden’s visit to the state, when lawmakers went behind closed doors to hash out an agreement.

“It’s an odd coincidence that (President Barack) Obama is visiting the state Monday,” he said, adding that there was a “tremendous lack of transparency” in the process.

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Protestors at the capital chant “just say no” to the pending gun laws.

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State Sen. John McKinney said that while his vote today may be “emotional” that’s not a reason to recuse himself from the historic vote on gun control legislation before the legislature today.

“Yes, emotions are part of this, but so is logic and reason,” he said inside the state Senate chambers shortly before the chamber convened.  “It’s also about  public policy and making us safer.”

McKinney said he’s received thousands of emails and text messages in recent days from his constituents about today’s vote, noting that most were in support of stronger gun controls.

“To me this is not a policital issue because I represent Newtown and the impact it had on the world,” he said. “This is something we have to do. I hope what we do today provides a small amount of comfort to Sandy Hook, not that it will relieve the pain. The bill itself will make Connecticut a safer place.”

Matt Bogtali of Danbury, one of the hundreds of gun rights supporters who descended on the capitol Wednesday, said he McKinney shhould recuse himself from the vote becuase of his comments that it will be “emotional.”

“I know he has a responsibility to Newtown but he also has a responsibility to all the citizens of Connecticut,” he said.

Bogtali added that he joined the NRA shortly after the Sandy Hook massacre.

“I knew where the national conversation was going and I wanted to align myself with the most powerful gun rights group in the country,” he said. “The lawmakers should be going after the mental health system instead of taking the easy way out.”

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Theodore Antonities is more tempered in his critique of the impending legislation than most card-carrying NRA members. A former naval radar intercept officer, was raised in a gun-friendly household in New York state.

For Antonities, of Ridgefield, preserving the right to bear arms is tantamount to adequately protecting one’s family. Or as he put it: “The important of never allowing myself or my family or loved ones to be victims of a violent crime.”

“Carrying a gun is not a license to hurt someone,” he said. “It is a means of last resort in a desperate situation.”

Unlike some of his cohorts, Antonities said that he has taken the other’s sides arguments into consideration in forming his opinion about the proposed gun control measures.

“Although the anti-gun (movement) is full of many well-intentioned individuals…many of them are misguided,” he said.

While he admitted that “whatever laws they pass here I’m going to abide by them – I’m not a rebel – but that’s an disadvantage to my community.”

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Watch live video coverage of today’s historic gun law vote.

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“The bad guy ain’t going to give up his guns,” said Rick, a refrain that was echoed throughout the early morning. “And if you don’t believe me watch ‘Gangland’ on Spike TV.”

As an example, he pointed to Chicago where gun violence has precipitously risen despite some of the country’s most stringent gun laws. The Bristol resident declined to give his last name because he did not want his neighbors to know that he’s a gun owner.

He said that he’s been a member of the National Rifle Association since the age of 12, and he believes fervently in starting gun safety training at an early age.

How early?

He claims that he took his six-year-old grandson shooting last week.

“This kid’s gonna be safe,” he said proudly. “That’s one sentence, I’ve never finished to a kid: ‘don’t point that gun at anyone.’”

As with other gun enthusiasts, he defended his right to bear arms by citing the Second Amendment.

“This is our heritage; we’re free because we have guns,” he said. “I was born free and I’m going to die that way.”