Thanks to the overwhelming number of phone calls and e-mails from dedicated NRA members, the New Jersey Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee decided to hold Assembly Bill 588 for further study.

While this fight is not over, this is a big win for gun owners in the Garden State. During Monday’s hearing, Assembly Bill 1013 passed in the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee with amendments that attempt to address gun owner concerns and has been referred to the Assembly Appropriations Committee where further amendments may occur.

Law-abiding gun owners can breathe a sigh of relief due to A588 being held for further study by the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee. Sponsored by Assemblyman L. Grace Spencer (D-29), A588 has been confused for police safety legislation aimed at armor-piercing ammunition (which is already prohibited under federal and state law).

This measure actually would have opened the door to a sweeping ammunition ban by an unelected public official by executive fiat. Common hunting, target, and self-defense ammunition would have been subject to ban by the Attorney General, along with BB’s, airgun pellets, and non-metallic ammunition like plastic airsoft pellets, if he determined that they pose a threat to the safety and well being of law enforcement.

Although A588 only mentions handgun ammunition, it is in fact not limited to handgun ammunition, and would have applied to all rifle ammunition for which a handgun is ever made. As an increasing number of gun manufacturers make handgun models that shoot rifle caliber ammunition, the line between “handgun” vs. “rifle” ammunition has become blurred, and the New Jersey State Police have already begun treating rifle ammunition in this category as if it were handgun ammunition for regulatory purposes. As long as a handgun exists that shoots a particular caliber of rifle ammunition, New Jersey treats that ammunition as if it were handgun ammunition.

The Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee did pass A1013 with amendments that attempt to address gun owner concerns. This legislation will now head to the New Jersey Assembly Committee on Appropriations. A1013, sponsored by Assemblyman Charles Mainor (D-31), would criminalize the use of a defaced or stolen firearm that is used to injure a police officer and enhances penalties for defacing a firearm. One provision of this police safety legislation significantly increases the penalties relating to “defaced” firearms.

Because of New Jersey’s longstanding poorly-crafted definition of “defaced” firearms, it is possible that refinishing a firearm, or long-term damage from rust or scratches from ordinary wear and tear, could be deemed “defacement” subjecting honest gun owners to lengthy prison sentences, even though identifying information on the firearm is still legible.

We would like to thank all of the NRA members who voiced their opposition to A588 and A1013. Please continue to check AmmoLand Shooting Sports News and www.NRAILA.org for more updates on A588 and A1013.

About:
Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights and sportsmen’s group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation’s leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military. Visit: www.nra.org

A formal Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request for access to the NJ Division of State Police Firearms Applicant Investigation Guide was filed on March 14, 2011. A week later this request was summarily denied. Attorney Gutman then filed a lawsuit requesting that an “order to show cause” be served on the NJ Division of State Police to explain why they refused to allow access to what should be considered a public document. The order to show cause was served on May 6, 2011.

After multiple delays by the state’s attorney general’s office the case was heard by Judge Douglas Hurd in the Superior Court of New Jersey in Trenton on December 2, 2010. Unfortunately, Judge Hurd ruled against the NJ2AS. The judge’s decision was based in part on the exemption which the Division claimed under Governor Christie’s Executive Order #47. Part of this order exempts certain governmental agencies from having to reveal Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) no matter how innocuous. The NJ2AS’s request for access was also denied under the Common Law Right of Access (CLRA) which balances the plaintiff’s right to access against the state’s perceived need to protect the public interest.

The NJ2AS contends that there can be no threat to the public interest in exposing the contents of a guide designed to assist municipal authorities through the convoluted process of granting a NJ resident a Firearms Identification Card or a Permit to Purchase a Handgun. Every applicant must submit to a thorough criminal background check as well as a mental health check. They must be fingerprinted and have their fingerprints checked through an FBI database. The Society believes that nothing in the guide could possibly disclose any way to circumvent this rigorous process.

The NJ2AS also contends that the entire process is redundant since a handgun purchaser must submit to an FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check (NICS) at the point of purchase. The antiquated NJ Division of State Police processing was designed at a time before this more efficient national process was developed. New Jersey’s system has since become a slow, costly and redundant relic in light of this newer computerized system.

“If the state insists on continuing the use of this inefficient system of processing applications,” states Frank Jack Fiamingo, the founder and President of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society, “New Jersey residents must have access to the guide in order to ensure that they are not being subjected to tougher standards then residents in any other part of the state. We have received numerous complaints from our members as well as members of the community at large that they are being treated unfairly. For instance, we have identified more than 25 NJ municipalities that have introduced additional forms which are specifically disallowed under the NJ firearms statutes”.

In addition, Fiamingo indicates that he has received countless complaints of delays in processing that range from several months to over a year. According to the statutes, these applications should be processed in no more than thirty (30) days.

The New Jersey Second Amendment Society is dedicated to restoring and preserving constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms (RKBA) for legitimate purposes.

Federal Judge William H. Walls, a Clinton appointee, dismissed a case filed by both organizations challenging New Jersey’s handgun carry laws, which have all but eliminated the right to self-defense with a firearm outside the home.

“The Second Amendment Foundation and ANJRPC are prepared to take this case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where SAF has already won a landmark case defending the rights of gun owners,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb.

In upholding the New Jersey law, which effectively denies the right to carry a firearm for self-defense outside the home, Judge Walls wrote “the protection of citizens from potentially lethal force is compelling.”

“The judge has it backwards,” said ANJRPC President Scott Bach. “If he really cared about protecting citizens from lethal force, he wouldn’t be interfering with their constitutional right to defend themselves against violent criminals. Ironically, the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the police owe no duty to protect individual citizens, so you’re on your own when you step outside your home. This decision wrongly demonizes those who want to take responsibility for their own safety and turns all but a privileged few into helpless victims.”

Particularly disturbing to Gottlieb was Judge Walls’ comment, “The Supreme Court has found limitations on the scope of a constitutional right outside the home in the First Amendment context, recognizing a right to privately possess obscene materials in the home but allowing the states broad power to regulate obscenity outside the home.”

“He appears to suggest the right to keep and bear arms is an obscenity,” Gottlieb said. “I wonder how that view might square with Thomas Jefferson or James Madison.”

Judge Walls’ decision sets the stage for appeals which could bring this case to the U.S. Supreme Court as early as next year. The case was filed in late 2010 by ANJRPC, SAF and six individual plaintiffs, challenging New Jersey’s “justifiable need” standard for issuance of handgun carry permits, which is nearly an impossible standard to meet. Plaintiffs believe that requiring a showing of “need” to exercise a fundamental right is unconstitutional.

The House showed its utter disregard for public safety in November when it approved the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act, which would take away the authority of states to decide who is allowed to carry a concealed and loaded handgun within their borders.

This is really “utter disregard.” Consider the following passage:

For example, New York, New Jersey and other states that bar individuals under 21 from obtaining a concealed carry permit would have to honor permits from states with no age requirement. The measure would also hamper efforts to combat illegal gun trafficking. An individual with a concealed carry permit from Florida — which allows the holder to carry unlimited numbers of concealed weapons — could drive a stash of weapons into New York and would have to be caught selling the guns on the street to get arrested.

What is stopping those teenagers in Harlem from arming themselves now? They don’t have concealed carry permits. This argument only aims to show that it would punish the law-abiding as the criminals are already breaking the law.

Does a posted speed limit by itself stop speeding? No, so why would a law such as this change who is packing an illegal gun and who is legally carrying a gun? Except to make it illegal to even carry a gun in the first place? In the end it seems to use the illegal gun would still be carried.

The first step in the three year process of bringing a facility like RTSP close to home, was finding a location that would be range-friendly, which could have been quite a hurdle given the current gun climate in the New Jersey.  The location on Route 10 was being developed at the time and the owners discovered the land on which the complex was being built had originally been zoned as a range in the 1960s and 70s.   When they went to the landlord and presented the idea of building the range within the new complex they discovered the landlord is a hunter himself and he readily gave his consent to the partners to build.  Permission to begin construction was then approved with the full support of the town council as well as the local police department.   The partners began planning what is now RTSP, a beautiful, spacious state of the art shooting, teaching and retail facility.

The Range

The range itself is 25 yards long and consists of nine ports all with electronic keypads and turning targets.  Each port is large enough to accommodate more than one shooter at a time as would be ideal when teaching, and there is plenty of room on the bench for firearms, ammunition and shooting gear without feeling crowded.  The entire area behind the shooters is clear back to the large ballistic rated viewing windows which are set in the rear wall of the store.  A staging table is set just below the windows inside the range.

Jointly designed by Action Target and Carey Ventilation, safety and healthy air quality were top concerns when outfitting the range.  Action Target’s shooting stalls are designed with an impenetrable barrier between the shooters to stop handgun rounds when fired even at point blank distance.  The range is equipped with a negative pressure, lead free HEPA filtration system designed and maintained by Carey Ventilation.   The system directs an even air flow down range past the firing line and away from the shooters, allowing for the best possible, contaminant free environment for an indoor range.

The range is also a contained environment with an outer door leading from the store to the range, then opening to an inner space which leads to the range door.  It’s impossible for both doors to be open at the same time offering a safer atmosphere overall.

The Training Center

The training center includes a spacious 30 student classroom where a variety of classes are set to begin this month, running on a two week schedule – they will include for example, First Steps Pistol and Utah CCW classes.  A full schedule of classes will be available on the website at www.rtsponline.com and the offerings will continue to expand to meet the needs of the members and interests of the customers.

Plans to build a five room Simunition Shoot House on the premises are also in the works.   Simunition provides realistic training situations to individuals and teams to improve tactical skills and conditioned response to fear. Used as a training tool since the 1980s to help law enforcement officers, military personnel and emergency response teams it is now available to civilians at qualified ranges in the area.

There will also be classes and events planned for women and taught by women.  Look for them on the class schedule in December/January.

The Retail Store

The store is open and inviting, offering a woman friendly and family friendly environment.  Included in the merchandise are shooting and self defense products specifically for women.  A “kitchen” corner with chairs and a table offers customers a place to relax and take a break or have a cup of coffee with other members or friends.  It is obvious much thought was put into creating a comfortable space for customers right down to the restroom facilities.

As the store just opened, the inventory will be built up over time and the owners will stock the store based on input from their customers .

Membership and Pricing

Now for some details – RTSP is easy to get to.  It’s located on Route 10 in Randolph close to Route 80 in Morris County.  There is ample parking right in front of the range entrance.  The weekday hours are Monday through Wednesday and Fridays from 10 am to 8pm, Thursdays from 10 am to 10 pm, Saturday 10 am to 6pm and Sundays 10 am to 5pm.   Additionally, members only have hours from 8am to 10 am on Saturday and Sunday.

Membership costs $350 for the year which includes unlimited access to the range and a store discount (excluding firearms).   Additional family members can be added on for $75.

The range is open to non members at $20 an hour for handguns and $25 for rifles.  All calibers up to 50 BMG can be fired at the range.  Only slugs are allowed to be fired from shotguns.  A variety handguns are also available for rental.

Now, it defends measures such as the bill that passed in the House yesterday, which would allow even dangerous people to carry concealed weapons in New Jersey, and every other state.

Why do editors always assume that the worst of humanity are those who will take advantage of these laws? What about the law-abiding citizens? Apparently in New Jersey only gangster and thugs would ever consider owning, let alone wanting to carry a gun, so therefore banning all guns only hurts them. That seems to be the line of thinking here.

The problem is that it does only hurt the law-abiding by banning guns. Criminals don’t need a bill passed by the House or any other law to allow them to carry guns, because – simply put – the criminal types would ignore the law in the first place!

The article adds:

Gun owners don’t want people to carry concealed firearms in states where they’re not allowed to. They don’t want gun licenses for anyone who poses a threat or has multiple arrests or criminal convictions, the poll shows.

It is fascinating that NJ.com thinks they can speak for all gun owners. No gun owners don’t licenses for those who pose a threat, but what makes anyone think most of the people who pose a threat bother with licenses at all?

Different states have different rules for carrying concealed handguns, and for good reason. Rules that make sense in largely rural Western states such as Montana or Wyoming can make much less sense in more urban states such as New York and New Jersey, where legislators have made it harder to get a carry permit than it is out West.

There are several problems with this line of thinking,not the least bit of which is why should those in urban states have their Second Amendment rights reduced? Didn’t the Supreme Court rule that communities cannot restrict those rights? Shouldn’t hunters, sport shooters and gun collectors be able to obtain the same firearms as those in other states? Again, restrictive laws only punish the law-abiding and don’t do the least bit to deter criminals.

But there is one other point we’d like to bring out front and center. Recently New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg attempted to chart the course of legislation in Virginia, and in the past his group Mayors Against Illegal Guns attempted to prove that gun shows in other states allow for straw purchases. Where is the media outrage at these facts?

This is the problem with the anti-gun line. It calls for states’ rights when it suits the issue, but throws it out the window when it is the least bit inconvenient!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fC2iu3CTPc

“We don’t need states like Texas, Arizona and Alaska telling us how to protect our people from gun violence.”

This is a bold statement, but could gun owners respond by saying that we don’t need states like New Jersey, Illinois and California from telling us that that we don’t need our guns?

Lautenberg of course sees it differently, writing that “our streets are flooded with guns,” and adds:

“In New Jersey, we work hard to keep guns out of the hands of people who have no business having them. Before we issue a permit for concealed carry, we require applicants to complete a firearms training course and demonstrate why they need to carry a handgun. These rules make New Jersey’s handgun laws among the nation’s toughest — and our state should take pride in that.”

The truth is that New Jersey is not without gun crime, so how is it that “the nation’s toughest” laws allow this to happen? Lautenberg also fails to note that criminals don’t apply for permits to carry, nor do they take a training course and never both to demonstrate why they need to carry a gun.

When I heard about the recent toy gun buyback by Stop Shootin’ Inc in Newark, I thought, here we go again. The goal of trying to decrease the culture of violence that exists in many communities across our country is an admirable one, however a toy gun buyback program does little to address the problem, just as a real gun buyback program doesn’t do much to make our communities safer. It’s merely symbolic to take away toy guns when kids are exposed to extreme violence in movies, television shows, gaming and the internet – what is really missing is parent involvement, encouraging imaginative play and getting kids active and engaged with each other. A one day focus on destroying plastic toys does none of this, even with selective programming. Where is the follow through?

When I was growing up, my parents couldn’t always send the six of us to camp in the summer so we were sent off to play outside. There was no Xbox so we hit the backyard and the game of choice was Cowboys and Indians. My sisters and I would meet up with the other neighborhood kids following breakfast and head off for the woods. We broke off into teams and spent the day climbing trees, searching for cover and taking prisoners. We only came home when we were hungry and our parents didn’t tell us to make sure we brought our cell phones with us.

There are very few opportunities for kids today to play freely as we did in an unstructured, uncontrolled environment. There is a fear of letting kids be free, to connect with nature and each other, so instead they sit inside in front of the Xbox and connect via the internet. They don’t get to go wherever their imagination takes them, even to an innocent game of Cowboys and Indians or Cops and Robbers.

As adults we are all guilty of allowing this to happen, and it is easy to blame the results, especially in the inner cities, on an evil “gun culture”. The fear of allowing our kids to roam freely today does have merit, the streets of any suburban neighborhood can be a dangerous place for children. But it can be overblown too and it does affect the psyche of our children. It is easier to lock them inside than to teach them how to engage safely with the world around them. We should be focusing on ways to allow our children to experience the freedom of previous generations, so they can foster good connections to other people, to communities and to nature even in places like Newark, NJ.

I believe violence is taught either by example or by omission of important values – it is not learned from a plastic gun inside a cardboard box. Yes, if you want to say children, particularly boys are attracted to guns, fine. Educating children on how to be safe around real guns is the easier part. Responsible ways to handle or not handle guns can be taught by responsible parents, or New Jersey schools can promote programs designed for this purpose, like the Eddie Eagle program. The harder part will be changing the way we think about giving kids opportunities to make positive connections. If we continue to control the way this generation is raised, to lock down access to freedoms and choices and opportunities for imaginative play for our children, one has to wonder what they will think about their freedoms when they get older.

At our house, the Spivack family Nerf wars will continue. I love to see my children, who at a wide range of ages often have a healthy dose of sibling rivalry, band together, plan and execute against their parents to play out the Nerf battles. It’s not about taking down anyone in a blaze of glory – it’s about teamwork, and it’s about family fun, the same way it is when we play Scrabble or Monopoly. I’d much rather hear “stick ‘em up” coming from the playroom than nothing but the noise from the television and video games.