DAHL

I reviewed the law and it says that basically you can't carry anywhere in your vehicle or in any public and private place. This is clearly an unconstitutional carry ban and will not hold up in court. All they can do is to ban carry from state and federally owned buildings. This law should be and will be immediately appealed. Only arrogant socialist legislators supports legislation that is clearly illegal but we have many of these in our legislature that care nothing about the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

It is hoped that once you receive a carry permit, a similar pistol to the one that you past the qual with should be your choice to carry.

Jay Factor is truly one of the good guys among NJ gun owners. He is a text book on constitutional and NJ law and has taken it upon himself to help others with the carry permit process. He seems to only communicate on woke Facebook (that I refuse to participate on) but his efforts should be appreciate by everyone here.

In a very populous state like NJ demonstrating a small degree of proficiency to get a CCW license may be beneficial but this makes NJ a "may issue state" not a shall issue state like most others. The problem is that the so called Qual here is undefined and done very differently at various ranges. Some places insist that you qualify like the police and FBI agents while others just look for a basic level of proficiency, and safety that you will probably need to do just to shoot at a range.

To date I cannot find that any carry permits have been issued in Somerset County NJ. From an anonymous source; his opinion is that the county will begin issuing carry permits but with a strict court order limiting where you can and cannot carry. With a few thousand permits in backlog (est) its anyone guess when we will see them signed off and issued. If anyone living in Somerset County knows differently please post more current information.

As of today Mercer, Atlantic, Cape May ,Middlesex and my home county of Somerset have yet to issue a single carry permit. From what I can tell the process is at a standstill. A few of my friends have filed in July and its now October; over 90 days pending. How long can this continue before legal action comes into play? I wish ANJRPC would step in.

No one can convince me that a timed qual draw from holster and down on your knees is a fair nor is a timed reload and fire sequence. Maybe for an egoist or LEO but not for the average gun owner. As a long time gun owner, I did the qual standing ( 10 rds sitting) at the ready (Glock 26/Ruger LC9) out to 20 yds, 10 yds, 7 yds and 3 yds, slow fire, rapid fire with a segment using the off hand and scored 49 out of 50 on the target and easily passed. The GFH qual is very similar to this and I consider that very adequate for a civilian. Passing should indicate safety and proficiency to hit the target. In NJ the CCW applicant is being vetted far more stringently than anyone applying for a carry license in other states. I didn't take the TTC qual as it presents a far fetched scenario to new gun owners, seniors and women as most self defense situations are done standing within 15 feet with few shots being necessary, but at times you can never satisfy the "what if" and "may issue" people among some gun owners.

It has become obvious to me that Tactical Training is NOT the place to try to qual. The qual that they use is just about the FBI/Police qual. There is NO reason to put people that wish to carry through such a stringent test. All the law says is that you must demonstrate proficiency with the pistols that you will carry. Thats it. Requiring civilians to pass a test designed for law enforcement that have police academy training is asinine. In view of this I urge all of you that wish to qual to avoid the Tactical Training Center in Flemington, NJ. The fact that TTC is reporting a high failure rate only proves that they want you to fail and spend more money doing the qual all over again. I totally disagree with the last sentence from ESB. You can be very proficient shooting 50 shots from the ready position (fast and slow) at a Q target at 15, 10, and 7 yards (R-L). Lets also not forget that we are qualifying with compact carry pistols with short barrels around 3".

Just for info. As of today no carry permits have been issued by Somerset and Middlesex Counties to all those that have applied correctly and passed the qual. There is no indication when the permit issuing will start.

Just a heads up for Somerset County NJ CCW applicants. As of today zero permits have been signed off and issued by the county. I have no idea why this is so, but speculation is that the county is waiting for the AG's office for comments and guidelines. Other counties have also not issued carry permits so the tactic may be to wait until the last minute. If judges do not sign off then where does this all go?

I have been following this very closely. Hillsborough where I live has received several dozen carry permit applications. AFAIK no carry permits have been issued in Somerset County NJ so far. A bit of information that has trickled in says that Somerset will only sign off on a very few permits each month. This could change but the system of putting the decision before the judge is causing a huge backlog of permits to be issued and I am not optimistic that completion can be done in an expeditious manner. My guess is that it may be months before you see your permit come through but I hope that I am wrong about this..

Recent information from a reliable source. In Somerset County, NJ the prosecutor will not review the applications but the plan is to approve only 5 carry permits per month. AFAIK no one in Somerset County has received a carry permit so far. Bottom line is that with the current strategy it may be a long while before you get your carry permit here. This is illogical thinking as gun owners already have their pistols. If we were to carry outside of our residences, the county should know that we would be just as law abiding as we always are.

That is correct. One can only wonder why firearm liability insurance is illegal. Just another way to punish lawful and peaceful firearms owners.

If you get through the Qual and put your application in the next step is fingerprinting. The state outsources this to IdentoGo. Trouble is that many IdentoGo locations don't have appointments available until mid October. If you want a more recent appointment, if you wish to travel; you can search IdentoGo locations across the state to see what they have available. The fee is $59 but if you do the fingerprinting out of state to get a more recent appointment the cost is $96. The funny thing is that I am already in the IdentoGo system with TSA precheck but this didn't matter . Both the state and IdentoGo insisted that I do it all again.

FYI, the Glock 26 gen 5 with the marksman barrel will allow you to make hits at 25 yds. The hits may not be precise but it can be done on the rather large Q target. I was a bit tight for the range session but had only one miss for the RPO similar qual that I completed. The whole class took over 3 hours. Application is in and now we wait to see how the Hillsborough PD, the Superior Court and the Somerset County prosecutors office handles it. The fee is a $50 money order. I was told that ONLY money orders are accepted as payment and not bank checks. Having completed classes and the qual; I would say that any gun owner that regularly practices who can consistently keep his shots on target can pass the RPO qual. The challenge is to do it with a small concealment firearm with a short sight length.

The police department in my township ( Hillsborough) in addition to the required forms is now also asking for a copy of your drivers license and birth certificate. The prosecutors office has also asked to review all applications before they are signed by the judge. Seems like every effort is being made to extend the process.

I live in a rural area at the junction of Somerset, Hunterdon and Mercer Counties where there are many small and medium size family farms. My qual was done on a farm with an NRA complaint range constructed and owned by a friend. It is my friends private range not open to the public. He chooses to remain anonymous. The instructor held a 3 hour class on safety and the use of legal force before I started. The qual was based somewhat upon the RPO requirement by a certified NRA instructor who is also certified to do the police qual. It was done sitting, standing, two hand, single hand, right hand and left hand. You can find many instructors who work for ranges that are listed on the NJ state police website who could come out to your private range if you have one . I wouldn't call the qual easy but I shot over 90% with a Glock 26.

Just passed the qual for Somerset County today. It was at a private range- 20 shots at 20 yds, 10 shots at 10 yds and 10 shots at 7yds both right and left handed. Now to get the paperwork together, the forms, photos etc and submit it to the police department. It was just reported that the Somerset NJ prosecutors office wants to see all the permits before they are signed by the judge. That is not normal protocol but adds a slowdown of at least 2 more weeks. I have no idea what they are trying to accomplish.

With all this discussion about "qual" I find this whole process quite discriminatory. My brother in law is a cripple in a wheelchair and wants to shoot and carry. His hands and arms work OK but he can't walk very well. What do all you macho guys say about that?

I have made many calls to different places and spoken with instructors who are doing the quals. Prices average $150--$175. There is an enormous difference in what each place considers a qual. The law just states that you must demonstrate safety , proficiency with the firearm that you intend to carry and submit scores. . There is nothing in the NJ carry permit law that states yardage, timing, target choice and position. The state police may recommend something but that's about it. I wish to qual at 3, 5, 5, 7 , & 10 yds standing. There is no logical reason to be tested at 15 or 25 yds as self defense at those distances are rare. If I have to add 15 so be it but shooting with a Glock 26 is challenging.

Stu the point that I am trying to make is that civilians are not police. Most states understand this and have alternatives, none at all or very easy requirements for carry. Certainly seniors, women, and people that have a touch of arthritis in my knees as myself would have trouble firing from a kneeing position. I will try to to qualify with my Glock 26 and I will probably pass as long as I don't have to kneel down and shoot.

Stu. Are you aware that police officers qualify with their service weapon that is most likely a Glock 17 with a 5" barrel? That qual also allows them to carry a small back up or off duty pistol with say a 3" barrel that they don't have to qualify for. . Us civilians are at a distinct disadvantage trying to qual with a 3-3.5" barrel. This info on the police qual for off duty and back up weapons comes from a police relative.

I'll go along with this but civilians are not police and qualifying with a concealed pistol with a 9 mm with a 3-3.5" barrel at 25 yds is ridiculous. Safe handling and a qual in keeping your shots on the Q target at 10-15 yds max should is the requirement and it is at many ranges. .

IMO, in the law, the only standard for NJ Qual is to insure that the applicant can safely handle a firearm and that they can hit targets up to 15 yards. To put everyone through the same qual test as a police/FBI qual is discriminatory to seniors, women and those who have trouble shooting from a kneeling position. Civilians are not police and should not be held to the same standards. NJ needs to adopt the PA CCW qual for a carry permit.

The qualification requirements for obtaining a carry permit in New Jersey are the same as the FBI in-service qualification HQC-1 using the FBI Q type target. It is broken down into 8 segments 25 yd, 15, 10, 7, 5 and 1. In all segments you are required to draw from concealed, fire and hit the target. Positions are standing, kneeling, and ready. There is one segment where you must shoot with your "off hand" another where you must do a quick magazine reload. Time of each segment varies from 2 to 30 seconds as fast shooting. You will fire 60 rds and be required to hit the target 48 times or more to pass the qualification test. Most ranges will NOT allow you to draw and fire a loaded gun from a holster so this must be looked at. You can only qualify with the pistol that you intend to carry. Not easy right now as the requirements for NJ carry are identical for FBI agents and law enforcement..