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maintenanceguy

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Posts posted by maintenanceguy

  2. Posted

    Although I grew up in rural NJ on a farm and now live around the corner from where I grew up, I lived in New Brunswick and Bayonne for just over 10 years after college - I understand the political climate in the rest of the state. I owned guns then and in college would take a bunch of the kids from my dorm on road trips back home to shoot for the weekend. Everyone had a blast, nobody ever didn't want to come. Some weekends there were 12 or 15 of us caravaning down to the farm. I don't think any of these kids had ever shot a gun before.

     

    Fast forward 20+ years. I still have half a dozen friends from college all over northern NJ that I've stayed close too. Several became gun owners because of that experience. One close friend has a Christmas party every year in Bayonne. He usually sneaks me up to the 3rd floor bedroom to show me his latest purchases. He's become a big collector but thinks his North Jersey friends wouldn't understand.

     

    I understand not wanting to blacklist your kid. But the down side of acting like gun ownership is a dirty secret is that you reinforce that idea among the people who already believe it is. 10% of New Jersians own guns. There aren't enough people down here in SJ to make up nearly 10% of the state. Those of you in Newark, Bayonne, Highland Park - all of North Jersey have friends and neighbors who own too. And if you're an upstanding respectable guy, you might be able to convince somebody that not all gun owners are scum bags if you aren't ashamed of it.

     

    I realize that college kids are more open to trying new things than 40 year-olds are but invite a friend to the range who's never been. I believe that most of those who are against Guns know very little about them. If every one of us can respectfully, and politely introduce a friend to responsible gun ownership, we might shift the anti-gun tide in NJ.

     

    I've made a point of doing this. My daughter is 13. I've asked her a couple of times if she would like to invite a friend to shoot with us. A few times she's said "I don't think her parents would like that" and we didn't. Twice she said yes so I called the dad and asked if it would be okay. I don't know the dads so they are already likely gun owners but they said yes both times. The girls had a fun, safe time and one more future voter is now just a little more comfortable with guns and understands that gun ownership isn't reckless because I shoot safe and made sure they did too. I understand the political climate is very different here but both girls came back to visit again.

  5. Posted

    I have a Black powder rifle hanging on living room wall. Daughter's 13, Son's 6. Lots of sleepovers, birthday parties, and other visits from friends and nobody has ever asked.

     

    Of course, I'm in rural south jersey. It's a chilly weekend but I heard 2 neighbors shooting in their back yards yesterday. I took the kids out back to shoot some cans this afternoon. We had breakfast at church and spent the time talking about the 22 bills that just passed the assembly. It's a different New Jersey down here south of the Mason Dixon line.

  6. Posted

    Automobiles are taxed after the sale because they are big ticket items and the government wants to be sure they got their cut - they aren't going to trust you to pay the use tax on something that big.

     

    And yes, you are supposed to pay the tax on all purchases whether the taxes are collected during the sale or not. Here in South Jersey, a lot of shopping happens in Delaware tax free. We are supposed to report all of that to the state and pay the sales tax.

  8. Posted

    This is good. The NRA needs to start relating to people instead of fighting with people. The gun debate is emotional, not logical (often for our side too). This guy works on both levels, logic and emotion.

     

    Now we need a bunch of female spokespeople who can talk about how they saved lives with their gun, and lots of young people.

     

    When the NRA only has older white men to deliver the message, they're only talking to the group that already believes. It's time to educate the masses instead of just rallying the troops.

  9. Posted

    I don't live anywhere near Essex Co. but if you really want to know what's happening, file an OPRA request with the county administrator requesting a copy of the contract with the company that is doing the restoration work on the damaged mental health records and a copy of the contract with the company that is doing or will be doing the mental health background checks for the local PD's.

     

    You aren't even required to fill out the proper form, an email to the county clerk is all that's required. It's your tax money, you have a right to see the contracts. I believe they have 7 days to respond - it may be 10. I've done a few OPRA requests and the process is always easy, govt. units have always been cooperative - as long as you know what you're asking for. They are not required to do research, only to provide requested documents.

  13. Posted

    My first post here:

     

    My daughter knows the kid who got shot. I don't know the father but we have several friends in common. Rural area - everybody knows everybody here.

     

    The kid was facebooking the incident from the hospital the night it happend while he was waiting to see the doctors.

     

    Apparently he was hit by a ricochet off of a tree. The kid was on the other side of a clearing but not in the line of fire. Father shot and one pellet bounced off the tree and hit the kid. Single pellet lodged behind the kid's nose.

     

    My daughter just mentioned to me that the kid had a second surgery this week to "make sure everything healed okay". But she's not sure it was a surgery, maybe just a visit. He is fine.

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