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DC residents will be carrying before NJ, let that sink in...

they say ban bumpstocks. we say ok, give us national recip. they say we'll think about it. we say ok. they get what they wanted. we get nothing. they say the ban wasn't enough. need to ban <insert item here>. we say give us national recip. they say we need to think about it. we say ok. well....not we.....but you get the point.

My wife and I traveled to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone last week.. It's always nice to get a taste of what's it's like to be in Free America, if only for a week and a half. We flew out of Newark to Salt Lake City on Delta. I had heard that Delta has made a practice of harassing travelers with firearms since the incident in Fort Lauderdale last year, where a guy retrieved his checked firearm, loaded up, and started shooting people. You can read more about it here: http://dryfiretrainingcards.com/blog/deltas-silly-new-rules-flying-guns/ I was pleasantly surprised that the baggage agent just had me fill out the declaration card, had me open my suitcase to ensure that my gun cased was locked and to place the card, and then just put my bag on the belt, and sent us on our way. Turns out he was slacking, because on the return trip the agent put my bag aside, and called over a TSA agent who proceeded to go through my entire suitcase with me watching. Upon our arrival back in Newark, I had to go to the baggage desk to claim my suitcase, which had a big sticker on it to say it needed special handling, and was locked shut with a thick zip-tie. I believe the most difficult part of staying on the right side of the law while carrying is not just knowing in which states one can carry. That's pretty easy to look up. It's some of the nuances that get trickier. For instance, one can carry in national parks if one is allowed to carry in the state the park is in. This can be challenging, as some parks span multiple states. Moreover, even if one can carry in a particular park, the firearm cannot be brought into government buildings, like visitor information centers, hotels, restaurants, and even gift shops. Outside the parks, another sticky situation is bars and restaurants. In some states, no weapons are allowed in establishments that serve alcohol. In others, they are not allowed in the section that is primarily a bar, but are OK in the area that primarily serves food. In some states, CCW in bars is OK, but one cannot consume any alcohol. In other places, alcohol consumption is OK, provided one is below the legal limit. I brought along my Springfield XD 9 mm subcompact, with two mags, a 25 round box of Hornady Critical Defense, and three holsters: an IWB for 4:00/kidney carry, an IWB for appendix carry, and an OWB. My go-to position is the first one I mentioned, because I find that it conceals well for me, but still allows easy access to my firearm. The problem I have found is that it gets uncomfortable when I'm driving for a long time, as I did on this trip. I tried the appendix carry, but found that also got uncomfortable, digging into my thigh when I was on the road for hours. So I settled on OWB at 3:00, which was comfortable driving. I don't think it was as well concealed as the others, but it seemed to work out OK with the heavy clothing we needed for the cold temperatures while we were out there. I made it a point to always keep an extra holster in the console of the car to stow my gun, as we were frequently going in and out of the government buildings mentioned above. In general, the whole thing worked out well. My wife has been more accepting of my concealed carry lifestyle on the road, which she viewed as somewhat quirky just a few years ago. I had no delusions that my 9 mm handgun would protect us against some of the wildlife out there, but it was better than nothing, and certainly provided protection against two-legged predators. While we were staying outside the park in the town of West Yellowstone, I discovered a gun range literally around the block from our hotel, which rented full auto weapons. Having always wanted to see what that was like, I couldn't pass up an opportunity like that. So on the last morning we were there, I strolled over and tried some out. Since this has already gotten pretty long (AVB range), I'll post the details of my full auto experience on another thread.

I changed my brakes today, couldn't get the bolts to 90 degrees, only got them to 60 degrees and wouldn't go any further. Using an 18 inch breaker bar and the bolts just wouldn't go any further. I did however have the car up on ramps and couldn't use a longer bar for better leverage. I did drive around for about 20 miles after bedding the brakes and everything looks good. I will need to get it to my local shop, get it up on a lift, and use a longer bar to take the bolts down another 30 degrees. But honestly, this is the dumbest design i have ever seen. TTY for head bolts and other engine parts I understand, but caliper brackets makes absolutely no sense.

https://www.fmjgunrange.com/ Full Meatal Jacket Gun Range on route 9 a few miles north of Cape May - fairly new, very nice!

Have one of each....standard wooden stock (from around 1987) and a takedown from their anniversary year. Like em both, but I really like the takedown.

have to agree with Vlad. those of us that were in the military and got to play with the full auto stuff got that out of our systems, yea it would be cool but if we can trade bump stocks for national reciprocity I'm for it but it MUST be very clear. it must include protections for self loading sporting arms so the USA doesn't have AR15's that look like NY's. the left needs to learn that black powder and wood for guns are a thing of the past and polymers, cerokote and space age alloys are in the present.

Nuance & FACTS are completely LOST on the emotional among us. The same gun owners that can't grasp high school punctuation (2C statute on firearm transportation: comma OR locked in the trunk of an automobile) can't grasp the true meaning of a carefully crafted statement. All they see is a lack of a temper tantrum and wonder why the NRA isn't trying to attempt said tantrum. Gun rights is the third rail of Second Amendment politics. Touch it & YOU DIE! Here's what Vlad G. said on another thread here on the forum: "It is friking genius, they (the NRA) are playing a much smarter game then most people realize. They read the tea leafs, and know that congress wants to do "something". By doing what they are doing, they take the wind out of "evil NRA is pro bump-stock", they point out it was the Obama era ATF that approved them and they are urging the ATF to look at them. That means that if the ATF reclassifies them, it takes the wind out of legislative actions that could be broader and dumber and could later be undone again with just and administrative change Before people are ready to burn their NRA cards like 70's bra's, consider that they have some pretty smart people working there, they are not the most powerful lobby for nothing". So before everybody burns their bras, let's see where this thing goes

Its always a long game, the other side always plays and we should too. It does however make it a lot more likely that SCOTUS will have to take the next case that comes to them. That doesn't guarantee a win btw.

Now Washington DC and Illinois is Shall Issue. And NJ is still no issue. Never would have thought that. I really am disappointed this didn't go to SCOTUS. This needs to be settled once and for all.

Not everybody needs the ability to become a better shooter at multiple disciplines, i.e.: black powder, shotgun clay birds, rifle at rifle distance of 100 yards, shoot action leagues (IDPA & USPSA), high power rifle league, et., etc. Or enjoy setting-up their own steel to CLANG . For those folks a commercial indoor range is just fine. My best advice for shooters is to never put all of your eggs in ONE basket. Be a member of more than one range if possible. Enjoy the outdoors as well as the indoor range experience, for both are rewarding. We welcome every new range that wishes to make a go of it in NJ and remind everyone here that building a range takes a ton of money so don't be scared of paying what some consider "real money" to belong & shoot there. No one is laying-out MILLIONS of dollars, paying employees a decent wage, and can afford to stay in bidness charging what SOME of you think range time is worth...

it is somewhat surprising....but the writer still has /'the govt must protect us" undertones.

It took me nearly three years to convince my wife that guns are not the problem, but that gun violence is just one manifestation of a deeper, far more troubling, epidemic of a broader social malady. Since the 1960's, the left has been engineering a society where the selfish wants of the individual are put over the overall health and happiness of the society. Impulsiveness is encouraged, family values are scorned, lewdness has become protected, the value of life diminished, violence glorified in every corner of media, especially music, disrespect for authority promoted by the liberal left. The mantra of the left is: "If it makes you feel good, do it. If there are consequences, fight American tradition to make it so there are no consequences .". The left has effectively done away with the concept of shame.

Wow, that was surprising... maybe the author reached those conclusions because she's also a statistician by training...? They tend to "follow the data" to its logical conclusions. Whereas most journalists these days (IMO) see themselves more as social justice warriors... and therefore see what they want to see.

To be optimistic: I hope that they go so far that the Supreme's are finally able to save us.

I work from home, so if I didn't have an elderly parent in NJ, I'd be gone already - even if it was just to hop over the border into friendlier, less expensive Pennsylvania. The gun issue, though certainly important, is merely one tiny slice of everything that's wrong with the state - a trend toward increasing gov't control and decreasing individual freedom cuts across MANY issues. The cost, bureaucracy and aggravation that results from that trend is just not worth the "benefits" of living here.

Maksim's post is a well reasoned and constructed argument, proceeding from a position of freedom, historical perspective, and common sense. Phil Murphy and the rest of the progressive Democrat NJ government do not occupy the same logical space. They proceed from the assumption that they know what's best for us, the rest of us don't, and therefore it's incumbent on them to place us in an ever tightening legal straitjacket until they accomplish their ultimate objective: confiscation. My wife and I have waited together for over 42 years for something to change for the better. It hasn't. It's getting worse. And the demographics in this state offer no reasonable hope that it will get better. The two of us are out of time. So we already have one foot out the door.