jersey_emt

According to http://www.njguns.com/permit.htm: There are two types of purchase permits in New Jersey. The first is the Firearms ID card and the second is a Pistol Permit. You will need to apply for both if this is your first time buying a firearm. The Firearms ID card is used in two ways. First it allows you to purchase any long gun (rifle/shotgun). Second it has an SBI number on it which is required for your NIC check at the time you purchase a pistol. You must have the FID card even if you don't plan on buying a long gun.

Really? Can you buy a pistol without one? ... Absolutely. As said many times here, a FPID is for PURCHASING long guns. You need a FPID to obtain a handgun purchase permit. Hence, you cannot buy a handgun without an FID/FPID.

If the grip of the Glock 26 is too thick for you, then I would suggest taking a look at the single-stack 9mm Sig Sauer models. The current model is the P239, and the earlier model is the P225 or the P6 (West Germany police version of the P225). Both have an 8+1 capacity, and the grips are much thinner than a double-stack design like your Glock 26. I have a Sig Sauer P6 and love it, if you would like to try it out let me know. I'm a member at Ready Aim Fire in Bristol, PA and can bring a guest for free. I also have slightly smaller hands and find the Glocks to be a bit too 'chunky', and the P6 fits my hands perfectly.

I was once stopped by an officer in Colts Neck for apparently speeding 80 mph on the 50 mph stretch of Route 34 that runs through NWS Earle. I won't deny that I was speeding, but I did have the cruise control set at just over 60 mph, nowhere near 80 mph. 30+ mph over the limit is a 5-point ticket, and a court appearance is usually required. I went to court on the specified day, expecting to have the prosecutor offer a plea bargain for a 4 point violation (15-29 mph over the limit), or maybe, if I was lucky, a 2 point violation (1-14 mph over the limit). Instead, they told me that my license was to be suspended for between 30 days and 90 days. For a single speeding ticket. I had at the time 2 points on my license for an 'unsafe lane change' from 2 1/2 years prior, but the prosecutor said that didn't matter -- even if I had a completely clear license for 30 years, Colts Neck local statutes had a mandatory 30 - 90 day license suspension for a 5-point violation. The best offer the prosecutor would give was a recommendation to the judge that my license be "only" suspended for 30 days, not 90 days, a $500 fine, a $150 yearly surcharge from the DMV for 3 years, and $100 to the DMV to reinstate my license after the suspension. So $1,050 in fines, 30 day license suspension, and whatever the insurance company decided to charge for the next 3 years. This was completely unexpected of course, so I said that I wanted to consult with a lawyer. A new court date was scheduled, and I hired a lawyer, who was able to bring it down to a 2-point violation with no license suspension. Even though the lawyer charged $500, it ended up costing much less than what it did -- $200 fine and no increase in insurance rate (since the previous 2-point ticket was by then more than 3 years in the past and no longer affected my rate), so $700 total. So yes, just a speeding ticket can result in a license suspension, in addition to the points and fees.

I was at the range this weekend and shot both my handguns (a Sig Sauer P6 and a S&W Model 59). Just a little while ago today, I was sitting on my back deck, cleaning them both. I was cleaning them outside because the cleaning supplies (solvent) gives me a headache if I do it inside the house, even with an open window and fans. I had just finished cleaning and oiling the S&W, and was starting to field strip the Sig, when the doorbell rang. I set the gun down on the table, and answered the door to find two police officers. Apparently, they had received a call about a "man with a gun" on my property. I told them that I legally own two handguns, had taken them to the range over the weekend, and was cleaning them out on my back deck. They asked what kind of guns they were, and asked to see my FID card and ID. After looking at my FID and driver's license, they asked if I had pointed the gun at anyone. I told them of course not, I was just stripping them down to clean and reassembled them, and never had them pointed anywhere except the ground (well, technically, my back deck), even when the slide was off the frame. They then handed me back my license and FID card, apologized for the inconvenience, and told me that they were just required to respond after getting a nondescript "man with a gun" call. They never asked to see my firearms or to enter the house. I'm not sure what I would have done if they asked or demanded to enter my house or search my property. I actually was pretty impressed by how the two officers handled the situation; both were very polite and professional about the whole thing. I'm not sure which neighbor actually called the police. I can see three houses from my back deck (one on each side, and a third is also visible because my lot goes back further than one adjacent neighbor's lot), but each is bordered by a fence, and I can see only a small portion of each of their yards, and can just barely see the first story windows of each neighbors' house. Of course I'm quite a bit annoyed, not at the police, but because one of my neighbors called them on me, apparently claiming that I pointed it at them or their house. Has anyone else ever had to deal with a neighbor calling the police for cleaning your (legally-owned) guns, or something similar, on your own property? How was that situation handled by the police? If asked by an officer to inspect your firearms or to otherwise search without a warrant, what would be the best course of action? Do they need a warrant if a neighbor calls the police about seeing a gun (i.e. is that probable cause)?

.50 cents a round for 9mm IS horrible. its twice the price of what ammo is costing online right now. there is nothing fair about that... For a range, no, it's not horrible. I've seen much worse. Of course it's going to be marked up, do you think that ranges ever make any money from the $10-$15 rental fee? No, they make it from the ammunition. Same thing as with food & drink in movie theaters or amusement parks. You need to buy their overpriced food and drink. In a range using their rentals, you need to use their overpriced ammo.

Ah...range ammo...I never go to ranges that require you to buy/shoot their ammo. Its always at a crazy inflated price. Well, you only need to use their ammo in their rental guns, you can use whatever you want in your own guns. This is at Ready Aim Fire in Bristol, PA. I think it's a fair policy, and while their prices are of course inflated, they're not that horrible. Yeah, I probably could have gotten it cheaper, but after visiting 4 Wal-Marts in PA, none of which had any 9mm ammo in stock at all.... Plus, I know that this exact ammo runs great through my guns. 100 rounds with no failures through the P6, 50 rounds with no failures through the S&W 59. I've put another 50 rounds each through each gun with Federal American Eagle ammunition with no problems...I think 124 grain. Whatever they usually sell at Ready Aim Fire. So I know that my guns like Federal ammo. So, it's a good price for me for not having to go through the hassle of finding well-priced 9mm ammo, and knowing that it will run good through my guns. It's going to be my 'stockpile' ammo -- each range trip I'm going to bring 100-150 rounds, and try to see if I can get anything cheap that day. If so, great, I'll use that on that trip, if not, I'll use what I brought from home.

I thought Ruger .22 LR pistols were not very picky? Just as long as you don't use the super-cheap garbage stuff?

I just won an auction for 500 rounds of Federal 9mm 115 grain FMJ ammunition for a total of $165.66 shipped. That works out to be about $0.33 per round, around $16.50 per 50 round box. Huge difference between what I was paying for ammo at the range ($0.50 per round). Going to try to snag some .22 LR at a good price as I just bought this:

Well, I decided to get the NRA special edition Mark II. The one in the pictures above with the white grips and engraving. It's going to cost $360 after shipping and FFL transfer fees. Not a bad price for a brand new, unfired Ruger Mark II with some cool extras to make it different from most other Mark II's. And yes, I am going to shoot it. It is going to be my third gun, and my primary .22 LR handgun.

turn it upside down.. LOL. But seriously, that wouldn't work...it needs to be a mirror image left to right but not top to bottom.

Cool targets, but what about a modified target for left-handed shooters?

Is DAO a requirement, or would DA/SA be OK? In the full-size department, I just read a review in a recent issue of the Guns & Ammo Handguns magazine that gave very high marks to the FNP-45. The review is available for free online at http://gunsandammomag.com/cs/Satellite/ ... ntline+.45

Get names and dates. Be polite, simply ask them what the hold up is. "Threatening them" with statues won't help. Being nice will. 100% agreed. Be overly polite and friendly, and find out exactly what is causing the delay (Did they complete the background check? Did they receive the letters from your reference? Is everything complete but your application is sitting in the police chief's inbox waiting to be signed?). You'll most likely get a more honest answer and may even get your application bumped. I was extremely polite and friendly when I applied for my FID and 3 pistol permits this summer, it took 28 days to get them. Sure, some of it was luck, but I know people that applied earlier than me in the same town did not get their permits until a couple of weeks after I got mine, so I am sure that my politeness played at least a part of it. Maybe mention that you were planning on taking a safety class in a month but wanted to bring your own handgun to the class, so you made the reservations well in advance so that there would be plenty of time to obtain your permits and purchase your handgun.

Yeah, that S&W is a full-size gun and very heavy. From what I have read, it's a dependable and reliable gun, but you can get guns just as dependable that are smaller, lighter, and much easier and comfortable to carry. The suggestions made by posters above are good ones. If you're into 1911's but want/need a DAO trigger, Para Ordnance makes a DAO "1911". In quotes because it's not a "true" 1911, being DAO, but it's an interesting gun that has gotten some pretty good reviews from people that are able to look away from a DAO (and some even having high-capacity double stack magazines) 1911-style gun being "blasphemy" and "an abomination".

Yeah, I'm generally a believer in things should be used -- classic cars should be driven, not sit in a garage. Guns should be fired, not kept behind glass. But because these were brand new and unfired, I wasn't sure. I really like the Mark II with the white grips, the engravings (combined Ruger/NRA logo at the muzzle end of the slide, Will Ruger's signature, and the Ruger logo on the bolt) are very nice too. I think I'm going to go ahead and get that. I will shoot it, but will take extra good care of it and maybe get a second .22 LR pistol to be a primary shooter. Thanks for the opinions everyone. I just wanted to see if it would be crazy for me to use and shoot these guns.

Just to let you guys know, there's another thread here that explains about a project that I am currently working on with a targeted launch date of late 2010, WhichGun.com: http://www.njgunforums.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2915 It's going to be a site that is similar to GunDirectory, but with some added features that may make it even more useful to you than GunDirectory. This was all started because I've found GunDirectory to be a great source of information, but almost always runs extremely slow. It's something that my friends (with different ISP's) have experienced too. So, being a web developer and database administrator, I decided to design a new site for firearms information. If you have any ideas or suggestions for features that you would like to see on WhichGun.com, please let me know.

If you were able to obtain a brand new, boxed, unfired .22 LR Ruger Mark I for about $300-$350, would you keep it unfired, or retain it as a collectors' item? It was manufactured in 1976 and has the following engraved on the top of the slide by the factory: "Made in the 200th year of American liberty". Same deal with another Ruger...if you were able to obtain a brand new, boxed, unfired .22 LR Ruger Mark II NRA Endowment Special Edition for $350-$400, would you keep it unfired, or retain it as a collectors' item? This was a recent special edition that was done by Ruger when the Mark III was developed and released. Here's some info & pictures: Would you buy both and keep one unfired and use the other one? Which one?

That's a great idea about the history and Wikipedia. I could actually automatically pull current data from Wikipedia and insert it directly into pages on WhichGun.com. That's one of the great things about Wikipedia -- they allow free use of their content elsewhere. So if someone clicked on the link on WhichGun for the Ruger SR9, I could automatically grab text and images from Wikipedia's Ruger SR9 article. Hopefully there already is an API to pull content from Wikipedia, but even if there isn't, it would be easy for myself to write some basic code to do this. Thanks for the suggestion!

Showing that you are capable of safely carrying and operating a concealed handgun once a years is completely reasonable IMO. Someone may initially qualify with a revolver, but a few years down the road buy a semiautomatic which they have little or no experience with (or vice-versa). Or someone may get a serious hand/arm/shoulder/whatever injury and can no longer safely operate a very subcompact .45 ACP or .40 S&W -- maybe they cannot properly control the gun one-handed. But they think that they still can safely operate it, when in actuality they cannot and should switch to a smaller caliber that they can actually properly control. Basically, many things can happen that could make someone who has previously qualified with a specific gun no longer be able to carry that gun safely, or may purchase a significantly different gun that they are not properly experienced with. Annual qualification can show situations like these, so I think it is reasonable. Then again, I also believe that drivers should be regularly tested to retain their licenses too. And if we are able to convince politicians to make New Jersey a 'shall-issue' CCW state as long as yearly qualification is a requirement, would you really mind? Many states require regular qualification to retain a CCW permit.

A dedicated single-action trigger can be much nicer & smoother than a DA/SA in single-action mode.

Sneak peek at a semi-completed WhichGun.com page: Notes: [*:1t6wtnol]Scaled-down image for faster downloading. Text won't be that small on the site [*:1t6wtnol]Semi-completed -- A lot of data is missing, has 'filler' data to show the layout, etc. [*:1t6wtnol]Gives an idea of where I am going with this. Final version will probably look somewhat different. If you have any suggestions, comments, or criticisms, please let me know. I hope to get this project completed by late December 2009.

Very nice. Congratulations!

I'm all against tailgating in many situations. If I'm on a back road -- 1 lane in each direction -- with a 50mph limit, and I'm doing 55-60, I can't stand it when people come within inches of my rear bumper. But if I'm on a multi-lane highway with a 65mph limit, and some idiot is driving 60mph in the left lane and is ignoring the high beam flash when I'm at a safe distance away, you have to tailgate them and even slide halfway into the shoulder for them to even notice you. Even after they notice you, some people still will sit in the left land doing exactly the speed limit or significantly below the speed limit. They think that they are being a 'safe driver' by preventing other people from speeding. And a line of a dozen cars or more will be behind this moron, all tailgating each other. So these slow folks actually are driving extremely dangerously. It's not your job to enforce the speed limit, that's for the LEO's. If you are going to drive at exactly the speed limit or lower, you need to be in the center or right lane. I really wish police would start enforcing the 'keep right, pass left' law very strictly. It is one of the most dangerous things out there.