PDM

I'm also in bergen county -- welcome. I took a private basic pistol class with Anthony when I first got into shooting around 4 years ago (don't know if he has time to do those anymore) and have subsequently taken 4 advanced pistol courses with GFH. They are top notch. The classes at Cedar Grove are conveniently located and it is a good facility. I think they have an 8hr basic pistol class theircoming up (they can provide guns and ammo for that class I believe). Enjoy!

Thanks. HK will do an install (Meprolight green sights) if I send them my slide -- $107 for the sights, $40 labor, plus shipping, which is pretty reasonable. I have a slight preference for Trijicons, but not worth the extra $$. Still considering the Heine sights and if I get those, whether to get the wider notch on the rear sight.

So, I've decided to have night sights mounted on my HK pistol. Very happy with Trijicons on other handguns, but now I'm thinking of putting Heine straight 8 sights on instead. Does anyone have an educated view on them (or the 3 dot Heine for that matter) vs traditional 3-dot sights, based on actual use? Not for competition -- strictly for defensive purposes and the occasional tactical pistol class.

I hesitate to ask, but here goes: What, exactly, makes an Eotech turd-like? I understand that some prefer Aimpoint or other optics, but it doesn't follow that Eotech is bad, does it? Just curious because I have one mounted on my AR and like it a lot, but then again I don't compete with it and I won't going into combat anytime soon.

Perfect, thanks for the tip Bullzeye. I saw that Heine will also do an install, but they are price (both for the sights and the service). Will consider which sights to go with.

I'm in Bergen county, not far from the bridge. Buying my own sight removal tool is a possibility.

I want to have night sights installed on my H&K p2000. The trijicon sights are available from Optics Planet, I just need someone to do the work. Anyone know of a smith in North Jersey who can do the work. I know it's not that complicated, but I want someone who has worked on HKs that can sight the pistol in properly. Thanks.

Any views on whether inverter generators are worth the extra $$? They are generally smaller and quieter, and I believe more fuel efficient, and supposedly its safer to run sensitive electronics directly from them. I'm thinking about just forking over the cash and getting a honda or yamaha.

Thanks for the clarification. Sight picture or sight alignment, whatever, all I know is that having the night sights made it much easier to 1) find mygun on a nightstand in a dark room and 2) after drawing see where my gun is pointing and where the sights are before shining the light. I always have a 200 lumen surefire tactical light on my nightstand and at least some basic instruction in how to use it (GFH low light shooting course). As for carry, I guess each situation is different and everyone has their own preferences, but for me the Kahr in a desantis pocket holster is the most comfortable and handiest way to carry in my house (and outside for that matter) without really sacrificing all that much as opposed to carrying a larger gun.

Great thread! I still don't have power (Bergen county) and this is my first day back at work. My lessons learned for sheltering in place: 1. Store 20-30 gallons treated gas for the cars and keep cars topped off! (I had the foresight to fill up my car right before the storm, my wife didn't, and we've made it through on my car). 2. Get a kerosne heater. We had hot water, food, water and enough light, but the cold became a problem. 3. Candles are king, particularly long burning storm candles. We had some, but I will be stocking up on many more. They store forever, give off a warm light, and minimize need for a flashlight (had plenty of those and will be stocking up on even more batteries). 4. Stock up on comfort foods (chocolate, snacks, etc). especially if you have kids. 4. I normally don't walk around my house armed, but for the past week with my entire neighborhood dark and many people leaving the area, I have been armed whenever at home. Two lessons learned here: First, It isn't practical for me to walk around with a gun holstered on my hip, either IWB or OWB. Too uncomfortable when sitting a lot and would freak out my wife, kids and friends. My Kahr PM-9 in a pocket holster with an extra mag in my pocket was perfect. Ample firepower, very shootable and no one knew I was carrying it. Very easy to take out of the pocket and stash in a small safe when leaving my property. Second, night sights are key! Both my Kahr and the SIG P226 I kept next to my bed have them. I never understood how important they are until I lived in partial or total darkness for hours. That glow (surprising how bright it is) makes it easy to locate the gun and get a quick sight picture in the dark.

I've only looked at Lexis -- reported cases -- so far. Don't know about charges brought. It is of course possible (and perhaps likely) that felony charges of illegal possession outside the home of an otherwise legally owned handgun where no other crime is involved are often plea bargained down to a misdemeanor, in which case there wouldn't be any reported case. This is all conjecture on my part. I'm sure lawyers such as Nappen that routinely defend gun charges could tell you how frequently individuals with clean records and not involved in criminal activity have the book thrown at them for mere possessory offenses.

I've been doing some research and so far have found few reported cases involving a firerams conviction under NJ 2C:39-5 (unlawful possession of weapons) where the defendant wasn't also charged with another crime. Not saying that anyone wants to be a test case or that the prosecutor might not try to throw the book at you and it clearly has happened (eg, Aitken), but my impression is that is is rare for an otherwise law abiding citizen to go to prison for possession of a firearm without a carry permit. Public opinion does count for something, and as anti-gun as this state is, I think many chiefs of police/prosecutors/politicians don't want to draw attention to the gun laws by prosecuting otherwise law abiding citizens, particularly after the Aitken debacle.

They are great. I ordered a pair of boots from them that were my size but wound up being very tight after I wore them a few times. They took them back no questions asked and sent me a larger size. Great products and service.

Does anyone know if there are any carry or other 2A cases that may be considered by the Supreme Court this term? I know that "our" NJ case still hasn't made it to the Second Circuit yet.

Mini-14/30s do not have a pistol grip, collapsible stock or bayonet lug, and I know for a fact that the tactical version with the flash supressor, unpinned, is sold in this state. As for the risk, yes there is always some this being NJ, but IMHO if a prosecutor were to bring a case against an otherwise law abiding citizen arguing that the gun is an assault weapon it would create a sh*tstorm along the lines of the Aitken case. (Yes, I understand that no one wants to be that poster boy). It seems unambiguous that the statute provides that that a flash supressor on a threaded barrel (with no pinning requirement) or the threaded barrel itself is ONE item. Think about it. If you had a plain threaded barrel, that would under any possible reading be ok under item # 4. The threaded barrel is meaningless unless you can thread something on it. The only thing that you can thread on it in this state would be a flash supressor. It simply makes no sense to read the statute any other way.

ammunitiontogo.com is the best that I've found online for defensive ammo. It was the only place that I was able to find Federal EFMJ, which some think would not be considered a hollowpoint or dum dum bullet under NJ law. Good prices and many varieties of self-defense ammo, in particular harder to find ammo marketed to law enforcement.

Am I reading this wrong? A Washington DC councilman has introduced a bill allowing prosecutors to offer non-DC residents civil, as opposed to criminal penalties for possession of an unregistered firearm or ammunition in DC. This is in response to a number of recent cases where a tourist, or in one case a marine stopping for treatment at Walter Reed, was found with a firearm (legally owned and carried in the person's home state) and criminally charged. The bill would enable prosecutors to seek civil penalties with no criminal charges. Sounds like a step in the right direction, but what is shocking is that Josh Sugarman of the "Violence Policy Center" actually supports the bill as a "commendable attempt by the council to work with all sides of the gun control debate." WTF? It seems like a good sign that in a place as anti-gun as DC the politicians are growing tired of seeing unjust prosections for possesory offenses with no criminal intent. http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2012/09/dc-attorney-general-opposes-civil-penalties-for-out-of-towners-in-gun-cases.html

So, that dealer was wrong on NJ law regarding mag capacity, but also didn't know or wilfully ignored the fact that mere possession of a "large capacity" mag in NJ (which he erroneously thought was 15 rounds) is a felony.

Doesn't the law already require an FID to buy ammo? Yes. Can people convicted of any felony on this list obtain such a card? No.

I own 1 AR and 1 Mini-14. I typically shoot them 3-4 times a year at Cherry Ridge, and go through no more than 50 rds each trip to the range. The noise on the rifle range and monotony of shooting at paper gets pretty old after after an hour or so, and I like to shoot my rifles just enough to know they are functional and to keep my shooting skills reasonably sharp. By contrast I probably put 1000 rounds through my M&P-22 and Henry .22, which I can shoot locally at my indoor range and at the steel range at CR, and are just as much fun, if not more fun than a center fire rifle. 800-1000 rds of .223 practice ammo on hand at any one time, plus 100 rds of quality self-defense soft point ammo, seems more than enough for my purposes. If you guys enjoy putting thousands of holes in paper with your ARs, by all means have at it.

I've really got to stop reading these threads. I just ordered another 100 rounds of .223, on top of the 600 rounds I ordered in the past few months.

What mcbethr said. It is a gross oversimplification to say that polls have no validity. If properly conducted, polls do have statistical significance. I would say the bigger problem is the way the media spins the poll results and the conclusions drawn. I've already seen this poll highlighted on NJ 12. Unfortunately, most people in NJ don't have the first clue regarding what NJ's gun laws actually say or do not say. Ongoing education of the public is key - and it starts with us. I've already taken 5 or 6 friends to the range, most of whom have never shot before. A few didn't like it, which is fine, and a few others now want to buy their own gun. I always take the opportunity to explain the basics of how NJ gun laws work (or don't work), and I do think that their eyes were opened as to the absurdity of many of NJ's laws.

Read this article: http://www.northjersey.com/news/Poll_New_Jerseyans_still_back_strict_gun_control_but_more_favor_owners_rights.html Even if the poll is somewhat skewed, it seems clear that the attitudes of people in this state are out of sync with the rest of the country. Hard to see how the laws here will change unless and until people's attitudes towards gun ownership changes. Also amazing how people believe that the "assault weapons" ban in this state has any meaning. As annoying as the law is, I think it best not to educate people on the fact that all the law does is ban meaningless cosmetic features. Things could actually become a lot worse if people catch on to the fact that you can legally buy an AR with minor cosmetic modifications in NJ.

I just purchased a S&W M&P-15 (sport) and need to sight it in. It comes with an A2 front sight. I have a front sight tool b/c I've found using a nail or bullet tip to be a PITA. If I want to swap out the front sight post that is more visible, is it just a matter of unscrewing the current one and dropping in the new one? Any recommendations for a replacement post?

With the usual this isn't legal advice caveat: You are only partially quoting the statue in 2C:39-5. It refers to your residence or "premises". What are premises? One could argue that this is intended to include the land you own around your residence, but wouldn't an RV in which you are sleeping, in a legal, designated campground also be your premises? This would be particularly true if you were in an RV camp where you paid a rental/lease fee to stay there. Who knows, but the bottom line is you'd at least have an argument. I think it would all come down to the circumstances. If you were asleep in your RV and someone broke in during the night and you shot him, you'd have a much easier time (especially if he was armed) than if it was daytime or you got into some sort of an altercation, etc.