As the title says... We have been shooting here legally for about 15 years without any problems at all up until today. Someone decided its time to complain (new york transplant into a McMansion). The state police have to investigate these things so the sent out 2 cruisers in a big rush. we saw them coming and decided to walk up and meet them so as to remove ourselves from the table with many guns on it. The two that came out where younger troopers that did determine that we where shooting in a safe manner. This is after they saw what we where shooting (AR15, Mosin's, AK, SKS, various other pistols and rifles).

Now, I gotta give the NJSP some props here because they did not give us any grief about our guns. They questioned the legality of the exploding targets though and decided that we can continue to shoot! I did not expect that! There are still some good 2nd amendment appreciating cops out there. They treated us with respect instead of treating us like a suspect. They also said they where going to stop at the complainants house to inform them that we where within the law.. I truly wish they should have had the guts to say something to us instead of call the cops though. Hopefully there is no new ordinance in the township coming up now...

That was my Sunday.

Ken

Great that you had a good time and everything went ok.

Sounds like a good range day to me. Now they know you guys are shooting there and will probably be dismissive of any more complaint calls. At least now you know where you guys stand.

Glad your GTG- title was a little scary tho.

Cool, that does seem like a good day, nice, warm, sunny today. someone complained about you being within your rights to shoot and was told to have a nice day and they were going to talk to the people who made the complaint. That's a good day in my books..

I was gonna say, sounds like a good day to me too!

Yaaay..a happy police story. I keep telling people they exist. I am glad everything worked out or you

I am glad for you.....i deal with patients who are NY transplants and they feel they are entitled to be nasty to my staff.....Great day

Given how that visit could have gone, sounds like a good day at the range. It's always good to hear from law enforcement that you are handling your weapons well.

Kudos to them. That is how these sort of interactions are suppose to work. What I like even more, is that they let you know they were going to inform the person who complained that you guys were not doing anything wrong. Anybody can make a complaint about someone, but it doesn't mean they should have, so investigate the complainer also, especially when it is confirmed that nothing illegal is taking place!

Ive had this happen befor the funniest was in barnagate we were driving out and a car pulled in and stoppedus do to a 911 call about machine gun fire the cop laughed at the complaint then asked us what we had been shooting and my friend responded a m16 ak47 and a mac10 and yes they were full auto his eyes were as big as saucers then we dropped the names of people in his department that had been there earlier

Wow, this happened in Jersey!

just a reminder that there still are good guys in LE, hate how alot of people make assumptions off of a few officers compared to the entire lot

all papers were in order when we asked if he wanted to see them he said he wouldnt know what he was looking at

Props to the NJSP on this one. Very happy that they identified that you were within the law, and didn't play the arrest/confiscate/tell it to the judge game.

Glad it went well

Sssooo glad to see a positive LEO thread!

Im juat glad that they where 2 good LEO's. It could have gone a lot worse. Especially considering the fact that I turned my head with a loaded pistol in my hand because I thought I saw something... I did, 2 cruisers rite behind us!! Everything we had was indeed jersey legal but that doesnt mean much if the LEO doesnt understand NJ law either. I juat wanted to share a positive LEO story

Ken

One of the best things about this forum for me is getting better acquainted with firearms and legalities so I can do my job better. I can honestly say in my academy firearms recognition and legalities were barely touched. It was more of a " you will learn when u get out there". All this info supports my addiction and makes me a better more informed officer.

Exploding targets? Tannerite is legal?

BTW, exploding targets? The kind you mix? If so, legal to own until you mix the ingredients. Then it becomes fireworks.

tannerite. It is a kind of grey area in new jersey. Technically it is legal all the way up to the point where it goes boom. We dont use more than 1lb and dont use them very frequently. They are dam cool though.

BlueLineFish.. The two that came to see us today where dam good. Im not even slightly upset about it because of the outcome. There needs to be more LEO's like you/the two that came to see us today. They where really good. They were nervous at first because there was 2 of them and 10 of us. We helped too. We put all the guns down and backed away from them and didnt do anything jerky or suspicious. I know if I where in there shoes I would be a little cautious about approaching too. They both did cover their guns when they got out of the cruisers but never acted aggressively in any way. That made the whole situation go better for us all.

Ken

Like you said, watch out for new ordinance coming down the pipeline. Stay aware of whats going on in town hall. The complainer might **** and moan to the mayor / town council and if no one is there to refute what they say a stupid ordinance may make it through.

tannerite. It is a kind of grey area in new jersey. Technically it is legal all the way up to the point where it goes boom. We dont use more than 1lb and dont use them very frequently. They are dam cool though.

BlueLineFish.. The two that came to see us today where dam good. Im not even slightly upset about it because of the outcome. There needs to be more LEO's like you/the two that came to see us today. They where really good. They were nervous at first because there was 2 of them and 10 of us. We helped too. We put all the guns down and backed away from them and didnt do anything jerky or suspicious. I know if I where in there shoes I would be a little cautious about approaching too. They both did cover their guns when they got out of the cruisers but never acted aggressively in any way. That made the whole situation go better for us all.

Ken

 

Now I need to know one thing, did any of the 10 of your even think of offering any of the Officers time to shoot whatever they wanted?? I know they would have turned it down, but was an offer even made here in the PR of NJ??

 

Let me expand on that, dirt biking and sand-rails out in the desert in the South West US, not Local or State PD but BP and they did take my buddy up on his offer when they questioned us on our Campfire. Never mind the pieces of magnesium we had to burn in the fire at night but were burning at the time they showed up...

Like you said, watch out for new ordinance coming down the pipeline. Stay aware of whats going on in town hall. The complainer might **** and moan to the mayor / town council and if no one is there to refute what they say a stupid ordinance may make it through.

Thats the only thing we are really worried about. We have a good idea what individual called the cops and may go try to reason with them face to face like people used to do back in the day. We will compromise. Were not trying to be jackasses about it and tell them this is what we do, tough. Hell, maybe we can get them to come shoot with us! I dont think that could make it any worse.

Ken

Now I need to know one thing, did any of the 10 of your even think of offering any of the Officers time to shoot whatever they wanted?? I know they would have turned it down, but was an offer even made here in the PR of NJ??

 

Let me expand on that, dirt biking and sand-rails out in the desert in the South West US, not Local or State PD but BP and they did take my buddy up on his offer when they questioned us on our Campfire. Never mind the pieces of magnesium we had to burn in the fire at night but were burning at the time they showed up...

We told them they could shoot with us if they wanted to but they laughed it off. We have a few LEO buddys that shoot out there already but no State LEO's.

BTW, I am not a name dropper and did not mention that fact. I didnt need to, they where good guys. All of my experiences with the NJSP have been good, even when they are the ones that pulled me over

Ken

Just a reminder to the OP and anyone else who shoots in the forest - Please clean up after yourselves, gather your spent brass, and whatever you do, don't leave the corpses of shot out TV's and washing machines out there. That is the number 1 cause of open shooting ranges like this one getting shut down. We need to be extra vigilant and prove at every chance we can that gun owners are responsible, ethical, and willing to live within the confines of the law.

 

Just to be clear, I'm not accusing anyone of doing anything. I've never even been to Millstone so I have no idea what it looks like. This is just a reminder to everyone who reads this to be a courteous gun enthusiast when in the public eye... because it makes a difference!

One of the best things about this forum for me is getting better acquainted with firearms and legalities so I can do my job better. I can honestly say in my academy firearms recognition and legalities were barely touched. It was more of a " you will learn when u get out there". All this info supports my addiction and makes me a better more informed officer.

 

Out of curiosity, was any enlightnement on the subject forthcoming when you got there, or was it more like "we don't ahve time for that, you should have learned it already?"

You can shoot on private property.. Just as long as you are not endangering others..if it is safe your good to go..

 

We use to shoot in a private pit for years and then the land owner sold it to green acres... We lost that privilege and it was sweet to be able to shoot their..

 

only once troopers came out their, but many times rangers would stop in..

Out of curiosity, was any enlightnement on the subject forthcoming when you got there, or was it more like "we don't ahve time for that, you should have learned it already?"

 

That usually isnt the case, the problem is that the academies have a lot of stuff to cover and a limited time to do it all in. When i went through (albeit 25 years ago) we had 18 weeks, the entire Title 2C portion of that 18 weeks was only a total of about 10 days of classwork, and they devoted IIRC half of a day to Firearms stuff. While some here will just play the "That's Just an Excuse" game, the reality is that between 2C, title 39 you have an incredible amlount of material, especially once you also throw Relevant Caselaw, and AG guidelines into the mix. Your average cop Doesnt DEAL with firearms stuff on a daily basis, so ti doesnt have a priority as things such as Theft, Assault, Robbery, and Domestic Violence, and the ever-changing caselaw that goes along with them.