Thanks to all for the kind wishes. Be thankful that many of you don't live in a 'sophisticated' state like NJ.
If any of you have any input with the NRA, tell them to get off their coffee break. It seems that they've fallen asleep at the wheel, thinking that NJ, CA, MA and other anti-gun states are lost, so they focus on states that they know are supporters. We call that 'preaching to the choir' where I come from. The problem is that this disease is like cancer, and stroking the parts of the body that already feel good isn't going to stem the tide of the decay. Trust me. As a marketing professional, I see it in business all the time. Companies see a certain segment as lost, so they write it off, rather than fighting to take market share back, only to have that infection spread, until they lose all. Ask IBM if they learned anyting about the PC Operating System and desktop Office Suite software business they lost to Microsoft.
In the Soccer Mom capital of the world, NJ anti gun law requires you to apply to the state for permission to be 'licensed' to own or purchase a gun. The process requires a $50 fee, fingerprinting, photographing, two personal references, and a mental health and criminal background check, just to get the Firearms Identification card (FID) to be able to have any guns in your posession. If you don't have an FID card, and are found in posession of a gun, you can be arrested on Felony charges. The FID card allows you to own, transport, or purchase guns. It also allows you purchase long guns, or to apply for handgun purchase permits, which are required by the state to buy a pistol. Said permits are granted by the local precinct, and signed by the local Chief Of Police.
These requirements allow the state of NJ to circumvent Federal and Constitutional law by placing firearms laws in the domain of 'public safety'. Since Federal law mandates that you buy a gun in your home state of legal domicile (where you're registered to vote), that gives the state ultimate say over who does, or doesn't, get a gun.
Translation: They got us by the ball$.
I submitted my application on 10/4/01 and did not receive my FID card and permits until 1/30/02... a day short of seventeen (17) weeks... four months... a THIRD OF A YEAR. Although this was attributable to a reference not being returned (or so they claimed...), nobody bothered telling me, and nobody took the trouble to look in the file to see what was missing, even when I inquired at the 10th, 12th and 14th weeks. Luckily, I found an advocate, or I get the feeling it never would have happened.
So, those of you who think that the NRA should spend their money on states that already are gun-friendly, consider this a warning. It happened here, and as urban sprawl creeps the infection of anti-gun sentiment to the heartland, you must insist that they fight the hard fight, and battle the dragon in its own lair... before Nebraska becomes like NJ. :barf:
Whew. Ok, I'm done now.
