imported post
I currently live in Ocean County, as well.
I recently read an article about a Toms River man who was arrested for openly carrying a firearm on his own property "in public view." Apparently, this is the way the State of NJ is interpreting it's law which states you may legally possess a firearm at your home or place of work. You may have it inside your home or place of work, but if any member of the public is able to view your firearm, it's illegal.
So I would not recommend doing this, you will be arrested, you will be charged, you will be convicted, and you will be "just another criminal that had his hands on a gun."
As for the legal CCW holders open carrying... They most likely will be arrested for disturbing the peace or terroristic threats or whatever other tort of legislature they could throw at the situation and make stick, and would probably have their CCW revoked because they will be judged a danger to society. Not to mention, as someone said, NJ does not hand out CCW permits to "regular Joes." You must be either very rich and powerful, a few movie stars that live in the state have them, or you must be a political cronie. The only other way to actually get a CCW permit in NJ is to be sponsored by, and working for an armored car or armed security company, and those permits will have restrictions printed directly on the card you're issued that state "This permit is not valid unless the holder is acting under employ of an armored car/security company at his designated place of work."
Basically, for the normal citizen in NJ, you can't CCW. You can't open carry unless you want to be shot or arrested.
A few anecdotal stories regarding this... I know someone who was denied on their application for their FID because there were pictures of him wearing camouflage on his MySpace. The Judge decided he was a danger to society and it would not be in the interest of public safety to issue him an FID. Therefore he may not own firearms in NJ at all.
As for open carry, I was lucky I was not arrested, but I did not have my handgun on me when the police arrived. But, one night I heard someone screaming outside my house (through closed doors/windows, it was loud) and I grabbed my handgun and walked out my front door to make sure someone wasn't being murdered in my front yard. I didn't see anyone, but about 10 seconds later an SUV pulled into my driveway (no one I know owns an SUV, so I was concerned) Someone got out and yelled "did you just throw an egg at my car?" I said no, I live here, I head someone screaming. I was standing in my front yard with my handgun down at my side pointing at the ground, a woman from inside the SUV said "Oh my God it's a gun!" I said don't worry, I went in and stowed my handgun, and called the police. We all gave our reports to the responding officers, then the Sergeant called me over after everyone else left the scene. He told me "You can't take a gun out and roam the streets looking for people to shoot. If you were holding that gun when I came here I would have shot first and asked questions later." I told him I had no intention of harming anyone, but I wasn't going to walk out my front door to someone screaming loudly enough to hear it through my closed doors and windows without any protection at all. He got angry, and eventually just told me if he ever sees me with a handgun I'm arrested or dead.
Unfortunately, this is NJ... There is nothing we can do. According to most who do not live here, they think we actually can CCW because "Why don't you just get the permit and do it legally?" The draconian anti-gun rhetoric in this state is far worse than even a lot of people whom own firearms here realize.