A friend of mine would like to know the rules of having firearms on his boat while he is sailing around barneget bay and the ocean. Can anybody help him?

The long and the short of it is, that the NJ state firearms laws are not written in a fashion to give you clear guidance as to what you can do, legally. The NJ state law is written in such a way as to place you in a position of uncertainty as to whether you are acting legally, and therefore subject to the arbitrary actions of law enforcement, which will look for guidance from the Prosecutor's Office as to charge you with a crime. The manner that the law is written is to intimidate you in not exercising you rights to own and possess firearms.

That's gonna be a helluva sigline!  Thanks Tom

Sounds about right

I used to keep a shotgun on board for bay pirates. or was it butt pirates, cant remember!

Somalis maybe?

No different than possession of firearms in any other place in NJ not covered by a specific exemption.  This means, you can not possess a handgun without having a permit to carry.  You can not possess a loaded rifle or shotgun.  You can not possess an unloaded rifle or shotgun without an FID card.

The Law.

N.J.S. 2C:39 -6f ( 2 ) a. and b. exempt a person carrying a firearm or knife upon the waters of NJ for then purpose of fishing provided that the firearm is legal and appropriate for fishing and that the person possesses with respect to fresh water fishing a valid fishing license.

On a boat in salt water? Good friggin luck as your subject to what ever the NJ State Marine Police decided to screw you over with.

IMHO leave your firearms home.

This would have been a good question for PK90.... HINT....HINT....

I wouldn't sweat that too much. In 50 years of boating in NJ, I've yet to encounter someone from that organization who is smart enough to shit downhill twice.

Hint all you want he was banned by the penguin

Im sorry, was PK90 a gun lawyer? Or was he in the State Police firearms unit? Will he represent you in court? The only way to stay out of trouble is to ask a lawyer about the law, some one who would represent you in court if need be.

You mean the guys that said, "M1 Carbines are illegal.  Well, the model from AO is good to go.  Nah, on second thought, that's illegal, too.  Well...  maybe not..."  Others have been told by them, "Only the Colt Match Target is legal here - all other AR-15-like rifles are banned".  And, "Yes, you an bring a handgun in to the state - just have it unloaded and locked up" (advice given to an out-of-stater looking to visit friends in NJ and bring his handgun).  So, no, I don't trust any legal advice from them, either.

Bottom line, as you intimated, we're all pretty much on our own.  Any advice gleaned from this board, regardless of the poster, is worth the money you paid for it.  And, even if you pay a lawyer for his advice - it's still not a 100% guarantee that it will be interpreted the same way by the prosecutor, the judge, or the jury.  With the amount of ambiguity purposefully designed in to our gun laws, a lot of things come down to a crap shoot.  Hence why I tend to err on the side of caution (some have called me paranoid - a classification I don't entirely disagree with).

Well said, and just because you are paranoid, does not mean their all not out to get you!

we take shotguns aboard for shark fishing all the time. goodluck