Woodland Park to collect water bottles to aid in Louisiana flood relief

By |2016-08-31T10:32:08-04:00August 31st, 2016|Categories: Internet, Newspaper, Philanthropy|

https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/woodland-park-to-collect-water-bottles-to-aid-in-louisiana-flood-relief-1.1652087 WOODLAND PARK - Help will be on the way from Woodland Park to those in Louisiana who were recently struck by major flooding. Borough Mayor Keith Kazmark and the Woodland Park Council have teamed up with Anthony Colandro, owner of North Jersey Gun for Hire, and Fernando Rodrigues from TMX Logistics to deliver cases of water to the flood victims in Baton Rouge. The water bottle collection drive will take place Tuesday Sept. 6 through Friday, Sept. 9, from 4 to 8 p.m., at the West Paterson Boys & Girls Club, 8 Memorial Drive, Woodland Park. TMX Logistics will then transport the water to Louisiana once the drive has concluded. "We wanted to step up and do what we can for other people," said Borough Councilman Vincent DeCesare. DeCesare thought of the idea along with Borough Councilwoman Tracy Kallert. He called an American Red Cross in Louisiana and coordinated the event. "It's just a case of water, but in Louisiana it means so much to them right now," said Kallert. The water bottle collection drive is one of many initiatives being done throughout the United States to help those who were negatively-impacted by floodwaters that ravaged through southern Louisiana during mid-August. USA Today reported that the flooding killed 13 people and has damaged tens of thousands of homes and businesses. As a result, thousands of individuals need temporary housing. The Red Cross reported on its website, www.redcross.org, that as of Aug. 29 more than 2,900 Americans are volunteering to help with the Red Cross's disaster response effort in Louisiana, including volunteers from all 50 states. "Without volunteers there is no Red Cross," said Brad Kieserman, Red Cross vice president of disaster operations and logistics, [...]

Article From NorthJersey.com

By |2017-05-19T12:09:34-04:00November 30th, 2015|Categories: Fighting for our Rights, Internet|

https://www.northjersey.com/news/kelly-how-an-idea-for-safer-guns-lost-its-way-1.1464242 It seemed like such a great idea at the time. A nationally respected engineering university in downtown Newark set out to design a safer gun with high-tech electronic locks to prevent it from being fired by a thief or a child who found it accidentally. In Trenton, the governor even signed a law ordering New Jersey’s firearms dealers to sell only so-called smart guns once the first one hit the market. But that was 2002. Much has changed since then — some say, for the worse. The New Jersey mandate, known as the Childproof Handgun Law, is now considered a well-meaning but misguided failure that sparked a vigorous campaign by gun-rights proponents to block the sale of “smart” firearms with safety locks. The law’s Democratic supporters announced this month they want to revamp it. Meanwhile, smart guns are not available in New Jersey — or anywhere else in America — even though consumer studies suggest that as many as two-thirds of gun owners would opt for high-tech locking systems on their firearms if they were reliable. And in Newark, an ambitious, decade-long research project at the New Jersey Institute of Technology to develop just such a reliable electronic safety lock for firearms has been shut down. “The project is dead,” said Donald H. Sebastian, the NJIT administrator who emerged as one of America’s most vocal proponents of smart-gun research — and, as a result, a target of gun-rights advocates who argued NJIT was part of a conspiracy to promote more control over firearms. How did this happen? How could a project that did not aim to limit guns so much as to make them safer fall so flat with gun owners? There are many [...]

I loved every word I read.

By |2015-11-06T15:56:18-05:00November 6th, 2015|Categories: Fighting for our Rights, Internet, Testimonials|

I just read an article on your range by a Bethany Mandel https://opportunitylives.com/how-one-jersey-guy-breaks-stereotypes-on-guns-in-a-deep-blue-state/ and I loved every word I read. I owe my wife a trip to her hometown of Philadelphia PA sometime and if I can work it in I would love to visit your range and do a little shooting. That being said if you ever make it out to my neck of the woods, Roscoe Texas you are absolutely welcome to come shoot with me. Thank you for what you are doing and keep up the fire. Robert U.S. Army Retired

HOW ONE JERSEY GUY BREAKS STEREOTYPES ON GUNS IN A DEEP BLUE STATE

By |2017-05-19T12:09:34-04:00November 6th, 2015|Categories: Fighting for our Rights, Internet, Magazine|

HOW ONE JERSEY GUY BREAKS STEREOTYPES ON GUNS IN A DEEP BLUE STATE Recently, I wrote for the New York Post about an experience at a local gun range in my home state of New Jersey. In the piece, I noted the diverse participants learning with me in a class on basic pistol safety and classes. I am a stay-at-home mother, and in the class alongside me were three men interested in becoming law enforcement officers and an optometrist. Walking into the range, I noticed men, women, teens and even children walking around ready to shoot. This is not your average shooting range, which, I learned, is due to the fact that its owner is anything but average. Anthony Colandro is a 6-foot-2-inch, 230-pound Italian-American. So far, he fits the profile for a gun enthusiast, but his physical attributes are where it ends. Colandro doesn’t consider himself a Republican or a Democrat, but a political free agent. He’s a self-described health nut, dedicated to maintaining good nutrition and rigorous exercise. Colandro’s determination in the gym and in the kitchen has helped him lose over 160 pounds while also working through a painful divorce. That same determination helped him open a gun range in Northern New Jersey, one of the bluest parts of the country. Colandro started his own business as a firearms trainer in 1992 after receiving certification from the National Rifle Association. He would travel around the tri-state area, training people in the safe use of guns from as far south as Philadelphia to as far north as Westchester. In that time, he became familiar with every single gun range in the area, its positive attributes and, in his mind, many of the negatives. [...]

New York Post Article.

By |2015-10-14T14:17:48-04:00October 14th, 2015|Categories: Internet, Newspaper, Testimonials|

Guns ‘n’ Moses: Why more Jews are packing heat A Jewish suburban mom, a doctor and a cop walk into a shooting range. That’s no setup to a punch line; it’s who you might find at the kind of New Jersey gun range where I took a basic pistol class last Sunday morning. As our instructor looked around at the class and commented on the strange mix of individuals, he noted that just one character was missing from his typical crew of students: a rabbi. He didn’t have to explain why; you only need to watch the news to know that synagogues, kosher supermarkets and Jewish community centers are a renewed target for violence right here in the New York area, not to mention Paris and Jerusalem. That’s not the (only) reason I was there. I’m no longer the card-carrying liberal I was in my teens and early 20s, but even then my relationship with guns was more complicated. As a child, I was saved by the presence of a gun in my home. A man tried to climb in my bedroom window one night. My single mother heard the noise, grabbed her gun and explained (though no explanation was really necessary) that it would be in the man’s best interest to return from whence he came. I’ve always appreciated my mom’s gun possession ever since. But now, as a mother myself, I understand it, too. Recently Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson came under fire (sorry, couldn’t resist) for saying the Holocaust might not have unfolded the way it had if Jews in Europe had been armed. Many Jewish groups and individuals were up in arms (last one, I promise) over those comments, and understandably so: [...]

By |2017-05-19T12:09:34-04:00September 9th, 2015|Categories: Internet, Magazine|

Gun For Hire… The Family Friendly Shooting Range When you think of the shooting range,  you don’t usually associate it with family friendly environment. Firearm ownership within the typical society is often associated with the stereotypical cliche of wearing head to toe camouflage, driving a pick up truck, and chewing tobacco. One misconception that many share about firearms is that if its not in a James Bond movie or on law enforcement, then it’s being used to hunt or commit a crime. Gun advocate and range owner Anthony Colandro wants to tackle these misconceptions and firearm stereotypes head on. Colandro wants shooting to be a universal family experience, one that you can share with anyone including your wife & kids. His establishment Gun For Hire is  sorta like the bowling alley or ice skating rink of shooting ranges. It’s a family affair. Gun For Hire is located in northern New Jersey. With the strict gun laws of the NJ state, it’s pretty much the only facility of its kind in the area. You can shoot there without a firearm owner’s permit. They have all the supplies you need to get started, just as a bowling alley provides bowling balls and shoes for you. Gun For Hire has over 120 guns readily available in all varieties for aspiring shooters to try. The facility features 19 indoor ports, state of the art targeting systems, & over 90 training courses.   Q&A with Anthony Colandro What was your inspiration behind Gun For Hire? My inspiration was to build a gun range & training facility that was like no other gun range or training facility in the country. It was to be family and female friendly. A place where people can come feel comfortable… [...]

Self-defense or unnecessary danger?

By |2017-05-19T12:09:39-04:00October 13th, 2014|Categories: Internet|

Joshua Levy of Teaneck is a member of the Golani Rifle & Pistol Club. Armed self-defense is a value strongly supported in Jewish law, according to a statement issued last week by a local Jewish gun club, which is urging two of the largest Orthodox organizations in the country to reconsider their positions on gun control. On July 16, the Rabbinical Council of America, an organization representing Orthodox rabbis in the United States, issued a statement recognizing the rights of private citizens to own weapons and engage in violence for self-defense, but also calling for the restriction of “easy and unregulated access to weapons and ammunition,” and denounced “recreational activities that desensitize participants ... or glorify war, killing, physical violence, and weapons....” The RCA resolution came just over a year after the Orthodox Union issued a similar resolution citing its longtime commitment to “common sense gun safety legislation” and calling on U.S. senators to pass legislation to ensure “a safer and more secure American society.” These statements ignore basic facts and “fail to recognize Judaism’s strong support for the value and practice of armed self- defense,” said a statement issued last week by the Golani Rifle & Pistol Club, a Jewish gun club with members throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but mostly in northern New Jersey. The Golani Club wants to encourage all Jews to think about the best ways to protect their families and communities in accordance with Jewish law and with the awareness that Jews have suffered greatly throughout history because their enemies were better armed, said Joshua Levy of Teaneck, a Golani member who signed the statement. The club isn’t pushing for the RCA and OU to side with any particular pro-gun [...]

NJ gun debate

By |2014-06-02T17:27:46-04:00June 2nd, 2014|Categories: Fighting for our Rights, Internet|

New Jersey’s gun debate: Does the 10 round magazine limit make sense? As New Jersey lawmakers debate and eventually pass a bill setting a 10-round limit on gun magazines, a shooting occurs in Donohue’s neighborhood by a man recently released after a prison stint for two previous shootings, prompting him to question whether lawmakers are really on the right track in their efforts to curb gun violence. (Video by Brian Donohue / The Star-Ledger) By Brian Donohue/The Star-Ledger It's not often I agree with the pro-gun crowd. I'm a surfer not a shooter. And one look at many of the positions the National Rifle Association has taken, like its opposition to safe storage laws, and I start hearing the sound of cuckoo birds in my head. But unlike the partisans who make our laws, I spend my time (and video footage) trying to find common ground with those I generally disagree with. Even if it means a trip outside my comfort zone (ie the shooting range) for my first time. This time, as I watched the New Jersey legislature pass a bill outlawing gun magazines containing more than 10 rounds, it was easy. Check out the video and let me know what you think in the comments section below. Click to watch the video  

NJ.com Interviews Anthony P. Colandro

By |2017-05-19T12:09:41-04:00May 8th, 2014|Categories: Fighting for our Rights, Internet|

After a year-long push by families of children killed in the Sandy Hook massacre, a bill to reduce the permitted size of ammunition magazines in New Jersey took an important step today. The state Senate’s Law and Public Safety Committee today voted 3-2 along party lines to approve the legislation (A2006), which lowers the allowed size from 15 rounds to 10. The bill has been kicking around the Legislature since 2012 as one of several dozen pushed in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Ct. But while it has already passed the Assembly twice, this is the first time it has advanced in the state Senate. “Large capacity magazines are not needed for hunting or for self defense. They are used to claim as many victims as possible, as fast as possible,” said state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), the bill’s sponsor. “If a gunman has to stop and reload, it offers a critical window of time to take down the shooter.” Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), who faced re-election last year in a relatively conservative district, refused to put the bill up for a vote last year. But Sweeney said he changed his mind after parents of 6- to 7-year-olds killed in the Newtown school shooting personally lobbied him. To become law, the bill – which the Assembly passed 46-31 in March – must pass the full Senate and be signed by Gov. Chris Christie. Although Christie has not taken a position on the bill, he noted at a March town hall meeting that he had vetoed more bills than any governor since at least 1947. Gun rights advocates vastly outnumbered gun control supporters at the committee hearing, with about 100 [...]

Blog written by Danielle Mastrangelo

By |2017-05-19T12:09:42-04:00April 22nd, 2014|Categories: Internet, Testimonials|

fire all of your guns at once and explode into space watching anyone dominate their craft fuels me. this explains my love of concerts, why i devour beautiful meals, and my compulsion to read classic literature. Watching my father shoot is like reading poetry.   through the years, i got glimpses into this society of gun owners, but it was not until i decided to go through the process of obtaining my license and purchasing a firearm for myself that i gained total admittance into my father’s universe. i have been dying to bring anthony inside this world i share with the man who loved me first. i need him to understand the connection you can feel when you are side by side in a port. Anthony did shoot clay pigeons once, but an indoor range with super powerful weapons (and a future father in law!) is a whole different animal. the mister and i visited gun for hire in woodland park nj, the range where my father works, which is totally unlike any i have been to prior. gun for hire is not a boys’ club. once through the doors, we quickly learned, gun for hire is not a place to be intimidated, but a place to learn. the nj indoor shooting range, focuses on education, reverence for firearms, and self-protection. gun for hire defines the ‘new school’ of gun training. everything is bright, clean, welcoming, and safe. the staff is friendly, funny, and each member of the team has a clear and deep respect for the process. we had a great couple in the neighboring port offering us shots with their gun. when the girl nailed the bull’s eye we all cheered. it felt like we were in it together! our time [...]

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