By alison granito
Staff Writer
MILLSTONE — Talk of restricting when and where firearms can be discharged in the township brought local hunters out in force to protest any changes to municipal law at last week’s Township Committee meeting.
"I strongly oppose any firearms ordinance," said resident Patrick McCaffrey. "[Millstone] is still pretty wide open where I am."
Earlier this month, township officials began gathering information and looking at ordinances restricting gunfire in other area towns after one resident spoke publicly at a meeting about an incident where a stray bullet punched through the outside wall of his Scotto Drive home last month, passing approximately 10 feet away from his family, before bouncing off a second wall and coming to rest in his living room.
That resident, Leonard Dimmick, said that he believes the bullet that hit his home came from a local tree farm near his property. Dimmick has said that he and his neighbors can often hear guns being fired from a gravel pit on the tree farm property where some sportsmen allegedly take target practice.
"As I said at the first meeting, I’m not against hunting or shooting for recreation. All I ask for is that it is done in a safe area," Dimmick said last week.
"All I want to do is make sure that my neighbors are safe and my family is safe," he added.
However, the local hunters who spoke described the incident at the Dimmick home as an unfortunate accident, possibly the result of someone who used a gun irresponsibly, and expressed sympathy for the family’s ordeal.
"This was an unfortunate incident, but all the laws in the world are not going to stop stupid people from doing stupid things," resident Paul Hayes said.
"Thank God, no one was hurt," one local hunter said, adding that restrictions wouldn’t be effective against those who are already breaking the law, such as those who hunt illegally.
"If someone was killed in a car accident, we don’t ban cars from the streets of this township," he added.
New Jersey State Police officials said previously that the round removed from the Dimmick family’s home was suspected to be a hollow-point round from a handgun, which is not legal for hunting purposes.
Sportsmen in the crowd pointed out that hunters are already subject to restrictions on when and where they can fire their weapons under state law. However, state police officials said that the hunting laws do not apply to target practice in the township.
According to police, there is little they can do about those taking target practice close to homes, since Millstone does not have an ordinance regulating that activity on the books.
Phil Patterson of the Monmouth County Federation of Sportsmen also spoke on behalf of hunters in the crowd.
He urged the committee to do research before putting any ordinances on the table, and to include local hunters and farmers in the process.
Officials appointed Committeeman William Nurko to follow up on the issue, speak with the sportsmen’s organization and report back to the governing body.