At-home gun shops are legal and becoming more common in New Jersey.
Not long after December 2012, Joe Veni's neighbors in Brick started noticing how many people were visiting his house.
"My one neighbor says, 'What are you selling that everybody wants?'" Veni said from his kitchen table, which doubles as his sales counter. "I said, 'An AR-15.'"
Such semi-automatic rifles are legal in New Jersey with some modifications. And when efforts in Congress to tighten restrictions on them fizzled after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, they became a hot commodity for firearms dealers like Veni.
"I must have bought about 50 of them, and I had them all in my living room," said Veni, whose home-based store is in a Brick neighborhood of evenly spaced, modest homes with well manicured lawns. "People were coming in and out."
Joe Veni is seen at his home-based gun shop in New Jersey. (Brian Amaral | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)Selling guns out of a home in New Jersey is perfectly legal, as long as proprietors are zoned for home-based businesses and have the proper state and federal paperwork -- called federal firearms licenses, or FFLs.
In fact, it's downright common: There are 368 FFL gun businesses in New Jersey, and at least 140 operate from homes, according to an NJ Advance Media analysis of federal data, property records and maps.
The federal government does not track home-based gun businesses, so the analysis represents a conservative estimate, rather than an exact science. The businesses run the gamut, from gun-club enthusiasts who help their friends with online transfers and background checks a few times a year, to home businesses that sell dozens of guns out of neighborhood homes every month.
The number of those home-based gun businesses are steadily increasing as the number of gun shops in New Jersey grows at a faster rate than in any other state except South Carolina, North Carolina and Florida (New Jersey still has relatively fewer gun shops than most of the nation).
Cause for concern
Just five years ago, there were about 100 home-based shops, while today there are at least 140, according to NJ Advance Media's analysis.
"There's a cultural thing -- gun people are happier dealing with gun people, rather than large retail outlets," said Robert Farago, the publisher of TheTruthAboutGuns.com, a website for gun enthusiasts. "But the one factor that overrides all of this is just this enormous growth in gun sales. Since the Obama surge first started, it just hasn't stopped. There's a market, and people rise up to take advantage of it."
That market reality is driving one of America's most divisive culture wars into neighborhoods in all 21 counties in New Jersey.
For gun proponents, it's capitalism at work in a fundamentally American way: sellers and buyers in a free market exercising their Second Amendment rights. But for gun control advocates, such home-based arrangements are a cause for concern, particularly in New Jersey's densely populated neighborhoods where residents are often unaware of gun shops tucked away in common suburban homes -- near schools, next to churches.
"We know that residential burglaries are commonplace, unfortunately," said Allison Anderman, of the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a research group that advocates for stricter gun control. "When dealers store a large number of guns and ammunition in residences, they are more likely to enter the illegal marketplace."
'More determined to get a gun'
Walk into Atlantic Tactical, in a strip mall on Worlds Fair Drive in Somerset, and you'll be greeted by three men in identical store-branded polos. The handguns are in glass display cases; the rifles are in rows on the walls behind the counter.
But if they don't have what you need, or if you're looking for a more intimate atmosphere, you can go just seven miles down the road through Somerset County, where you'll be greeted by the president and vice president of the company.
That's Georgia, a lab mix and head of security, and Cheyenne, a Native American husky -- who's also the store's namesake. And Robert Teodorczy is the man behind the operation.
Teodorczy recently retired from the Somerset County sheriff's department. He opened his shop in 2014, after receiving permission from his town zoning board.
Robert Teodorczy poses for a photograph at his gun shop in Manville. (Brian Amaral | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)It helped that many people in town knew him, he said.
"If you can't trust me with a couple of guns, who are you going to trust?" he said.
Cheyenne Gunsmith & Firearms averages 40 to 45 transactions a month, Teodorczy said, and has about 25 at any given time waiting to be picked up.
He said the increased demand is a reaction to calls for more gun control. In 2005, the federal government carried out about 36,000 background checks for gun purchases in New Jersey. Already this year, through October, that figure has almost doubled, to 70,000.
"Because New Jersey makes it harder for you to get a gun, it makes people more determined to get a gun," Teodorczy said.
The state requires several extra security precautions and inspections for gun dealers. He must lock up his inventory at night in secure safes. He has an alarm system -- also mandated by New Jersey (but not in many other states). His home is also ringed by a stockade fence, even though it's not required. Unannounced state and federal inspections, carried out about every three years in New Jersey, can last up to four hours.
He had to pass background checks to get a license to sell guns. Like other gun dealers, Teodorczy takes care of the National Instant Criminal Background Check.
"If you don't know about guns, doing this job is no good," Teodorczy said. "You've got to know what's legal and not legal in New Jersey."
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Angelo Corradino, the mayor of Manville, said he recently learned that gun shops can operate from homes.
"Shocked me, matter of fact," Corradino said.
But that shock had worn off by the time he learned it was happening in his town.
"Because nothing surprises me in Manville," Corradino said.
'Firearms or free range beef'
To those who regulate the gun market in New Jersey, there is no real difference between an at-home gun shop and a typical storefront.
"We really treat it all the same way," said John Curtis, who oversees six Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigators from his office in Woodland Park.
George Belsky, the special agent in charge of the ATF in New Jersey, agrees.
"In my experience as a case agent in other states, there are great home-based FFLs, there are great storefront FFLs," Belsky said, using the acronym for federal firearms licenses. "I've worked cases on home-based guys that were selling stuff off the books to bad guys, I've worked storefronts that were doing the same thing. It's the individual that you have to look at."
Each dot represents the approximate location for a home-based gun business in New Jersey. As more shops open, inspectors are pressed for time to complete inspections each three years, officials said. In fact, a recent U.S. Department of Justice report recommended New Jersey add four inspectors.
Even with the increase in licensed dealers, New Jersey has fewer problems than other states, Belsky said.
In the past three years, according to federal data, gun dealerships in New Jersey lost 24 firearms, and three were stolen. By comparison, Pennsylvania saw 372 guns go missing or stolen from dealerships in 2014 alone.
Federal regulators focus on a paper log of every firearm that enters and leaves a dealer, says Curtis. Investigators use that paperwork and compare it with the actual inventory.
Sometimes, they don't match. A recent Camden County bust traced guns that had been stolen from the Carolinas and trafficked to Jersey.
"Firearms or free range beef, someone's going to try to get outside the regulatory chain," Belsky said.
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New Jersey's gun shops haven't always been free of problems.
In 2007, thieves stole 62 guns from a shop, according to State Police. In Warren County 10 years ago, a gun store employee used stolen parts to assemble a firearm and shoot a cop, according to State Police. In 2007, during an inspection of the same shop, 40 guns were missing.
The shop is no longer in business, but State Police Capt. Stephen Jones said they can't release information on the incident because of privacy rules around the firearms industry.
"It's prohibited to do that," Jones said.
Edison gun shop approved
On Grove Avenue, a verdant road that cuts through Edison's prosperous northern neighborhoods, people who know where to look can purchase world-class steel: firearms like a .40-caliber Total Eclipse, the double-stack VIP handgun, and rounds of .45 ACP ammo.
While the shop is inconspicuous in this densely populated town, its owner is not: He is one of Edison's top officials and has deep ties to its political world.
John Soltesz, 61, is the township's construction official, with jobs in Carteret as a code inspector and Metuchen as the construction official, public records show. He's also a town Democratic committeeman, the brother-in-law of its recently retired longtime Democratic chairman and a member of the Planning Board.
John Soltesz is seen at an Edison Planning Board meeting, where he is a member. (Brian Amaral | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)Soltesz declined to speak about his gun business -- one of three in Edison.
According to federal and state records, he has the proper licenses to have a gun shop. But it's not clear if he got those approvals appropriately, and several public officials past and present said that direct sales from homes could run afoul of the town's zoning law. Soltesz declined to say whether direct sales are taking place, but advertisements for the shop show that he is a "stocking dealer" of firearms.
Soltesz sought permission from the township to get a federal firearms license, but he did not say whether he would have customers visit his home to buy guns and ammunition, according to records.
In 2006, Soltesz requested a letter from the town's zoning department stating he would be allowed to sell guns and ammunition from his home. But when he described why he was seeking the zoning approval, he said he wanted to buy guns and ammunition at cheaper bulk rates because he supplied guns for competitions and firearm lessons, according to a letter obtained by NJ Advance Media.
Steve Lombardi, the zoning officer, wrote back and said the gun shop was an acceptable at-home business.
Soltesz's description of his proposed gun transactions appears to contradict a trail of online postings, brochures, and his own website, all of which indicate Soltesz is a stocking dealer and sells a number of different firearms. In New Jersey, direct gun sales can only take place on the business premises, because gun shows are not legal. In addition, gun range officials where Soltesz holds competitions said that participants bring their own weapons and ammunition.
The town's zoning laws allow for home-based occupations, but they're limited to selling "services and crafts," and also can't sell goods to the "general public."
Those definitions, however, are subject to some interpretation, and town officials declined to interpret them for this story. Mayor Thomas Lankey and Lombardi, the zoning officer, were not made available for interviews.
"It would be inappropriate to comment about a hypothetical violation of zoning ordinances," said William Northgrave, the township attorney. "At this time, we have no information that Township zoning laws are being violated."
'Frowned upon'
Whether Soltesz's business is permissible under the town's zoning depends on questions like how many customers he serves. Multiple sources, including two customers who had been there, told NJ Advance Media that Soltesz sold firearms from a finished basement, but declined to be named for fear of alienating an influential public official.
Leonard Sendelsky, the chairman of the zoning board, said the zoning law would not allow for a hypothetical scenario in which someone sells goods from a home, even if it's once every month or so.
"That would violate the spirit of the law," said Sendelsky, who won a seat on the Township Council on Nov. 3. Sendelsky did not respond to follow-up requests for comment.
Former Mayor Antonia Ricigliano -- who hired Soltesz in 2012 as construction code official -- said that even infrequent visitors buying goods in a residential area would likely violate the zoning law.
"It's really frowned upon, even if it's once a month, because with someone else, it's once a month, and someone else it's once a month, and someone else is once a month, and now it's four times a month," Ricigliano said.
When she was told that guns were at issue, Ricigliano -- a member of former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg's gun control group -- said: "Oh, my. Well. ... My God. No, I don't know anything about that. I can't even imagine."
Thomas Paterniti, the former Democratic chairman in Edison and Soltesz's brother in law, said he was not aware of Soltesz's business, but added that he was sure Soltesz was doing everything above board.
"He crosses every T and dots every I," Paterniti said. "He's a very respectable citizen."
Soltesz is not the only person with a license to sell guns out of a home in Edison, the state's fifth-largest municipality.
Dan Boslet, an Edison police officer, told NJ Advance Media that he got a federal firearms license in December 2012 so he could continue his work on guns. He was the range officer in the Edison Police Department.
"It's very safe," Boslet said in an interview. "No one leaves with ammo for a gun. The cases are locked up. They're transported the correct way and everything. It really hasn't been an issue."
Boslet has a license to sell guns and also to "manufacture" them -- in practice, that means he can do repair work. He also does some gun transfers and direct sales.
Gun transfers are common now because of online gun purchases -- the weapon has to be sent from the online retailer to a registered federal firearms licensee like Boslet, and then to the customer. Boslet charges for the transfer and a background check.
In a little over two years in business, he'd done more than 400 of those transactions, and sold about 50 others directly from his own small stock, he said.
"I make a couple dollars, I meet a lot of great people," Boslet said. "Gun culture is amazing. It's a deadly, dangerous weapon that you're purchasing, but the people that are purchasing it are very good people. It's a great experience. I love it."
Guns in your backyard
Boslet was able to get a federal firearms license when the township zoning officer deemed it a craft or hobby, he said.
Lombardi, the zoning official, sent a letter to State Police signing off on the arrangement, but didn't mention sales or transfers of firearms, records show.
"A gunsmith business operated by mail order, pickup/delivery certainly meets the Ordinance definition and is allowed," Lombardi wrote.
Boslet acknowledged some people might be surprised to learn about his business.
"'Oh my God, you have guns right in your back yard?' Yeah, I do," Boslet said. "It's in a secured shop that's been approved. It's not just a shed back there with a padlock on it."
Mark Papi, of Amboy Avenue, also is licensed to sell guns from his home. He's a retired Middlesex County sheriff's officer. But he said he hasn't sold a gun in five years or so because the bureaucratic maze became too much.
He, too, lives in a residential area. But his property has had a variance -- when a local government eases zoning restrictions on a homeowner -- since 1965. The variance was in place when a hair salon was opened there.
Papi said he was surprised to hear that two others had gotten licenses for gun shops in residential areas without a variance.
"Yeah, that would amaze me," Papi said. "Because when I applied, if I didn't have the variance for the business, they never would have given me a letter of approval."
On a recent Sunday, Soltesz's neighborhood was warm and quiet. Cars zipped by. Neighbors tended their gardens. And not many knew their neighbor was in the firearms business.
The location of World Class Steel, a federal firearms license-holder on Grove Avenue in Edison -- a residential area. "Are you kidding me?" said Herbert Smyczek, who lives next door.
Smyczek asked how long Soletsz had been in business and was told about nine years. Smyczek did some quick math. His daughter is now 20. So when she was 11 years old, playing in this neighborhood, that was going on next door? he asked.
"Are you kidding me?" Smyczek said.
What makes it even more galling for Smyczek is that a few years ago, he built a second kitchen, but didn't realize he needed construction permits. The town came in, Smyczek said, fined him $2,000, and made him knock down the kitchen. Meanwhile, he said, his neighbor has escaped scrutiny.
"This," he said, "is really disturbing."
Brian Amaral may be reached at bamaral@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bamaral44. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
