Per state and federal law, at-home gun shops are legal, but they can run into trouble with the local zoning board.
A firearm for sale at a New Jersey gun shop in 2012. (Staff Photo by Cindy Hepner/South Jersey Times) EDISON -- Several residents and local officials expressed deep reservations after reports that three people, two of them township employees, had licenses to sell guns from their residential homes in the state's fifth-largest town.
"I would be upset if my next door neighbor was selling guns," Edison Councilman Wayne Mascola said at Monday night's Town Council meeting, reacting to NJ Advance Media's report last week that at least 140 businesses in New Jersey, including three in Edison, had state and federal licenses to sell guns from homes.
The subject of firearms can stoke passions like few others in modern American politics, but Monday night's discussion was less about the Second Amendment and more about Chapter 17.24 of Edison's local ordinances: Whether widgets or Winchesters, can people sell goods to customers from their homes?
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Mascola, the board's lone Republican, said he's not against guns, but "it's a residential area. That's what bothers me."
William Northgrave, the township attorney, said he would prepare some research for the council about the town's investigative options. But he cautioned against immediately sending in zoning officers to go out and knock on doors at the gun businesses, saying that gun sales there are "hypothetical."
"This is not hypothetical," Mascola shot back.
NJ Advance Media reported that the town's construction official, John Soltesz, has a license to sell guns from his Grove Avenue home. Soltesz refused to comment, but World Class Steel's own advertisements show that it is a stocking dealer of firearms, which the manufacturers say means a dealership that sells directly to customers from a stock that is kept on the premises.
Dan Boslet, an Edison police officer, also has a gun business at his home. Town officials said that his business engaged in "services and crafts." Boslet's license is for manufacturing, which in Boslet's case means he can coat the guns with a protective or decorative material. He also does some online gun transfers and a small amount of direct sales, he told NJ Advance Media.
And Mark Papi, a retired county sheriff's officer, said he had a zoning variance for his gun shop, but hadn't sold any firearms in about five years.
"I was shocked," said Walter Stochel, who speaks frequently at Edison council meetings. "The residents should be able to know. There should be an approval process."
Firearms enthusiasts say that home-based gun dealerships are a safe and effective way for people to exercise their rights and their passion for guns. The state of New Jersey, which has seen a large increase in at-home gun shops over the past five years -- at least one in three gun businesses operate from a home, NJ Advance Media's analysis found -- requires safety measures above and beyond what most states do, including locking up inventory in safes at night.
Lois Wolke, another Edison resident, still had questions about what was happening in a town she cares enough about to attend every meeting. Is the town making sure that the businesses are zoned properly, and that they're being assessed at the right level, if they have a finished basement?
"It's not good for the town," Wolke said.
Brian Amaral may be reached at bamaral@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bamaral44. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
