On October 2, 2024, the North Jersey chapter of the Friends of the National Rifle Association held a fundraising dinner. The dinner was helmed by John and “J.J.” Occhipinti, a father and son duo, who took over as committee chair and treasurer respectively, only last year. The event was held at the Tides Estate in North Haledon, New Jersey. I had a chance to attend – what turned out to be – a historic event! Not only was it a who’s who of New Jersey activism and advocacy in the Second Amendment, the dinner raised a record breaking sum of money.

“You know, when he [Occhipinti] told me on day one,” Gregory Nyce, the field representative for area four started saying during an interview, “‘I'm going to have a banquet that has 500 people,’ I chuckled.” As a field representative, Nyce is responsible for lending support to the Friends of the NRA dinners in his area. Nyce said he covers eastern Pennsylvania, as well as all of Jersey and Delaware.

Nyce explained that he’s been with the NRA as a field representative for three or four years. During his tenure, he said that North Jersey’s recent banquet “was my biggest dinner” and according to his boss, “it was the biggest dinner in the eastern region of the U.S.” Nyce said that he’s participated as a field representative in approximately 66 dinners through the years.

What’s great about the Friends of the NRA is that the program is one that directly and positively impacts shooting programs across the nation and within the state they’re held. Funds raised by individual chapters are divided 50/50. 

“At the foundation, it gets split in half. Money goes to national programs like Women on Target, Eddie Eagle, School Shield, NRA Hunter Education,” Nyce explained. “All those national programs are funded from half of that money, the other half of that money goes back to the state.”

How much money are we talking? Under John and “J.J.” Occhipinti’s leadership, with the help of Nyce and others at Friends of the NRA, quite a bit.

“Last year, we gave out $17,000 in grants alone, because that's all we could afford from different banquets we had,” Nyce started to compare last year’s performance in his area to this year’s. “This year we had four banquets, and this banquet alone will give us almost 10 grand more than last year, by having this one banquet. Overall, from all four events, we’ll be giving over $50,000 in grants this year.”

The North Jersey Friends of the NRA chapter raised north of $52,000 and half of that will be going to support the shooting sports in the Garden State.

Occhipinti is beyond grateful for all the help he’s received in making the dinner a reality. He set a lofty goal and went out and achieved it. One name kept popping up over and over again when I spoke to Occhipinti. That was Anthony Colandro.

Colandro is the founder and co-owner of Gun for Hire at the Woodland Park Range, New Jersey’s only six star range. In addition to his work at Gun for Hire, he’s been an activist for decades; currently he’s an officer with the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs as well as an NRA board member. Colandro also is the co-host of the popular weekly podcast Gun for Hire Radio, is a master firearms trainer, and author of “Crime Proof: Think Like a Criminal and Beat Them at Their own Game.”

Occhipinti said that Colandro’s help made the dinner successful. Even when he was skeptical, he still stuck by Occhipinti to lend his resources. “I actually talked to Anthony about it, and he told me I was crazy. Even while [I told him] I was thinking of doing like 500 people. He said I should be ‘locked up in a mental institution’ because I'm really crazy.”

“I’d like to thank Anthony Colandro for all his help in promoting the event, by having JJ and I on his podcast several times and promoting and making his audience aware of our sponsors’ generosity on a weekly basis,” Occhipinti said. “For his willingness to always support the cause, by donating a custom-built AR-15, by my good friend Juan, it was truly a work of art! I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shout to the entire staff at Gun for Hire. The glue that keeps that place running, Phoebe!”

Occhipinti continued to list off several folks to thank at the Gun for Hire team, including; Matt and Rich, two of Colandro’s partners at the facility. Scott Wentworth, also a GFH team member, Occhipinti said was pivotal in keeping things flowing at the dinner, as well as he helped close out all the paperwork after the dinner ended.

“We are proud of the record support for this year’s event. Investment in our youth, the next generation of New Jersey Second Amendment supporters, is the forefront to ensure the values of freedom and responsibility endure for years to come," J.J. Occhipinti said in a statement when he was asked about the dinner. "This year’s event was a success and we are looking forward to building on great event next year."

I asked Nyce about how the Occhipintis performed on their Freshmen dinner. “I had 22 banquets this year,” Nyce said. “If I had 22 chairs like him, I'd have the easiest job in the world, because he just, he knows everybody. He is a businessman. And yes, this is a volunteer driven program, and it's a fundraiser event, but we really got to run it like a business.” Nyce was beyond happy with John and J.J.’s work.

Besides the monumental amount of money raised, the October 2nd dinner was a friendraiser too. Some of the heavy lifters of New Jersey’s Second Amendment community included:

Dan Schmutter, civil rights attorney and council to Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, Shawn Abramson, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of News2A.com, Charlie Cook from Riding Shotgun With Charlie did a last minute day-of crashing of the party, Frank Pisano, firearm attorney from Needleman and Pisano, N.J. Assemblyman Robert Auth, Jay Factor, founding board member of New Jersey Firearm Owners Syndicate, Sandy Hickerson, a N.J. delegate from Women for Gun Rights and a chair of another N.J. Friends of the NRA chapter, Joe LoPorto, director of government affairs from Civil Liberties Policy Research Center of New Jersey, Brad Hendrick, one of the co-founders and mods from the Garden State Guns subreddit, Tony Simon from 2A4A Diversity Shoots, John Valenti from Varsity Firearms Podcast, David Rosenthal, the vice president of the Coalition of New Jersey Firearms Owners, and many more.

Also in attendance at the dinner was David Wells, the Friends of NRA Eastern Regional Director. Wells said that “Experiencing this gathering first hand was truly memorable,” and that “with over 400 Friends of NRA events attended nationwide in my career, I can confidently say this event ranks among the best.”

Wells talked a little about the challenges of having such events in the Garden State. “New Jersey events are unique in that it is the only state prohibiting the display of firearms at events, and state law further restricts the use of firearms, air guns, and knives in raffles or games of chance,” Wells said. “Despite these challenges, the North Jersey Friends of NRA committee successfully auctioned over 50 firearms and table sponsor incentives, raising significant funds for the NRA Foundation.”

“The success of the event is a testament to the dedication of the volunteer committee, led by John Occhipinti, his family, and their team, who executed the planning and management with remarkable professionalism,” Wells said of the team. “Impressively, this was a new volunteer team and their first-ever banquet together. NRA Field Representative Greg Nyce’s selection of John Occhipinti as chairman was ideal.”

The October 2nd dinner drew quite a bit of attention due to its success.

“Friends of NRA is an important grassroots effort put on by your friends and your freedom-loving neighbors. From supporting worthy projects such as promoting firearm safety to range improvements to youth shooting programs, Friends events are critical to the future of the shooting sports,” said NRA CEO and Executive Vice President Doug Hamlin. “I’d like to thank the hard-working, dedicated volunteers for their time and efforts that make these events possible.”

That hard work was further saluted by Wells, when talking about John Occhipinti. “John is a respected community figure whose business acumen, personality, and connections made this event a resounding success,” Wells said. “Selling out a 500-attendee event is an accomplishment for even the most experienced committees, underscoring the strong support for our mission in the Garden State.”

By all accounts, the North Jersey Friends of the NRA banquet was a rousing success. I personally had not been to a FNRA dinner since October 2014, and was impressed by the affair. Nyce perfectly described the climate in New Jersey and the level of advocacy, “There are a lot of gun owners in Jersey that are in the shadows because they don't want to be seen as the ‘gunner.’ But you know, when you get 500 in a room, it makes a statement.” That statement was made loud and clear. Bravo to the Occhipintis, their staff and volunteers, as well as the rest of the team members at the Friends of the NRA.

Author’s Note: John Occhipinti had some additional shout outs that I wanted to include. To be perfectly honest, there were so many wonderful activists, advocates, and volunteers involved, it’s impossible for me to have caught them all. So I apologize to any of the wonderful folks that did not make it above the fold here. If you were left out, consider it a testament of how much of an awesome job New Jersey is doing at being on the advocacy map.

John Occhipinti wanted to extend his additional thanks to:

To my son JJ. The brains of the operation. His talent in creating and setting up the visuals for the live auction, the program he created to allow for quick easy registration at the event. For tirelessly running around the event to assure all was going as planned, for his new found talent, auctioneer, absolutely perfect. I’m so proud of the little bugger.

I can’t thank Anthony Imperato of Henry Repeating Arms enough. Not only was Henry a national sponsor and providing each diner across the country with the Henry Gun of the Year set, when I reached out to Anthony to simply invite him to event as an honorary guest, (after all a New Jersey Gun Manufacturer and donor not attend a New Jersey dinner, I wouldn’t have it), even though he had travel plans abroad for that night, he generously donated several more Henry Rifles to our event. Thank you, Anthony !! Don’t make any travel plans for October 2025….lol

To Mr. John Mele the owner of the Tides Estate, and Tito Friere the General Manager, who welcomed us, when others shied away because of the NRA stigma. Their food, service, and willingness to accommodate all our needs was very much appreciated. The evening would not have flowed as well as it did if it weren’t for the professionalism of their staff.

To Greg Nyce, our NRA field rep, who held our hands and guided us through the unknown, who answered our calls at all hours to answer questions that us two neophytes had, Thank you Greg!

To the 520 Second amendment supporters who attended and supported this great cause. To the 35 plus table sponsors, who without their trust, generosity, and support, none of this would have been possible.

Finally, JJ and I would love to thank our hard-working volunteers. Gentlemen, it was an honor getting to meet you all, lifelong friendships we created and we truly appreciated all your dedication to help make this the Banquet of the year in New Jersey.

Occhipinti also extends his thanks to the following sponsors:

Table Sponsors

• Vinny Gallo
• Field of Dreams Landscape
• Gun for Hire
• Mindful Wealth
• Aberdeen Guns
• Nadeem Aburustum
• HH Remodel
• Lake Island Rifle Pistol Club
• Bergen Optometry
• Castellano Electric Motors
• Brown Baron Arms LLC
• West Essex Jewelers
• Varsity Firearms Podcast
• AutoSport
• GRF Training
• Perform as Designed
• Wells Fargo Financial Advisors
• A&H Tree Service
• Glasser Security Group
• Iachetti’s Kitchen
• Assemblyman Robert Auth
• David Scerbo
• Garden State Guns
• Tenafly Pistol Club
• Ridge Construction
• Monster Coatings LLC
• Advanced Sports Therapy
• Wefferling & Co CPA’s LLC
• Chris Decker
• Eii Electric
• James Ruitenberg
• Griffin & Howe
• Peter Zazzali

Premium Sponsors

• 10.75 Emergency Vehicles
• PJM and Sons

Author's Note Two: I have a personal thank you to that special someone who launched a ravioli at me while we were dining. I was commending myself, as a member of the larger community for not having gotten any food on myself all night, but then to have someone else sabotage me by saucing my jacket was just an abomination. You know who you are. Mind your pasta. You are forgiven, but on probation!