The gun was part of the man’s collection of 18th-century antiques.
Guns dot com
A retired teacher in Cumberland County, New Jersey, who was facing a minimum of 10 years in prison for a felony gun charge over a 300-year-old flintlock pistol has had the charges against him dropped, the county prosecutor announced Wednesday.
Police discovered 72-year-old Gordon Van Gilder had an antique gun wrapped in a cloth and tucked away in the glove box of his car when he was stopped for a minor traffic violation in November. The officer sent Van Gilder on his way, but the following day authorities showed up at his home with a warrant for his arrest because he did not have the proper paperwork for the antique gun.
Van Gilder was at risk of losing his retirement plan, which he had spent more than 30 years earning, if convicted.
But Van Gilder’s attorney, Evan Nappen, who specializes in gun cases and successfully represented Shaneen Allen, a single mother of two with a concealed carry permit who was facing similar charges after being pulled over in New Jersey last year, argued that the mid-1700s flintlock didn’t even fall under the legal definition of a firearm. But Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McCrae said in a statement, “The public should be forewarned about the prescriptions against possessing a firearm (even an antique) in a vehicle.
Nonetheless, after reviewing Van Gilder’s case, Webb-McCrae used her power of prosecutorial discretion to drop the charges against Van Gilder “in the interest of justice.”
Now, don't all the crybaby gun-rights fanatics feel silly? They should after all the alarmist nonsense they were spewing, even from the more fanatical among them the invented fact that he didn't get the gun back and that it probably became part of one of the policemen's collection.
And Guns dot com is not beyond throwing in some made-up shit from time to time, as we've seen before. What kind of pension stops coming if an elderly person is convicted of a felony?
