Van Drew, Andrzejczak Call for Common Sense in Antique Gun Case

TRENTON — Senator Jeff Van Drew and Assemblyman Bob Andrzejczak (D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic) issued the following joint statement today on the case of a 72-year-old retired teacher from Millville High School who during a traffic stop late last year advised law enforcement of an antique gun in the vehicle’s glove box. Gordon N. Van Gilder, a history buff and collector of 18th century memorabilia, faces a maximum of 10 years if convicted of the 2nd degree felony handgun charge for possession of the unloaded 300-year-old Queen Ann flintlock pistol, according to a published report. The charge carries a minimum sentence of 3 and a half years and may jeopardize his public school pension, his right to vote and his reputation in the community, his lawyer told The Daily Journal.
“Mr. Van Gilder served his community as a teacher for 34 years. He is an antique collector, not a criminal. Yet, at 72-years old he is looking at possibly spending a decade in prison. It doesn’t get more ludicrous than this.
“We really have to handle gun possession cases with common sense rather with knee-jerk responses. We’ve already seen a case of a single mother facing mandatory prison time for possession of a gun that was registered to her in Pennsylvania. Now, a senior citizen could potentially spend years in prison for a collector’s item that he reportedly informed authorities was in a vehicle’s glove compartment. We urge the Cumberland County authorities to take a close look at this case and to provide a reasonable penalty for this infraction that does not include prison time. These are not incidents that should be used to make an example of gun owners; we are talking about people’s lives here. In this case, we are talking about a 72-year-old educator. We have to review our laws when it comes to sentencing in these types of very narrow instances, but it is our hope that we do not even get to that point in this case.”
Senator Van Drew is the sponsor of legislation that would provide judges sentencing discretion in very narrow cases involving individuals charged with unlawful possession of a firearm. The bill (S2613) would revise the “Graves Act,” allowing the court to permit a person convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm admittance to pretrial intervention or supervisory treatment if they had no known association with a criminal street gang and no criminal convictions.