A 72-year-old retired school teacher in New Jersey faces a 10-year felony sentence (a likely life sentence) and the jeopardization of his pension for possession of an unloaded 300-year-old flintlock pistol.

Gordon Van Gilder taught school for 34 years and is a collector of 18th-century memorabilia. He acquired an antique flintlock pistol from that era and had it unloaded and wrapped in a cloth in his glove compartment when he was pulled over for an alleged minor traffic violation. Van Gilder consented to a requested search of his vehicle.

“When asked by the officer if there was anything in the car the officer should be worried about,” wrote Andrew Branca on Legal Insurrection, “Van Gilder informed him about the flintlock in the glove box. Although not arrested that day, the next morning several patrol cars woke him at his home and placed him under arrest.”

In a videotaped interview, Attorney Evan Nappen said, “You name it, New Jersey regulates it, and they just don’t make it into misdemeanors. Every one of them is a felony. Every one. You have a slingshot in New Jersey, you face a felony charge.”