A Queens senior citizen who shot dead a man who tried to rob him will spend four years in prison after admitting\u00a0to toting an unlicensed revolver\u00a0<\/a>\u2014 as his lawyer ripped the city\u2019s \u201cdraconian\u201d gun laws.<\/p>\n Charles Foehner, 67, pleaded guilty to one count of criminal weapons possession Thursday in a deal to end his case more than two years after he fatally shot would-be thief Cody Gonzalez, who charged at him near his Kew Gardens home.<\/p>\n The Queens District Attorney\u2019s Office chose not to prosecute Foehner, a retired doorman, for Gonzalez\u2019s killing after he told cops that he\u2019d defended himself from a mugger who lunged at him late at night holding what looked like a knife \u2014 but which turned out to be a pen.<\/p>\n Foehner was not charged with manslaughter after claiming self-defense, but pleaded guilty to a lesser gun charge.Brigitte Stelzer<\/p>\n But prosecutors slapped Foehner with a slew of weapons raps for the unlicensed handgun and for\u00a0an arsenal of illicit handguns<\/a>, revolvers and rifles inside his home in the quiet neighborhood.<\/p>\n Foehner took the plea deal to avoid a trial, where he faced 25 years in prison on gun charges that are not hard to prove, said his attorney Thomas Kenniff after Thursday\u2019s hearing in Queens Supreme Court.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kenniff called Foehner a \u201chero\u201d who was put in an \u201cimpossible position\u201d by what he called \u201cdraconian\u201d Big Apple gun laws that make it difficult for \u201claw-abiding citizens\u201d to obtain permits to carry firearms.<\/p>\n \u201cIf this was a state and a city that had its affairs in order, Mr. Foehner would be getting a plaque, not a prison sentence,\u201d Kenniff told reporters on the courthouse steps.<\/p>\n Lawmakers in New York City and Albany have \u201crepeatedly frustrated the rights of law-abiding Americans, New Yorkers, that possess firearms,\u201d added the attorney, who is best known for\u00a0successfully defending Marine veteran Daniel Penny<\/a>\u00a0from charges of fatally choking a homeless man who threatened subway passengers in May 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we respected people\u2019s constitutional right, and provided practical means for citizens to exercise that right, Mr. Foehner would not be in the position he is in today,\u201d Kenniff added.<\/p>\n After his arrest for the 2 a.m. killing in a driveway near his home at 82nd Avenue and Queens Boulevard, Foehner told cops he\u2019d been packing the silver revolver to protect himself from Big Apple crime.<\/p>\n![\"Surveillance](\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/11\/surveillance-video-obtained-post-shows-12040757.jpg?w=1024\")
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