Queens man Charles Foehner, 67, will serve four years in prison for owning unlicensed guns after accepting a plea deal. Brigitte Stelzer

New York City’s upside-down justice system is sending a 67-year-old man to prison for four years for owning unlicensed guns — while rapists, stabbers and serial gropers go free.

Charles Foehner was on his way back from buying cigarettes in the wee hours of a May 2023 morning when Cody Gonzalez, 32, a career criminal with 15 prior arrests and a history of mental illness, confronted him.

Foehner says Gonzalez demanded money and cigarettes; surveillance video shows a swaying Gonzalez then charge at Foehner with what he mistook for a knife, but turned out to be a pen.

Foehner shot Gonzalez in the chest multiple times, then called 911.

The elderly man

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