Alibay Barkley, 55, was pulled over at around 7 p.m. after officers noticed his 2019 Corvette license plate did not match the registration, police said.
The officers stopped Barkley at the corner of East 140th Street and Third Avenue and found the fully loaded firearm.
According to the criminal complaint, Alibay Barkley told police "that is my wife's gun. We keep it for safety because of who my son is and because we come back to the Bronx to visit a lot."
Barkley does not have a license to carry the weapon in New York state, police said.
He was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and possession of ammunition and released on $5,000 cash bail.
He will be back in court June 11.
When asked about the unregistered Corvette, investigators said he said his son had bought it for him
Barkley had a relative in the vehicle with him, but it was not his NFL star son, who left the New York Giants for the Philadelphia Eagles during the off season.
The elder Barkley, who lives in Pennsylvania, has a gun possession record dating back to when he was 19 years old and spent a year in jail on Rikers Island.
Saquon's mother moved the family out of New York soon after.
In 2016, he was arrested and tased for refusing to get off a bus headed to Allentown, Pa. after he was accused of not paying. He later sued the police and the bus company for discrimination, settling for $45,000 in 2018.
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