Authorities have discovered a collection of guns piled throughout a South Carolina man's house and garage that included more than 7,000 guns, 500 chainsaws, crossbows, ammunition, four-wheelers and taxidermy supplies while going to serve him his subpoena, according to the Daily Mail.
It took authorities two days to seize all of the weapons, which are still being cataloged, My Northwest noted.
"This has completely changed our definition of an ass-load of guns," Chesterfield County Sheriff Jay Brooks said, according to Business Insider.
Brent Nicholson, 51, had guns everywhere in the home, which he shared with his wife Sharon. The livingroom, halls and bedrooms had rifles and shotguns piled high, while tables and counter tops held hand guns. When the police rolled up the garage door, more firearms tumbled out onto their feet.
Among the thousands of guns, Nicholson also allegedly had piles of stolen goods. Brooks hasn't been able to determine just how many guns were stolen in Nicholson's arsenal, as hundreds have had their serial numbers removed, making them impossible to trace.
"Getting him locked up dries up the outlet for this stolen merchandise," Brooks says. Nicholson has been locked up for six weeks since the raid.
The chain of events started when a sheriff's deputy pulled over Nicholson for running a stop sign on Oct. 21, at the state line in North Carolina. Nicholson's pickup truck had bogus plates, and the deputy also saw several rifle barrels behind the seat when he approached the vehicle.
During the search, 20 rifles, nine hand guns and just under 200 hydrocodone pills were found, and several of the guns were stolen. The sheriff's department arrested Nicholson on charges of suspicion of possessing stolen weapons, trafficking in opiates and vehicular violations. While Nicholson was still in jail, a deputy served a subpoena at the home, noticing stolen equipment in the yard, prompting the raid the next day.
The questions are still unanswered, but at the forefront is how one acquires an arsenal of this magnitude. With the continued threat of mass shootings, the idea of someone with a weapon arsenal this large terrifies authorities.
While the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives does not rank the size of gun seizures, a spokesman claims that Nicholson's cache would be among the largest ever.
