Authorities discovered a large cache of more than 150 guns, 250 gallons of jet fuel, and small explosives inside a stately Fairfield home yesterday. According to WFSB police were called to 66-year-old Joseph Callahan's house by a tipster who said it may have been burglarized. Instead, police found the volatile chemicals and weapons in plain view. "This is a very cluttered house," Fairfield police chief Gary MacNamara said. "There are weapons scattered throughout the house."
The "explosives" are described as firecracker-like devices that are larger than an M80 but smaller than a stick of dynamite.
MacNamara told CBS that Callahan may have used the materials for a rocket-building hobby at one point, but that he had them in such quantities that it may warrant criminal charges. “There are indications that he did have some hobbies with regards to rockets…It may be legal to possess chemical A, and it may be legal to possess chemical B. It becomes illegal when you combine them."
Perhaps we are jumping to conclusions. MacNamara said there was "no immediate danger" to the neighborhood, and WFSB reports that Callahan has a background in chemistry and used to work for Remington Arms. Callahan, whose gun collection was estimated to be worth more than $100,000, and whose house is valued at around $1.3 million, was being held at a local hospital for observation.
