Millstone Township, NJ - A Millstone man made his first appearance in federal court Tuesday on charges that he kept 36 machine guns on his property, which are illegal under federal law, as well as explosive devices and materials used to make explosive devices.

John Lafergola, 52, was detained without bail, federal prosecutors said. Police first responded to Lafergola's Millstone Township home on Oct. 5, 2014 for a call that he had pointed a handgun at another member of his household.

ATF agents were called in, and investigators searching the property found that in total, Lafergola possessed 72 firearms – including 36 machine guns – and dozens of firearms components, ammunition, accessories, and manufacturing tools. Of those 36 machine guns, 13 were found to be operational as automatic weapons.

Lafergola also was found to be in possession of three short-barreled rifles, including one that had an obliterated serial number; two silencers; as well as non-smoke gunpowder, fuses, other materials that could be used to make explosive devices, and explosive devices. A machine gun is defined as a weapon that can shoot automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.