OT: Isn't this ridiculous??

[scJazz]

Renegade 13 said:

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but posting bomb instructions is NOT illegal in the US, as long as you aren't advocating the use of said bombs, and try to cover your arse by saying that this information is for your information only, and not to be used, etc. So if they aren't breaking the law, what reason could the law have to seize anything?

Oh, and the reason I find it hard to believe bomb making instructions are illegal in the US is because of certain other things, like the fact that it's legal for the average American citizen to own assault rifles, etc. And please do correct me if I'm wrong here, I'd like to know

We aren't allowed to own assault rifles which by definition are rifles that fire in automatic mode either selective or fully. We can however have almost-assault rifles (tm)!!! Good thing too since our federal government is becoming way too intrusive and powerful, gonna have to fix that! Your seeing a side-effect of that right now... no it is not illegal to make a website with instructions on how to make various bombs and stuff as long as it doesn't contain anything "SECRET". Posting do-it-yourself instructions for a Maverick missile or MOAB would be bad. However, with the whole Homeland Security/National Interest thing if the Feds want to take a site down they just have to say so. Persons/companies not complying will quickly find all their computers confiscated and costly legal battles begun. Silly person who posted was a dufus in that they put it on a US based server!

[NullAshton]

Pipe Bomb

So apparently wikipedia has simple, yet effective way of making a pipe bomb. Take a pipe, put chlorate and sugar in it, affix a fuse to it, and ignite.

[Phoenix-D]

What the 'simple' instructions ussually fail to list is the high change of it going off when you don't want it to.

[NullAshton]

That's why you do it at the bomb site.

[Renegade 13]

I think it'd be a good idea to have extensive knowledge of chemistry, at least with regards to redox reactions, since those are the basis of a lot of explosives, before trying to make any form of explosive. Too much could go wrong if you don't have methods of controlling reaction rates and the specific conditions at which they are reacting. For example, just a little bit too much heat when creating nitroglycerin (an easy example) would probably create so many small pieces of your body that you'd hardly find enough to fill a milk jug Things like this are why you hear of morons who blow themselves up while trying to create simple explosive devices...

Don't you just love chemistry!

[Renegade 13]

Hmmm...don't you love the world of Ebay?

A quick check shows that you could obtain the materials to create about 5 pounds of black powder for well under $100 US (not including shipping, which would likely be high). Admittedly, black powder isn't by any means a powerful explosive by today's standards, but 5 pounds would be quite sufficient to create a fairly large hole in the ground. And other, high-order explosives (C4, RDX, etc) wouldn't take too much more in the way of materials nor knowledge to create for an low price as well. Kinda scary, actually. Good thing bomb-making doesn't even cross most people's minds.

[Jack Simth]

Umm... stuff that can make pretty booming noises are actually fairly easy to make... provided you don't go boom with it ... for that matter, there's a pretty high probability that most homeowners have basically everything except the end caps for the pipe around their homes somewhere.....

[narf poit chez BOOM]

The trouble with government comes when they forget they are employees.

[Xrati]

The more you tell someone that they CAN'T have it. The MORE they want it. Human nature at it's basic level. If bombs were legal and TAXED, there be no bombs as nobody would want to pay the taxes on them. (It could happen)

[Baron Munchausen]

Most 'illegal' drugs are in fact taxed to make them illegal. (You can't get the 'tax stamp' to prove that you've paid the tax, so they are permanently illegal.) Machine guns are also legal and taxed. I haven't heard of any drop in demand for either.