OT: Isn't this ridiculous?? - Page 2

Renegade 13 · #1 August 5th, 2006, 02:50 AM

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 · #2 August 5th, 2006, 02:57 AM

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 · #3 August 5th, 2006, 03:22 AM

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 · #4 August 5th, 2006, 04:32 PM

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

Xrati · #5 August 6th, 2006, 12:44 AM

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 · #6 August 6th, 2006, 03:54 PM

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.

PvK · #7 August 7th, 2006, 02:40 PM

It's amazing to me that people still haven't learned that trying to outlaw and make impossible everything that seems "bad" on the surface is not only foolish and undesirable, but also IMPOSSIBLE.

Oh no! Someone can buy the ingredients for a black powder bomb!

Meanwhile, we get ads in our junk mail about sales on shotguns and as much ammo as we want from local chain stores. Or, if you think $100 of black powder is a threat, how tough do you think it is to buy $100 of gasoline?

Or, just steal a truck and go on a Carmageddon 4 rampage.

Shocked? Amazed? The TV news might pretend to be, for the sake of selling stories to FOOLS. I.e., the American viewing public.

The thing is, this has actually become a line that many Americans will buy. "Oh ya, that would be bad. No one would ever have imagined that someone would do X. It should be outlawed! Everyone going to a gas station should be strip-searched and their cigarette lighters and shoes confiscated to make us all safer!"