Secret bomb ingrediënt my ...

Whenever the media get their hands on an amateur bomber, they turn and twist stuff around faster and harder than the large hadron collider.

Acetone peroxide becomes "the mother of satan", fertillizer is a national threat and aluminum powder is a "secret ingredient" that makes bombs super-duper dangerous with a twist. Yeah I'm snapping at you, wired ...

Aluminium has been used for ages to increase the density of explosives as well as correct or intentionally throw off the oxygen balance. Aluminium, Al by it's scientific name has seen extensive use by amateur high energy chemists in compositions such as ANAl wax, ANNMAl and many more. The military uses it in huge crude explosives. It is not a secret, it is common practice for military ordonance and amateur concoctions alike.

Stop with the PSH! Needlessly scaring people to terrorist acts defeats the purpose of terrorism, don't do their job for them!

Student planned to shoot and bomb others ...

... but apparently didn't have a gun or explosives.

Contrary to what KSN is claiming, police did NOT find explosives in the home of a student who had claimed he wanted to shoot and bomb other students. After this was heard by other students and passing it on to the proper authorities, the angry ones house was raided and an incendiary device was recovered.

While I'll be the first to admit that incendiaries are very dangerous (more so than explosives in my opinion), they are not explosives. Firebombs aren't "explosives" and even then: incendiary device could be anything from a thermite grenade* to a Molotov cocktail or just a plastic bottle of coleman fuel.

* military designation: AN-M14 TH3

What's "mota policia" in Chinese?

Bringing shame to all mexican gangsters armed with what amounts to an overowered .22, Chinese terrorists from the Xinjian province managed to kill 19 policemen before being captured.
(ABC,CNN)

Their weapons?

1. Heavy trucks
2. homemade explosives
3. knives

Heavy trucks as seen in Israel in recent history, homemade explosives available to all with the inclination of learning how to make them, and knives which are supposed to be the scorn of England.

Nineteen fatalities, that's considerably "better" than the average school shooter stateside, and the dead were trained policemen, not high school/collge kids who are constantly drunk or on drugs (according to those who whish them banned from CCW).

Bombing plot foiled.

On this side of the pond, a man was convicted to seven years in prison for activities relating to a terrorist plot:

• A jury was told that the physics graduate, who had also studied chemistry, attempted to make bombs using nitrocellulose, fertiliser, white spirit and acetone, and had made handwritten notes stipulating the design of the devices.

What? I don't know which fertillizer exactly, but Nitrocellulose and (I can only guess) ammonium nitrate are far from practical explosives by themselves, and getting the resources to detonate ammonium nitrate plasticised with nitrocellulose (which is what the acetone is for) is no simple feat!

So I read on:

• "It's true that the materials you in fact had were so inferior, so third rate, that they would not themselves have made a viable bomb.

  "But the fault was with the quality of materials and not in the concept.

  "If you had developed this concept into a working bomb, there would have been great potential for destruction, injury and death."

Not so conforting after all ...

"My son got bombed"

The words of a mother whose son was hit with a piece of shrapnel from a home-made explosive device. A neighbour tried to build a pyrotechnic device (a fountain if I get this correctly), unfortunately the middle aged man is a complete idiot who doesn't know the first thing about pyrotechnics safety ...

A metal casing ... what was he thinking ... no, he wasn't thinking!
Uhng, this really gets to me, I can only feel horribly sorry for the kid and his familly.

Now, as for the ability of people to manufacture explosive devices "like IED's straight out of Iraq", I've said it before and I'll say it again: the internet is full of information, some of which is accurate. Can you imagine the damage one could do if he had bad intentions and the ability to learn?

Current events in the UK

Welcome all to the gun debate critic on Sunday, as I glance at the other side of the pond and see if the UK is starting to become a peacefull utopia yet. Just a quick glance this sunday:

Starting off with the hint of mystery, a man was killed in a street attack, cause of death undisclosed.

Two people were stabbed but will likely live, another man was stabbed to death. Two others were injured, one of them a 17 year old. Another mas was stabbed with a broken bottle, I can only assume that after the obviously succesfull laws concerning knives, we'll now be seeing the outlawing of glass bottles as well.

A man was shot to death in London and a woman set a van with an acetylene cilinder on fire, acetylene is a highly explosive gas.

Nope, not quite there yet ...

Current events in the UK

It's been two weeks since I last wrote this "column" ... it's not gotten any better.

Even CNN released a video of the latest child victim of knife crime, a 16 year old boy stabbed to death. A young man was stabbed and remains in critical condition, security guards were attacked, stabbed and cut as they tried to chase down suspected shoplifters. Another man, 19 years of age, was attacked and presumably stabbed, he too is in critical condition.
There's been multiple robberies by criminals armed with knives, two are reported here, at least one person was injured. One would think that serious punishments such as this one (over 11 years in jail) would serve as a deterrent. If not, perchance we could re-introduce the chance of being shot during the comission of a crime?

Moving out of the realm of knives and other sharp objects: there's been an arson attack against a bussiness, fortunately, nobody was injured. Another arson attack targeted an inhabited house, two senior citizens were indoors when the attack took place, neither is reported to have been injured. A pipe-bomb exploded, causing serious material damage to a house, fortunately nobody was hurt.

Despite legislation that amounts to an effective ban on firearms, a man was shot earlier today, injured in the stomach, he'll most likely live.
A seventeen year old girl was repeadedly raped by three men.

Police are continuing to wage war on drugs, arresting multiple dealers in targeted raids. I do hope they manage to keep up their successes, they generally don't leave any inoccents dead and do manage to haul back a lot of contraband, unfortunately that's not enough ... it's never enough ...

Current events in the UK

Let's get this weeks edition going shall we?

As often before, I start off with a bit of mystery: Yet another man was killed in a way yet to be specified, but his assasin has been found, and charged this time 'round!

A $50 000 drug bust gets this petty article, as if it's just a minor footnotes in todays crime-soaked world. Oh tempora o mores you say? This story about a woman raped in a public place gets even less of an article!
There's been some use of firebombs in the past few weeks, but now a pipe-bomb has been used to attack a building inhabited by an elderly couple.

As for stabbings, a man was stabbed in the neck outside of a pub (déjà vu like primed epoxy) and two kids have been charged with murder after stabbing a man to death.

To commemorate the death of a girl who was killed for her adherance to a subculture, authorities have built a bench. I suppose it is good to do more than just punish the murderers, which was also done here.

I'm ending today's post on a good note. Blood spilled and life lost, but still a good note. A man who attacked a perceived burglar was cleared of charches. The "burglar" was a neighbour who just got off a 12 hour drink-'n-drugs binge, and forced his way into the wrong house, thinking it was his. The homeowner was deemed to have used reasonable force.

All is not lost!

Another couple of pipe-bombs

Explosives have been in te news recently when a kid got caught ordering some ammonium nitrate.
Now some people have used a pipe-bomb to attack a FedEx building, and another device was found on scene.

I've always said this, and I'll repeat myself: the internet is riddeled with information about making explosives, some of which is accurate. For the sake of controversy, here's a clip of somebody shooting an exploding pyrotechnical device out of a mortar that screws onto his home-made shotgun:



The author, outsider1, has released a lot of videos featuring his improvised firearms. The device he shoots out of his "weapon" in the video is a relatively harmless device, but could easely be produced as a destructive device.

Can we rid the world of guns and explosives? No we cannot! We must deal with those willing to harm other people instead!

School bombing foiled.

A student was found out to be plotting an attack against his school.
He had solid plans, mapped out the campus and was in posession of ten pounds of ammonium nitrate according to ABC news.

Look, I've been over this before: shootings are just one way for a massacre to happen. Somebody bent in destruction may very well turn to arson or explosives, or poison or anything else that can be used as a weapon.

Should we make schools "explosives free" as well? Run random explosive swabs on the doorhandles of cars parked on campus property perhaps? It may give a false positive on people who've been handeling chili pickling, fertilizer or ceramics supplies. But hey ... if we have to give up home-ec, arts and crafts and landscaping as the price we pay for our childrens safety, that's worth it right!

Or maybe, just maybe, we could start to actually raise our kids? The parents of this would-be-bomber were the ones who informed the police. They did the right thing IMO, and I hope their son gets the help he needs, wherever he's going.

Current events in the UK

Still going strong, I bring you the news from accross the pond on the calm sunday.
No snooping around the archives this week, just the sunday papers are already overfilling my browser with stories of violence and pain.

Various in nature as well! Starting off with a hint of mystery: a dead body was found lying in the streets, it's yet to be determined what or who killed him. One man beat another to death, showing once more that nobody can be diarmed into a harmless person.
Another beating involved a child surving an attack by a gang of four.

Onto more serious matters then. A man was killed in cold blood, shot multiple times inside a crowded pub. There's also been yet another firebomb attack, a racially motivated one this time round.

The infamous works "bomb" makes the news again.

A news station actually named the device, which I've blogged about before.

The video gives a ... somewhat accurate image of such device. A "works" bomb is technically a pressure device, a container which ruptures from "mild" pressure buildup due to gasses produced from a spontaneous chemical reaction. As opposed to the sudden, violent pressure buildup generated by flash powder after it has been ignited.

They call the devices "extremely dangerous", perhaps a little bit overreacting there. Such devices don't generally create much of an explosion, as pop bottles do not stand up to a lot of pressure, but they do -as mentioned in the video- hurl caustic chemicals in any direction upon rupture, danger depends entirely on the nature of the chemicals used.

The kids mentioned in the article/video will be facing serious charges ... they should!

I personally like tinkering with "high energy chemistry" too! But I don't put other people at risk doing so. The safety of those around me and my own safety come before anything! These idiots left dangerous chemical devices lying around school, does it get any worse than that?

As for an example of how to toy around with these devices in a safe, I'll refer you to Spatula Tzar, who explodes such a device in a highly ontrolled way, nine feet below the surface of the earth.

In closing:
Raise your kids! Pay attention to them!

More explosives on Campus.

Once again, a student has been caught tinkering with explosives and destructive devices on campus grounds. Police officers executed a search warrant in a dormatory in Davis California, finding a wide range of chemicals, mixed explosives and materials for making pipe-bombs.

He had "black gunpowder", which probably means store-bought smokeless powder. (blackpowder as used in fireworks is gray) The article also mentions liquids, and information concerning HMTD, which leads me to believe that the student in question has progressed to the lower-intermediate stage of amateur high energy chemistry. More serious than the 12 year old who mants to make "something that goes boom", but with limited knowledge or ambitions.

We don't know this kids intentions, but he did have a finished explosive and material to make a destructive device, so he (and many others) would have been able to carry out a bombing. Even if his intention weren't criminal, his behavior is most reckless! Explosives in a dorm!?
This also teaches us that if somebody really wanted to kill a lot of people, he would not necessairely need a firearm.

Pipe bombs found on Campus

Via Sear and hammer:

Two partially assembled pipe bombs were found in a dorm of a Californian university.
The student who had gathered the components claimed he liked to experiment.

I understand that he liked to experiment, but this seems rather reckless doesn't it?
On another note, is this the explosive terror loophole the Brady campaign is talking about? A kid with no training whatshowever being capable of building a bomb?

Times square bombing

New York was shook by a bombing on Times square, probably targetted at a recuitment office for one of the branches of the military.

I've said this before and I'll say this again: the internet is riddeled with infomation on producing explosives, some of which is accurate.

It is impossible to eliminate every single way for people to harm one another, it is vital that we try to instill some kindness into humanity. It is not so much "how" someone wreaks havoc, much more "why". School shooters don't commit their atrocities "because they can", they are ill, filled with hate or just trying to go down in a blaze of glory.

It's those first two that are the greatest threat, because they will go to any ends to do their damage.
Or for Awalk: I've long realized that removing guns from society (or just NYC) will make society safe.

The infamous works "bomb"

After the previous gratuitous refrence to a templar meme, I bring you: A pair of real life idiots who constructed what is commonly known as a "works bomb"

In an attempt to get back at a bully, two kids constructed such "destructive device" and tossed it at his house. Being idiots, they failed to construct a device that actually worked. Later a postal worker handled the device, and -perhaps by agitating the mixture contained- was exposed to the corrosive product previously contained within.
The poor man sufferd from chemical burns and had trouble breathing, which is what's to be expected.

"They were very foolish to do this, but felt they had no other choice because they were being bullied by this individual"
-the assistant DA

What?
They manufactured a destructive device, attempted to cause damage of property, left said device unattended and failed to inform the proper authorities after it had failed?
They also involuntairely but still- disrupted the postal service (felony!) and clearly committed reckless endangerment.

If they don't understand the reprecussions of their actions at ages 15 and 16, they will not learn at a later age. Prosecute them as minors if you must, but don't tell me you're gonna go easy on them! Teach them some respect for the law and the safety of others before it's too late.

Bomb offered for sale ...

Another law enforcement success story.

Staying withing the "sting" scene, undercover police forces were hoping to crack down on copper theft when they initiated operation meltdown in San Jose California. Little did they know of the catch they were about to make.
(1,2)

Sure enough, people started dropping off stolen copper at the "recycling business", but that wasn't all. Dozens of guns were sold as well, and one man ever tried to sell the officers explosive devices which can be activated by a cellphone.

There's a couple of important lessons to be learned here:
Law enforcement officers are often hard-working man and women, who can do a real good job!

There are plenty of guns out on the street, on the criminal market. They weren't even trying to go after guns, so even with it's very harsh gun legislation, Californian ganglands are still riddeled with firearms.

Explosives are available as well. I've been over this in the past: the internet is full of information concerning the manufacture of explosives and explosive devices, some of which is accurate.
Just like banning drug related chemicals has proven to be a daunting task, banning explosive chemicals and their precursors will be nigh-impossible. Doesn't keep them from trying.

One thing that bothered me, one of the officers involved said that every gun taken was lives saved ...
I went over this before as well, one out of 21 000 guns taken of the street doesn't save a life, but hey, it's the thought that matters. This was an avtual buyback that worked!



to be noted: this post will be labeled under "PRK" for geographic reference, and does in no way mean any disrespect to the officers involved in this succesful operation.

Brittish police discover pipe-bomb

When searching a house, Bobby bumped into an explosive device:
Bomb found at house after search.

These devices are extremely dangerous, and bombs have been used around schools in both the UK and the USA, And they are readily available to criminals who turned their guns in at your local buyback.

Click the "explosives" label for more articles on the criminal abuse of explosives.

Teenagers playing with explosives, one fatality

WLWT reports:

A couple of kids thought it would be fun to costruct a pipe-bomb. They use a pound of pyrodex as the charge, pyrodex is a brand of modern firearm propellant*, this is available over the counter across the union, policy regarding sales to minor vary.

So they take it out back, and try to blow up a wooden model house, knowing little of the horrors of shrapnel. A piece of debris travelled 110 horizontal feet before striking and killing one of them. Kids just don't realize what kind of horrible hazard shrapnel is, it traveles at enormous speeds and -unlike bullets- the pieces are irregular, warped and razor sharp. Even a small piece can cause severe high velocity larcerations.

If you don't believe me, you can take a look at the following images. Beware: these are EXTREMELY graphic, horrible to look at and will climax to a picture that has sent people scrambeling for a toilet at the end of the page.
The consequences.

That very last picture is what happens when a pipe-bomb goes of in your vicinity, the investigators of the case at hand say that the kids pipe-bomb was poweful enough to destroy a car. I have a hard time believing that a single pound of propellant could do that, but it could certainly tear somebody to shreds as seen on the consequences page.

Now, people try to tell me that there wouldn't be so many, if any mass killings without guns, they say that no other kind of weapon can be so destructive, efficient, brutal. I know they are wrong. They say that preventing the insane and the criminal from getting firearms will render them harmless, and render me safe. I know that is wrong.

People who are full of hate and/or rage WILL find a way to hurt other people. If that means learning how to manufacture an explosive device, than that they will do.

*the article sais that pyrodex is a black powder substitute, it should be noted that blackpowder (no space) is an entirely diferent substance, wich is ironically gray. It's called blackpowder because the inventor, a german monk, was named Schwarz (black in German),

"you're giving criminals too much credit"

Here's a CNN story on a drug smuggling tunnel, running underneath the US/Mexican border.

Why am I bringing this up?
Whenever I tell people that criminals will go to great ends to supply the black market whatever it demands, they tend to not fully comprehend exactly how serious these people take that "job".
People who crush up hundredsds or even thousands of pills, preforming lengthy extractions on them to get the PSE out (main precursor for the production of methamphethamine), who rip the striking pads off from just as many matchbooks to get red phosphorous for the recuction are obviously willing to put a lot of work into their criminal schemes, provided that there's money to be made.

This drug bust is no different. Half a million dollars worth of drugs, that's a pretty good incentive to get digging, wouldn't you agree?
All to circumvent prohibition program that's been around for half a century, which has consumed vast amounts of resources, imprisoned and killed people, both criminals and innocent people.

And people try to tell you that criminals wouldn't set up underground gun factories? Sure, most criminals can use a bat or edged weapon equally well as a firearm, but if there's still a demand (gang wars, serious robberies, defending that .5 million worth of drugs from other people, ...), you can bet your buttocks that illegally produced guns would start turning up. Anything from simple break action shotguns to fully automatic submachineguns have been made by unskilled civillians over time, just look at the history of the STEN machine gun if you don't believe me.

An aspiring spree killer deprived of guns could learn how to build explosive devices that are just as likely to kill a large amount of people as a shooting spree would be. And some would think they wouldn't? Deranged nutcases who are dedicated to having their 15 min of glory by killing others before taking their own life, or being killed by the police aren't going to say "gee wiz, I can't get a gun, guess I'll just go have myself commited then".

Stop underestimating thee people, both the professional criminals and the mentally ill.
If you don't, it could come back to haunt you.