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Comment by ty6853 | Hacker News Reader

Tannerite, black powder and some explosives can be legally bought and owned cash and carry. It's quite likely no law was broken and all they found was a questionable pistol brace on a short lower.

Remember FPSRussia went down for paint on a serial number and a few vape pens but the arrest bulletin made him sound like a madman.

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I was interested, so went and checked out the filing for this [1], it looks like he only got hit with the possession with intent to distribute, with the other 3 charges (including 'possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number') being dismissed.

[1] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/8228342/parties/united-...

Are you sure that's the same case? That links says, "Last Updated: Oct. 7, 2022, 6:14 a.m." and the defendant name is different from in the OP.

This appears to be the actual case: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69482949/united-states-...

You're both right, but your comment is confusing the issue. You're linking to the relevant case for TFA, whereas parent is linking to the relevant case for this thread regarding FPSRussia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FPSRussia

my bad I should have read closer

He took a plea deal, might have beaten the charges at trial, but the consequences of losing were way too high for him, can’t really blame him.

Marijuana and honey oil. He watched too much Trailer Park Boys and got caught.

He must’ve forgot to mix it with maple syrup.

It remains bewildering to me that tannerite is legal to purchase in large quantities without question. I shot 1 lb. of it once with a Mosin-Nagant, and that was enough to rattle the house a few hundred yards away. There are people who have set off charges orders of magnitude more than that, which apparently can be felt MILES away.

It’s an explosive, full stop. I have no problem with the premade targets that have a small amount, but honestly, the larger quantities should require at a minimum a background check.

I know little about this... but small amounts could still pose an issue. See: mules, Pseudoephedrine

look up TATP. you aren’t going to be able to ban those ingredients either.

Germany manages to do so just fine. It's virtually impossible to obtain hydrogen peroxide in enough high concentration and volume to produce significant amounts of TATP without setting off more than a few alerts.

Almost all popular precursor chemicals for drugs and explosives are heavily controlled in Europe.

They do the same in the US but it just makes the synthesis a bit more complicated. Friction may be the point. Plenty of people synthesize the precursors. It is precursors all the way down, each one more ubiquitous and innocuous than the previous. Bootstrapping chemistry is 19th century technology.

What's the concentration cutoff at?

Frankly, you can make it with 3%. It just takes longer.

I mean the legal limit in Germany.

Near as I can tell, there is no explicit legal limit in Germany. Like the US it’s a kind of ‘soft’ limit, and is about 12%. If someone can find where it’s codified in law, I’d appreciate it.

It's EU law, 12% hydrogen peroxide is the highest you can get in EU without being cleared to do so (say by showing government authorization, proof of end use, proof of academic education or certifications, ...) [1].

[1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:...

Pretty sure I can buy 30% or more from a lab supplier in the US. I can buy gallons of the 3% stuff with no issue too. The 12% stuff is usually in hair products, which I think has stabilizers or other additives in it. I use peroxide for European style mounts which is why I need so much of it. I decided 3% works fine and is way more economical than the powerful stuff even if it takes longer.

Well, you can buy pretty much anything from a lab supplier if you’re the right type of customer.

Wouldn't this just encourage another killdoser situation without the guns? Just the armor?

I mean if someone wants to cause mass causulty and terror its going to happen, be it a gun or a knife or explosive. Hell I'd argue cyber attacks could also do the same.

> I mean if someone wants to cause mass causulty and terror its going to happen, be it a gun or a knife or explosive.

Sure, the general idea though is to raise the barrier - both to make it more difficult to get the weapon in question and to have better chances of red flags popping up somewhere along the chain.

Same for gun background checks outside of the US, for requiring CDLs to rent trucks capable of plowing through assemblies of people, or for requiring at least a CPL if not an ATPL to pilot a plane capable of dealing a large amount of damage.

The higher the damage potential in the hands of someone abusing a thing for terrorism, the higher the barriers to entry should be.

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