Thoughts on Bombmaking
There are dozens of sites currently accessible via the Internet purporting to supply instructions for constructing pipe-bombs, time-bombs, fire-bombs, and other "infernal devices." Furthermore, several small publishing houses offer a variety of "bombmaking manuals" which they will sell to anyone "for informational use only." Even the encyclopedia in your local elementary school lists the ingredients of black powder, nitroglycerine, and napalm! The information is out there for whomever wants it.
Many people have this information in their possession. For the most part, they are not "sick" individuals intending to commit crimes and hurt others. . .most are merely curious. Because so much has been said in the media about the abundance of such dangerous information freely available at various websites, many curious people have decided to view these sites for themselves, often downloading or even printing out what they find there. Is this a criminal act? At this point in time, it is not; however, such downloaded information is often reported in the news as being seized from homes raided by the police — "also seized were bombmaking instructions." Needless to say, possession of such materials can reflect poorly on one’s character. Aside from presumptions of ill intent, viewing or ordering such information will probably put you on a list of some sort. The government can monitor selected websites, keeping tabs on whomever accesses them, noting how much time is spent perusing the material, how many times the site is visited, and whether information was downloaded. In recent years, a major publisher of controversial literature was reputed to have voluntarily given a government agency access to its customer list in order to assist with a criminal investigation (this did not actually occur — they simply provided investigators with a list of explosives manuals which had been ordered by a specific suspect) . How would you feel about being on such a list? How would you justify your interest in such matters if questioned by the authorities?
In society’s eyes, bombs are bad. They are the weapons of terrorists and psychopaths. They are automatically equated with "boobytraps", intended to kill or maim whoever stumbles across them first. In society’s eyes, there is no justification whatsoever for possession of bomb components or experimentation with small scale devices. If you are thought to have anything to do with the unlawful use of explosives, you will be feared and hated by society at large. If you are feared and hated by society, the police will feel obligated to take a special interest in monitoring your activities — this often entails interrogating your neighbors and co-workers, asking all sorts of upsetting questions and leaving them with a warning that you could "snap at any time," so they should call the investigators immediately upon seeing anything suspicious. What effect do you think such tactics will have on your reputation in the community? What would they find if they searched your house? Remember, anything can be used to fabricate an I.E.D. (Improvised Explosive Device). Unscrupulous investigators can collect items from every room in your house, including the barn and toolshed, then take a photograph of the assembled collection of pipe fittings, cookware, wiring, batteries, matches, and shotgun shells to print on the front page of tomorrow’s paper as evidence of your wrongdoing. A half empty box of M-80 firecrackers will be reported vaguely to the press as "a dozen small bombs", and an empty plastic container with a broken cap would become "an uncompleted device." Such common items, along with one sheet of downloaded bombmaking instructions found wadded up in the wastebasket, is all a jury needs to see to brand you a terrorist. Even if all charges are eventually dropped, your reputation will be damaged beyond repair, quite possibly resulting in loss of job, eviction, and exclusion.
Now, let us examine the contents of some of the commonly available bombmaking manuals. The Anarchist Cookbook was one of the first, and is considered by many to be a classic. This book was written by the son of a senator under a pseudonym, and its intent was to injure the counter-culture movement of the late sixties. It contains more misinformation and blatant untruths than any other bombmaking manual in circulation. If you follow the instructions within, you will probably blow yourself up or be left with a dangerous dud device. The Poor Man’s James Bond, and its companion volumes, are also considered to be classics. Its author, who also favors a pseudonym, was once active in a terrorist organization (the Minutemen) and is probably a baby-raper. In a television interview, when told that a well-liked high school senior who’d enlisted in the Army Special Forces had died while experimenting with the recipes from his book, he replied "Good! He did something bad and God punished him!" Many of the illustrations look like they were drawn by a kindergartener. The Improvised Munitions Black Books have been copied from original government documents, and are available from a variety of publishers in several versions. They are the source of the majority of bombmaking recipes found on the Internet, which often are incomplete or reworded. Most bombmaking manuals are simply a rehash of the infamous black books. This information was intended for CIA and Special Forces personnel with a need to fabricate explosives from indigenous materials, and often entail mixing corrosive and unstable chemicals in glass jars, which is extremely dangerous as well as very stupid. Because the explosives are intended to be used in an emergency situation, and are often fabricated from substituted or contaminated ingredients, their reliability is variable. Like many such books derived from government documents, it often assumes you have access to military ordinance and demolitions materials. Even these highly regarded manuals regularly depict illustrations of an ungloved hand directly grasping an open pipe as dangerous (and often caustic or toxic) chemicals are dumped therein — no mention is ever made of lining the pipe or brushing off the threads prior to assembly. Two Component High Explosive Mixtures is another example of what was once a government document. It teaches how to make Astrolite, the most powerful non-nuclear explosive known to man. The primary ingredient of Astrolite is a highly corrosive, extremely dangerous liquid known as Anhydrous Hydrazine, which was once used in liquid rocket fuel before being discontinued due to its instability. For some reason, this pamphlet neglects to mention that if you breath any fumes your lungs will instantly melt. Improvised Explosives purportedly was written by a "noted Israeli explosives expert", yet it tells you to make the ignitor for an electric blasting cap out of a length of scrap wiring with a portion of the insulation removed, neglecting to mention either gauge or core material. Instead of detonating instantly, a heavy gauge piece of wire can take a long time to heat up, especially if the current is coming from a single alkaline battery. After waiting for several long minutes, many inexperienced folks might think their charge a dud, only to lose their hands and face while disarming it. Kitchen Improvised Plastic Explosives is another pamphlet that can kill you. It tells you how to mix complex recipes that include corrosives and unstable chemicals on your kitchen stove, using such lab equipment as coffee filters and candy thermometers. Most other bombmaking manuals contain more of the same, with a few notable examples intended primarily for police and military E.O.D. (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) specialists.
Improvised explosives are highly unstable, and are usually used immediately after being made. The longer they are stored, the more unstable they become, often igniting or detonating spontaneously. If exposed to the bare inside of a steel pipe or copper tubing, a reaction can take place forming highly sensitive explosive crystals which can detonate at the slightest vibration. For some reason, most of the books on the subject I’ve read devote less than a paragraph to safety precautions, if they are even mentioned at all. The most commonly found precaution I’ve found is simply a warning stating that "unauthorized manufacture of explosives is dangerous and illegal, and the publisher assumes no responsibility for misuse of this information."
Almost never have I seen a reference to gloves, goggles, apron, mask, or adequate ventilation. . .the importance of which every junior high science student is taught before touching even relatively harmless substances!
As we can clearly see, most bombmaking manuals are a waste of money. The stuff you find on the Internet is often much worse. Much of the information I’ve found has been inaccurate, incomplete, fanciful, extremely dangerous, or even suicidal to implement. Methods that are extremely dangerous for a skilled chemist to perform with professional quality glassware, high powered exhaust fans, and protective "moon suits" are being touted as "easy to mix in a double boiler on your kitchen stove." Many of the ingredients are highly corrosive acids, which a single drop of (on anything but rubberized protective clothing) will eat down to the bone before you can rinse it off. A common reaction to a mixture of explosive ingredients is the release of toxic or corrosive fumes, something which is rarely warned of. Some of the ingredients are highly toxic, and can be absorbed through the skin. Explosive mixtures often generate heat, and need to remain in a beaker within a salted ice bath with the temperature continually monitored — if the temperature rises only a few degrees out of the "safe zone", it can boil over or ignite. Explosive ingredients are, as a rule, unstable, which means they can violently react in the presence of heat, friction, pressure, shock, metal, or a variety of contaminants. The ingredients for primary explosives (used in constructing blasting caps) are extremely sensitive, often reacting to vibration or even indirect sunlight. If you do not know exactly what you are doing, you are foolish to the point of idiocy to take some stranger’s advice on how to mix your own explosives.
Why would anyone provide such information free of charge to the general public? Why would anyone do so knowing full well that the information can be accessed by children? I have come to the conclusion that the persons responsible for such websites either are completely ignorant of the science of explosives and are living in a demented fantasy world; or else they actually intend for people to be injured. Why would someone want to injure an unseen stranger? Perhaps the website was created by some nihilist freak who sees the world at large as his enemy; or perhaps someone with twisted aspirations is deliberately putting out such information with the intent of ridding society of dangerous subversives. Whatever their motivation may be, it is destructive, negative, and evil.
Explosives are not something to be experimented with, and mixing your own explosives from scratch is the utmost pinnacle of stupidity. Every year dozens of people are killed or maimed after following published bombmaking recipes. The techniques "MacGyver" and other televised operatives use are the products of some Hollywood executive’s rich fantasy life, rather than research at Frankfort Arsenal, and do not work. Homemade explosives are not to be used for either pranks or Fourth of July celebrations. Homemade explosives are not meant for excavation or engineering purposes. Homemade explosives are intended for use by skilled military demolitions specialists when they are far behind enemy lines and have no other weapons with which to defend themselves. Homemade explosives are mistrusted and feared by those who must work with them, and are never used unless there is no other choice. Most terrorists refuse to work with homemade explosives, using only top quality military plastique. Most criminal bombings use either commercial dynamite or gunpowder. If experts from the military, terrorist groups, and organized crime all refuse to work with homemade explosives, what business does a novice have mucking around with them? Quality explosives materials are dangerous enough! Furthermore, the legal repercussions of even innocent experimentation can result in multiple felony charges at both the state and federal levels (possession of bomb components, unlicensed possession of explosives, criminal possession of a weapon, possession of an infernal device, reckless endangerment, arson, terrorism, ect.). Do yourself and society a favor and DO NOT PLAY WITH BOMBS!
"This has been a public service announcement."