Previous Post
Next Post

P1140714

Just hours ago Harry Reid, Senate majority leader, introduced Frank Lautenberg’s knee-jerk reaction bill that would place restrictions and require background checks for anyone buying “explosive powder.” Depending on the bill’s language, it would include not only loose gunpowder (such as that used by handloaders) but could also cover standard ammunition cartridges. Lautenberg and Reid are trying to label these propellants as “explosives” in the wake of the Boston bombings and use that tragedy to limit general access to ammunition and reloading components . . .

It’s a back door way to make gun ownership more difficult and possibly put smaller local ammunition manufacturers out of business. After the stinging defeat of the “common sense” gun control proposals the Democrats tried to ram through the Senate, there’s little doubt that they will redouble their efforts to hurry this bill through while the Boston bombing is still fresh in the public’s mind. Watch this space.

Previous Post
Next Post

146 COMMENTS

  1. Why aren’t politicians who violate their oath of office to protect and defend The Constitution removed from office when they introduce legislation clearly forbidden by The Bill of Rights?

    • Because they keep getting re-elected. Why bother enforcing the Bill of Rights if the voters never punish them for it?

    • Because when your sole function in life is to MAKE the rules (congress), it’s nearly impossible to VIOLATE them. And even when you do, you simply change the rules retroactively (Harry Reid style).

    • Actually, the 2nd amendment doesn’t say anything about ammunition. Maybe it does need to be rewritten……. to include ammunition.

      • “Arms” encompasses “ammunition”. This is one of those false dichotomies the Antis attempt to bamboozle with.

        • Precisely, I doubt George Mason thought there was an actual need to specify both as one must have the other to function or is merely an awkward stick.

          I think liberals at some point will stop trying to rewrite the Constitution and at some point just try to add some fine print clauses like Rumplestiltskin.

      • BRUCE,there was a law written in 1902,called “the dick act of 1902″…it forbids,any and all gun laws.it can’t be repealed,it can’t be changed,and goes on forever,this was written for all the dumb shits who were getting into government back then,THEY saw the gun grab coming,AND anyone who VIOLATES the dick act is guilty of treason,SO WHERES OUR MILITARY when we need them…….their OATH is on the line here…………………………

    • THE US MILITARY,has control over the arrest and imprisonment of traitors,BUT the problem is, 4 generations of stupid kids going into the US military that are so dumbed down now they can’t read or write,and their mother never knew we had rights,SO no one told them,now we’re screwed………..we’ll even have to fight our own kids,thanks mom………………

    • Because Congress is the only authority with the power to impeach members of Congress, and they haven’t turned on one of their own since 1797.

  2. Oh, you guys thought we won the war did you?

    Nein,my friend.The anti-gunner is a persistent adversary:knock the crusties out of your eyes and man the posts!

    • And you believe this bill is going to pass? It’s political grand standing that is now totally out of tune. After the Boston bombng 2/3 of people said they would have prefered to have a gun in this situation.

      • I do believe it will pass… Unless we redouble out efforts to pressure the House to not pass it. Guns have two enemies: rust and politicians

        • On what basis do you say that after the massive failure of gun control efforts in the Senate? Where are the 60 votes going to come from. Will Ted Cruz have a change of heart? Stay tuned on this channel for the continuing saga of Berry O versus the Gun.

      • Why read the book, all you have to do is read the paper and see what our elected politicians and President do on a daily basis. Its already hear. Thanks to the people who re-voted it into office.

    • +1

      Honestly, I’m a little surprised that you guys are surprised by this. I saw this coming the second they said a pressure cooker was used.

      • So did I.

        A proactive person would have gone to the store and purchased more powder after observing the dense cloud of white smoke and witness statements of a sulfur smell.

        • Good luck on finding powder. How about primers? Good luck on that as well.

          So they want to have background checks on explosives? I guess that means your local Home Depot will have to have a NICS line installed to check you when you want to by a couple of bags of Scotts for your lawn.

          BTW. I may have missed it but has anyone said what “explosive” the bombers used? Or are we just guessing. The bomb appears to have been made to “direct’ the force of the explosion…sorta like a home-made claymore. The ball-bearings, nails, etc. seemed to be launched at a very low angle…for maximum effect.

      • Oh dear… the blanks used in construction tool to drive a nail with a hammer. They’re filled with “explosives” too.

        What about the venerable nail gun… fires a nail hard enough to bury it up to its head into a piece, or pieces of wood. How many injuries happen every year from those?

        Oh dear, more licensing for the construction industry… Oh dear that means higher cost there too… Oh dear, THEY don’t care.

  3. They’d better start doing background checks on anyone who wants to buy an internal-combustion engine or fuel for such, as using one involves creating thousands of explosions per minute.

      • You know, that could actually be the final nail in the coffin for civilian disarmament. I am totally serious here. Every time a gun grabber brings up the topic of restrictions, background checks, whatever, we have to hammer them with demands that the same restrictions apply to cookware — especially those “assault” pressure cookers.

        As off-the-wall as this may sound, it is gaining traction with my father-in-law. He is an avid hunter who hates AR-15s so much he got up and left the room when someone displayed one. He expressed the usual sentiments that no one “needs” one of those “weapons of war”. Following that incident, I mentioned how it makes no sense to demonize an AR-15 because violent criminals have used all manner of objects to harm people. When we recently discussed the Boston Marathon bombing with a pressure cooker, he actually mentioned that violent criminals can use anything to harm people so what good is any type of law (e.g. gun control). He is beginning to see the light.

    • It’s important to anti-gunners that laws get made before the people get the facts. Look at Connecticut. They passed laws to prevent the next Sandy Hook (sarcasm fully on) before getting a formal report from the State Police as to what actually happened.

    • I have been hearing the exact, same, thing; fireworks components. So how do they vote for this bill with a straight face? Simple; their underlying reasons (disarmament), gives their conscience and the desire of the 53%, clear passage.

  4. Right – because a background check would have prevented these guys from either a) buying it or b) finding it somewhere else.

    Again – just one of those things – how would you enforce it?

    • Put an individual serial number on every casing, and register every round? I can’t find the right words to express how ridiculous an idea that is.

      Talk about opening up a whole new market for straw purchase and theft.

      Reasonable people will see this for what it is. I’m certain I can use this to prove to some of fence sitters I know, how insane the progressives are. The whole fireworks/match heads/gasoline argument is a go to, and just about impossible to refute.

  5. While I don’t want anyone to try and construct explosive devices for any criminal purposes, or try and hurt innocents in any way, I can’t help but wonder what the reaction would be if the next terrorist style attack used a fuel-air explosive based on gasoline. Or for that matter, cooking flour.

    Granted, it is an unlikely means, but FAE type weapons (more likely with gasoline than flour, of course) can be terribly destructive. What would they do, require background checks to fill your car?

  6. Time to start reminding people that the boston bombers also used/bought fireworks mortars, which are already classified as explosives, and don’t require a backgroud check.

  7. Well someone beat me to it. But we had better require background checks for gas, flour, sawdust, dryer lint, and anything else easily combustible.

  8. They keep pushing buttons until they press the wrong one and all hell will break loose. But that is what they want anyway. STOP THE POLITICAL CORRECTNESS AND WE CAN GET OUR COUNTRY BACK.OBAME DOESNT HAVE TO BE POLITICLY CORRECT, HE SAYS WHSTEVER HE WANTS ABOUT WHATEVER GROUP HE WANTS.

  9. News reports say that the dynamic duo bought fireworks, although it is not yet clear if they had bought enough for a bomb. Has it even been established that they used gunpowder for the bomb?

    • Has it even been established that they used gunpowder for the bomb?

      No, but I’m sure that the Feebs have enough residue to establish what the scumb@gs actually used.

  10. It’s very obvious that Reid and his Quisling colleagues are openly provoking a civil conflict. They want blood in the streets. Mine, yours, anyone and everyone.

  11. Six months ago I read a comment written by a black powder shooter that black powder rifles are the way to go since they aren’t tracked and regulated by the government like firearms.

  12. I’d be surprised if this bill makes it to the floor. Also, Reid is telling two things.

    First, Reid won’t be running for re-election, which is why he broke with the NRA. He won’t need them any more.

    Second, Lautenberg is the walking dead and the Dems want to give him a rousing send-off. Well, so do I, except my definition of a rousing send-off might be different from theirs. Die, zombie Senator, die!

    • Now you did it Ralph. Someone will be knocking on your door. Just remember to STFU.

      Your comment did make me laugh, though. It was almost as good as Zimmerman’s (I think) “cadaverish” comment.

      Just to be absolutely clear, if someone does come knocking I honestly and truthfully had absolutely nothing to do with it. I am simply observing that you are definitely playing with fire.

    • Its more like, Reid will not running again and Lautenberg has already announced he will not so why not use them as pawns because there will be no backlash since they will be parting.

      Reid gets a lot of Republican votes and campaign funds, let hope those guys vote differently next go around

    • Zombie-smombie. Ever read any H.P. Lovercraft? Tell me Mitch McConnell doesn’t have “The Innsmouth Look”.

  13. Whether or not the Boston Bombing was a False Flag, it cannot be debated that there are not forces that conspire on a concerted effort to exploit these efforts to restrict our Rights and increase the presence of the Police/Security State.

    WAKE UP AND PUSH BACK…HARD!

    • This was no false flag. These two dirt bags acted on their own although with the likely help of other members of the Ummah. There is also nearly zero evidence corroborating the tinfoil hat theorists who declared the feds were practicing nearby. That is now standard fodder for these guys. BTW; Carlos Arredondo and John Mixon (Cowboy hat and his friend) are both personal friends. I was talking with John – real time as this was going down and they were attending to the wounded. The bombing was real, the dirt bags were/are Muslim and they were acting on training received in Dagestan, Turkey, and from the internet.

      • Which is why the FBI had been running the two dirtbags for over three years.

        Sorry, but the stench of the Bureau is ALL OVER this event.

  14. It’s “common sense” to require a background check for anything that could be used as a weapon. So that means background checks of baseball bats, gasoline, firecrackers, ammo, smokeless powder (currently classified as a propellant, not as an explosive), black powder (an explosive), nails, screws, BBs, knives, cars, airplanes, boats, propane tanks…..We might as well all live in glass houses–or padded cells.

    • Non-dairy creamer — don’t forget the non-dairy creamer!!!

      Oh, and you also left out bricks, rocks, pipes, screwdrivers, hairspray and matches, bowling balls, glass bottles … all of which have been murder weapons. (Okay, so maybe no one ever murdered someone with hairspray and a match but you get the idea.)

        • Nobody NEEDS a 2 liter soda bottle.

          Yeah, the little tyrant in NY is already all over that.

          Model for the rest of the country, eh?

  15. It’s time to refresh your knowledge of civics.

    For a bill to pass, it must gather at least a majority of the Senate and at least 60 votes if someone decides to filibuster the bill. Then it must get a majority of the House of Representatives. Finally, if and only if it passes both Houses of Congress then the President must sign it. Now anybody want to bet me that this bill will pass?

  16. Does anyone have a good website for batch emailing government officials and/or batch printing addressed letters? The congress.org one doesn’t offer that service anymore.

    I think we need to
    1) keep with the pressure regarding NO on this bill,
    2) put out information on what is an explosive, a propellant, or just a fuel. Black Powder, Black powder substitute, smokeless, gasoline, fireworks, kerosene, propane, natural gas, camp fuel, potassium nitrate, charcoal sulfur, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, urea, aluminum powder, iron oxide, composted soil, hot water, wood, fire, rock, all of these are equally dangerous in evil and motivated hands. Where does it stop?
    3) DEMAND an answer about what was actually used in the bombs. More specifically, that are law enforcement being directed as to what information they can or can not release by politicians for political reasons? That should be their call, not politician’s call. This should be as important as any other separation of powers doctrine in the legal/political system.
    4) DEMAND an answer about the constitutionality of conducting the lockdown and search the way they did. I saw a government fully equipped with military hardware and capable of enforcing such a lockdown regardless of whether or not people elected to cooperate. That should not be.
    5) DEMAND an answer regarding if a US citizen can be treated on US soil like an enemy combatant and have his rights denied. Even if we are sure he’s guilty, it’s not an issue of owing him due process for his sake. We owe it to ourselves to stick to our values, even when we don’t want to.

    -D

    • That was the scariest part of the whole event from start to finish – the government told people to stay home, close their businesses, don’t go to work – and they listened.

      One man threat, maybe armed with up to a pipebomb and a rifle. Not a biochem weapon or a suitcase nuke. By that standard, they should shut that city down for good.

      • Scary that if you had to go to work and deemed it necessary since a killer was on the loose to sling your AR, how long do you think it would be before you were ventilated?

      • Put your thinking cap on.

        We have two IED toting terrorists running around the city. Places like public transit, stores, malls crowded places full of people. That’s what AQ fans call a target rich enviroment.

        Now imagine that the Brother Tsaraev get cornered in downtown Boston when it is crowed with people. Will they (a) put down their guns and surrender? (b) Only fire on the police after they identified their target and what’s behind it? or (3) open up on the crowd while using the still standing citizens as human shields so the police won’t shoot at them?

        You make the call.

  17. Remember, Reid was endorsed by the NRA in the last election. Because despite his other shortcomings, he was “pro-gun.”

    Seems that this indicates a) the danger of being a single-issue voter and b) the greater danger of supporting dishonest, ego-maniacal politicians regardless of their [current] positions.

    Of course, that means I’m going to have to completely stop voting.

  18. It’s easy to make black powder, people. It’s even easier to make ANFO, or “giant powder” used in mining blasting. But let’s put the ANFO aside for a moment, because it has no application in firearms. Let’s stick with black powder.

    First, start with some “instant cold” packs. The type you see in medical supply kits for icing down soft tissue injuries.

    In there, you will have a small amount of ammonium nitrate, and a plastic bag containing water. Pull out the crystals, dispose of the water. You can refine the ammonium nitrate into potassium nitrate, which is the primary component in black powder.

    You can react that ammonium nitrate with several reagents (some will cause out-gassing of ammonia gas, so do your homework and do the reaction that outgas ammonia outdoors, folks) and in a little while after the water is driven off from the resulting solution, you will have KNO3. Now you’ll need finely ground charcoal. If you want priming powder, you’ll need some flowers of sulphur. You’ll need to wet the powders down as you mix them to prevent a “work accident” (as it is called when certain males of middle eastern ancestry turn themselves into a human bottle rocket before lunchtime) in order to mix them properly, then you’ll need to dry the mixture out.

    OK, so you don’t think cold packs will be around? OK, let’s go get nitrates the old fashioned way.

    Go find a horse farm. A horse farm that feeds it’s horses oat hay or fertilizes it’s pastures with nitrates would be ideal. The reason why I say “oat hay” is that oats fix nitrates when drought stressed, or fertilized too late in their growth cycle. Most hay producers who grow oats for hay will have higher nitrate levels than grass hay or alfalfa hay.

    Look for piles of dried horse poop that have recently been wet. See that fine, white/clear “fuzz” on the outside of horse poop? That’s nitrate, folks. Offer to take all the horse manure off the farm for free. Make a big mixing flat tank with a fine screen to contain the undigested fiber in the manure, run water through the horse poop, and gather the fluid in a tank down below. Allow that water to dry off in a nice, shallow, flat pan. The resulting crystals will be potassium and sodium nitrates.

    Oh, you’re a city dweller and don’t have nearby horse farms? No problem. The powder makers of 1500’s Europe had the same problems… until they realized that humans and horses excrete nitrates.

    In the early days of gunpowder production in Europe, the “night soil” collectors were given a premium to divert the chamber pots of the bishops and priests to the gunpowder makers – the urine of the local clergy were known to be high in nitrates, due to the amount of red wine the clergy drank.

    The idea that someone can’t make black powder because they can’t pass a background check is something believed by only liberal arts majors.

  19. Senator 1: ” Gosh darn it…we lost the gun control bills.”

    Senator 2: ” I GOT THIS. We have to start at the genesis of guns to eliminate the future.”

    Senator 1: “Oh….I get it. Kind of like the Terminator going back to kill Sarah Conner?”

    Senator 2: ” Exactly…. The Musket is useless without black powder. So if we kill off the powder, we kill of the Musket…..and if the Musket dies, then no other gun will have existed.”

    Senator 1: ” Brilliant! Aid, bring Skynet online. Initialize protocal Sb. 792!”

    Senator 3: “But time travel doesn’t exis……”

    Senator 1: “Shut your mouth. This is common sense!”

  20. Correct me if I’m wrong, but there’s no evidence as yet that gun powder commonly acquired for reloading purposes was used in the Boston bombings. So yet another knee-jerk reaction based on assumptions and preconceived ideas melded with the “do something, anything” mentality.

    • Yes, you are correct but why would they let such a nice tragedy go to wastes?

      Lautenberg’s has introduced the same bill several times going back to 86, it has never gained any traction and I doubt it will now.

    • I would think that if black powder had been used, it would be all over the news in no time. ATF can test for that nearly instantly.

    • Because they labor under the twin delusions of the Self Anointed:

      1. That “Something Must Be Done.” Never mind if that “Something” will actually have any positive effect on the situation. They need to be seen by the whores in the press as “Doing Something.”

      This is why, while I have a constant background animosity for the stupidity of the typical elected official, I have a constant, enduring and flaming hatred for people in the press. There is no hue and cry from anyone about controlling access to reloading components, fireworks or anything else – other than “hey, maybe we best put an age limit on this stuff, so some kid pyro doesn’t burn his face off.”

      But I’m sure some bunch of whores in the DC press corpse decided, upon reports out of NH and Boston, that There Is a Huge Problem with the situation as-is, and they turned to one of their most pliable morons in the Congress to Do Something About This. So they called a local medium, held a séance, and got Lautenberg’s office to whip up this bill.

      2. That terrorists and criminals are thwarted by laws. This is the constant delusion of lawyers, judges and scribblers everywhere: That “… the pen is mightier than the sword.” This is the ultimate in mental deficiency by both legislators and whores in the press.

      I’ve been in a couple of knife fights, and I’m here to report that my first considered choice of a weapon for a response was not a pen. Matter of fact, I don’t think it was even last on my list of “things I’d really like to have right now. And it wasn’t because I was poor back then, and all I could afford was a Bic pen, instead of a Very Nice Mont Blanc fountain pen. The quality and writing quality of a pen really has no bearing upon my dismissal of the entire class of instruments as a defensive weapon.

      No, when faced with a knife, what I wanted was either a) a much bigger knife (like, oh, a machete), or b) (much better) a gun. Guns just take all the fun of winning out of being confronted by someone with a knife, as long as the gun is introduced early enough in the conversation.

      Pens… I just don’t see how that’s going to work. What is one supposed to do? Get close enough to stab the assailant in the eye? And what’s that going to do to the nib on a nice fountain pen? Ewww.

  21. Terrorists can blow people up, even a lot of people like during 9/11/2001.

    But congressmen and senators can rob us of our freedoms. All while smiling at us and claiming to be helping us.

    I’m not always sure which is worse.

    • I do.. the loss of rights.. the loss of life is limited to those who experience it, and to a lesser extent the ones they leave behind… The Congressmen will effect every Citizen subject, possibly forever. This is the meaning of Legacy.

  22. Black powder, as any 15 year old boy will tell you, is made from saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur (sulfur optional). Saltpeter is made from dripping warm water through dirt that has organic decay in it. Charcoal is made from burning wood with fire. Sulfur is a rock you can pick up off of the ground or get from a rock you can pick up off of the ground. So really to regulate black powder you need to regulate/ban:

    1. Dirt
    2. Water
    3. Wood
    4. Fire
    5. Rock

    • Charcoal is made by heating wood in a vacuum not by burning it with fire. If you burn it with fire it bursts into flame.

      • True that charcoal can be made by cooking wood in a vacuum, but not true that it can’t also be made by burning it with fire.

        The age old method for making charcoal is to burn wood in a charcoal pit or pile, effectively regulating down oxygen without need for a vacuum and with the burning wood acting as its own heat source. This is referred to as the “direct method” of charcoal production and is how much of the charcoal in the world is produced. The vacuum technique is referred to as the “indirect method”. It is more efficient but requires a bit more industrialization.

        • Actually, just use a Dutch oven with a hole drilled in the top to let the gas out. Fill it up with hardwood and toss it on a fire. Works great…

  23. In a time of Rising CCWs and Plunging Crime Rates this bill will doubtless save the lives of 1000’s of Progressive and Jihadist “American Springers”

  24. Saw this coming. I don’t think anyone is surprised. Guess I will get back to writing my representatives.

  25. Until the Supreme Court acknowledges that Firearms, Ammunition, & the Components to make them are all a singular system covered by the term ARMS, and thus protected under the 2nd Amendment, we will continue to have to fight these kinds of end runs.

  26. The real purpose of this bill is the same as the failed background checks – creating a Federal Registry of gunpowder/ammunition users. Same thing, different route.

  27. Wait until they find out how much more energy is in gasoline per unit volume. They’ll move all gas stations at least a mile from every school, park or religious venue.

    Stuck on stupid.

    • “Lautenberg’s knee-jerk reaction bill”

      I wouldn’t call it a knee-jerk reacation but instead a predetermined solution waiting for a problem. Lautenberg introduced his bill in 2007 and 2011. It was the same bill both times. Both times it didn’t make it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

      I wonder how close the new bill will be to the previous ones. Everyone is saying it will regulate gun powder. His previous bills didn’t do that because they didn’t expand the definition of explosives. in 18 USC § 841. It instead gave the Attorney General wide latititude in denying firearms or explosives to suspected terrorists or anyone else the Attorney General didn’t like. It uses the word “Discretionary” alot. I think it cleary violated due process.

      The 2011 bill can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d112:14:./temp/~bdnA5E::|/home/LegislativeData.php?n=BSS;c=112|

      The logical argument against regulating gun powder on the basis of thwarting terriost attacks is a pretty easy one to make. But we must still pay close attention to this and make our points to our Senators. Logic and reason are not the strong suit of those introducing and supporting these bills.

      Oops this was supposed to be a standalone post and not a reply.

  28. everybody is getting a little too “knee-jerk” about reid. he is toeing the line ordered by his employer (the DNC) but he consistently votes against anti 2A measures (he remembers what happened after the awb votes).and yes i have always voted against him in elections.

  29. This would not have helped in Boston. They have information that suspect 1 purchased some high power pyrotechnics. They do not think the single purchas was enouhg to produce the bombs they used, but it gives an indication of where the explosives were obtained.

  30. Yeah, they never quit. I just heard a puff piece on NPR that blamed … yes, the NRA … for the fact that there were no taggants in powder used by the Boston bombers which made their efforts to investigate the attack “SO much harder”.
    The libs will use anything they can get their hands on,

    OK, I be calling my Senators … AGAIN

  31. I think it would be easier to get this through than a gun ban. Even if Joe Citizen is starting to understand the need to arm himself for self defense, I think you’ll immediately lose him again when you oppose the black powder ban.

    He’s going to go right back to the “Who in the heck needs kegs of black powder? Lets ban it, it only exists to kill.”

  32. I think it would be easier to get this through than a gun ban. Even if Joe Citizen is starting to understand the need to arm himself for self defense, I think you’ll immediately lose him again when you oppose the black powder ban.

    With no concept of reloading, or stump removal, it will seem unreasonable to lobby the Constitution preserves your right to explosive powder. How long did it take to get him on board with guns? They probably think that you just pour black powder into any container and BAM, bomb a la Looney Tunes

  33. I emailed my senator about it. She’s voted for all the anti gun stuff so far, so it was probably pointless. The fact that reports have stated that they sourced the black powder from fireworks, this legislation wouldn’t have stopped anything. The fact that black powder has been made for thousands of years shows that this legislation wouldn’t do anything either. It’s a pointless emotional law like always.

  34. So, when do we begin banning flour, matches, cleaning supplies and other items used to make improvised explosives? The world is full of danger. We cannot sanitize The world around us of any and all dangers. It is extremely naive to think we can.

  35. Lets just ban polititians and cars and hammers and knives and axes and etc., and oh yes people; don’t they kill?

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here