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About an hour ago, the scene at the end of the Boston Marathon was shattered by two explosions that appear to have come from small packages that were left unattended. We aren’t “The Truth About Explosives” so we aren’t covering this as in-depth as gun related incidents (other than to say our thoughts and prayers are with the victims), but this incident does raise the specter of increased gun control legislation specifically aimed at ammunition and those who reload their own ammo.

Black powder and smokeless powder are propellants commonly used in ammunition, the life blood of our firearms ownership. Without them, all of our guns would be nothing more than intricate clubs. While most people buy their ammunition in pre-manufactured cartridges, there is a large number of gun owners that either use black powder firearms or load their own ammunition in the comfort of their own home. For those people, access to loose gunpowder is essential to keep their guns running.

Black powder firearms do not use pre-made cartridges. Every single time the gun is fired, the shooter needs to load the gunpowder into the barrel and seat the projectile on top. Solid pellets of black powder propellant have become popular in recent years, but loose gunpowder is still the preferred method of loading those firearms.

For the most accurate shooters (such as competition shooters), and for those looking to save money on ammunition, loading your own ammo at home is a cheap and effective way to cut costs while still cranking out quality ammunition. For those who load their own ammo, getting their hands on loose gunpowder is essential to keeping their operations running. Many have invested multiple thousands of dollars in reloading equipment and components.

However, while these products are used by the truckload every day by thousands of law abiding citizens, some people have abused this access and used the propellants for evil. Pipe bombs can be constructed using nothing more than some loose gunpowder and a few components from the hardware store, a device which has been used to deadly effect in the past. And while each time such a bombing has occurred Congress has steered clear of regulating gunpowder for citizens, in the current post-Newtown haze and with this recent tragedy fresh in people’s minds it isn’t a big leap to think that Congress might look to “do something” about these components as well.

Gun owners are the new favorite class of citizen to pick on for all of society’s ills. It makes sense that, even if we eventually learn that gunpowder had nothing to do with this latest attack, millions of gun owners might yet see some negative fallout from the actions of yet another deranged attacker.

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179 COMMENTS

    • Hear hear.

      We don’t know what manner of explosive device this was. And I do think it more than a bit morbid to be speculating like this already.

      I’m a freakin atheist, and I feel there’s no call at this hour for anything but prayers for the dead and injured, and their families and loved ones.

      • If you are an atheist who would you be praying to?
        If you are an atheist no one can hear you!
        Are you saying you are now a believer in the power of the holy spirit? I hope so!

        • Nobody hears your prayers no matter what religion you were or were not born into. I think he’s saying that he cares about those who were wounded and killed and is hurt by it just like anybody. Besides asking a deity for personal favors is only something we do for ourselves; some people might sit at home depressed or go for a walk, others might stack stones and paint a runic symbol onto the top stone, I’m sure there’s a few people out there helping the souls find their way to various gods by chanting into a flame that’s connected to the spirit world underground.

      • Boo-hoo. I don’t give a rats ass about some person I’ve never met that lives 1,000 miles from me getting injured. What I care about is scumbag politicians who will exploit it to try to take away my rights.

        • Some 8 year old gets killed, and not a rat’s ass shall be given by you, huh? What a swell guy you are. I imagine you must win a lot of arguments based on merit alone, and you must be well liked by many people. You are just what the 2A movement needs.

          In the words of a wiser man – “You’re going to die angry and miss everything.”

    • Can any one say, “…Govt. intervention…”? I wouldn’t be surprised that MAIG/hnic conspired to set this up. These just aren’t liberals, they are dirty right to the core, and not above hurting, or killing people. Does no one see the ATF’s fine hand in this? What better way to get the populace worked up, than by setting up a bombing and then blame those “…gun owning conservatives…”?

      • O.M.G.

        I never saw it, but now that you mentioned it, let me take a look at the evidence.

        Something bad happened. Check.

        ERMAHGERD! FERLSE FLERG!

        Are you a detective in real life, or do you just play one on the internet?

        Oh, and lolz on your racist acronym (go ahead, you can google that, I’ll be here when you get back)… it’s amazing how many of you conspiracy scienticians also happen to be racist idiots. Who wants to take odds on how many wheels this guys house has?

        • Cries all is well? Hardly. Some monster murdered innocents in the city I called home for 10 years. I’m simply pointing out that you barely literate, incoherent and illogical morons have reached a conclusion absent of any evidence what-so-ever. You aren’t awakened, you aren’t enlightened. You are a pathetic sheep being led by Alex Jones and his horde of mentally retarded internet detectives.

      • Do you have evidence and footnotes???

        If not, then STFU.

        Personally, I think you are a plant. thats right, a plant to discredit conspiracy theorists and make them appear like idiots.

        See what I did there? two can play that game.

    • Nick is 100 percent on target with his concerns, because these gun grabbing fools will stop at nothing to get what they want. They’ll ban anything and everything they can think of in order to stop the law abiding gun owner. Criminals will still be able to get illegal guns and explosives and no law will ever change that fact.

    • Does it really matter at this point since local gun dealers, midway, powder valley etc are out of pretty much everything gun powder related.

    • Maybe. Or maybe you’re running slower than Nick. I mean, REALLY. Look where being trusting HAS LEFT US, FER CRYIN’ OUT LOUD.

      I keep hoping you folks are capable of understanding. Again and again I am disappointed. We can’t win if you refuse to learn new tricks, ol’ dawgs.

  2. It is premature, yes. And it would be I daresay just as effective as any other current idea…I mean, look what you can do with nitric and sulphuric acid…

  3. My local reloading shop is just starting to get in components, in fact I just bought 1# of BLC2….Now everyone’s going to go out and buy up even what little is now starting to come in! CR^P!!!!!

  4. Went to the dentist. Apparently I’ve been grinding my teeth since my last checkup. Think I’ve finally figured out why. Its coming from every side.

  5. Not a clue yet but, this week historically has been a popular one with domestic terrorism. Oklahoma bombing on the 19th in response to the Waco siege on the 19th. Columbine, motivated by the same philosophy set to occur on the 19th, but delayed due to logistical problems. Bombing in the city of the Boston Tea Party on Tax Day. Also three bombs, two detonated, a third secured by bomb squad, suggest (if not a failure to detonate) a draw in attack which would target police and first responders, consistent with an anti government statement. All suggest this was domestic terrorism.

    I fear we can’t handle any more divisiveness in this country. This will be used by politicians on both sides to rally, pushing everyone to more extremist poles, and inducing more violence. Privacy will be attacked in the name of public safety, and every superficial similarity or stereotype will be used by the civilian disarmament people. There will likely be more restrictions on reloading supplies, as well as a continued rush from everyone on guns and ammo.

    -D

    • It will be “used” by the same blackguards who sponsored it in the same place.
      WAKE THE EFF UP, PEOPLE! When you’re presented by coincidence after coincidence, certain kinds of actions repeating again and again on important dates, important months… they’re NOT “coincident”! Look up the word “orchestration” in your Big Dic!!! (HINT: the one with word definitions!)

      Or would you choose to believe Coincidence Theories, knowing that TIME AND TIME AGAIN, when important anti-gun legislation is festering, they ALWAYS are bolstered by attention-grabbing, “convenient” events…

      Do I have to go over this again for you?

      • I mean, sure, except there is likely a much less outrageous explanation, so I’d expect you to refute it first before claiming an inside job… I mean one thing inspires another on such and such a date all the time. That doesn’t require orchestration or design to happen. It’s emergence.

      • Lets shaven with orcham’s razor shall we? No gigantic conspiracy need exist when there are lots of crazy people in the world. Hell, we elected Obama. Twice.

        • It’s a bit premature but I guess I’ll go warm-up my black helicopter. Let’s just start another run on ammo and now powder and watch the price got to $100 lb due to speculation, just like guns and ammo. I’m outta here.

    • I am doubtful that this is of domestic origin, the choice of target does not fit the profile. Our homegrown nutjobs, both left and right, generally go after targets explicitly associated with the government.

      IEDs in a place packed full of civilians is a method of attack far more commonly associated with jihadis.

    • Also Isreal’s indepedence day. We don’t know what happened yet. I’m waiting for some more facts before I form an oppinion.

  6. how much you wanna bet big brother takes this article down? i was thinking also a new ban on tannerite. sure looked like a tannerite explosion didnt it?

    • They would have had to shoot it to set it off though, wouldn’t they?

      News is reporting there were shotgun shells loaded into the bomb to generate shrapnel.

      • where did you hear it loaded with shotgun shells? i heard pellets similar to those of a bb gun were used.

    • They can’t ban tannerite, the worst they would do would be to make one jump through the hoops for an explosives permit, admittedly that would be bad, and they tried to do that with rocket propellant for a few years, but tannerite is made of non explosive components, unless they are going to force people to cough up the cash for a permit just to buy metal powder and oxidisers it would be pointless.

  7. Better to err on the side of caution. If TTAG is later shown to be a “Chicken Little”, then so be it. If, however, TTAG is shown later on to be accurate, then we should all thank them, yes?

  8. The amount and quality of the smoke in the video that I saw looks like someone detonated a large quantity of gun powder — quite possibly black powder or a black powder substitute. The smoke and properties of the explosion did not look like natural gas. (There was no ginormous fireball.) And I don’t think expensive explosives such as dynamite or plastique would create that much smoke. If the smoke had a strong sulfur smell, then we would know for sure it was black powder but I haven’t seen anyone reporting about the smell of the smoke.

    I suppose this would be the time for our overlords to attempt to “regulate” smokeless powder, black powder, and black powder substitutes.

    • The smoke looked like black powder en masse, definitely. I wonder if anyone would be able to comment, who was there, on what it smelled like? That would be a tell.

    • I doubt it was actual black powder. 9 times out of 10 powders
      listed as black powder are actually a substitute like pyrodex.
      Any explosive could crate a similar amount of smoke and the
      fireball as long as the builder new what they were doing. But
      I agree it was probably simply several pounds of reloading
      powder.

    • Pure speculation here, but I agree, my first thought with that much smoke is black powder. I hadn’t seen the firecracker comment till just now, but that makes me even more sure this was black powder. If I had to guess I am guessing low tech pipe bombs… it would explain the huge number of people injured… shrapnel from those things could do that.

  9. On other gun (rights) boards I am on, a post like this would be deleted lest we give the other side any ideas. I suggest TTAG do the same.

  10. Funny how it just proves our point that crazy people don’t need guns to do crazy things.

    • Funny how you run to the “crazy people” notion when there’s no data to support that whatsoever. The media has done its job well on you.

      I suppose the Fed attackers at Waco were “crazy” too?

      • Anybody who indiscriminately targets civilians is crazy regardless of if they have an actual mental illness. There is no cause that justifies the mass slaughter of innocents. That’s why we have laws of war. Or do we need to have a couple more city sackings to remind people?

        • My dad believed in the leftist notion that anyone who killed another was “mentally ill”. So, have at this bullshit – after all, OJ was “mentally ill”, RIGHT?

          Never mind that “mental illness” is a physical impossibility – the mind is not a physical entity, so how could it be “ill”? “Mental Illness”, therefore, is a METAPHOR. One’s brain can have a physical illness; one’s mind CANNOT.

  13. Guys I know we’re all hyper-sensitive on 2nd A stuff right now, but we know NOTHING about this bombing yet. A simple mention of the event and maybe a prayer is all that is needed right now.

    Don’t pull an NRA and wait days to talk about it, but c’mon man.

    • I heard it was a ex-con, mentally adjudicated, Constitutional extremist, with a hi-capacity, full-auto, home-made explosive that he bought the parts for at an undocumented gunshow sale, with no background check.

      Probably just a rumor.

      • Yup yup. I heard he was white and possibly a prepper. Probably listened to country music as well. White terrorists love country music. Keith Olbermann said so.

  14. A gun has nothing to do with this as we all know, but im sure Biden and the rest will say something like: “See, the gun couldn’t protect you from the bomb, there for your protection argument is invalid” or “It was an exploding gun”
    Hell he’ll probably just say it was a gun owner.

  15. Wow. Zero intelligent thought went into the decisions to type this post, approve this post, and publish this post. The author and publisher are both accountable should there be any legislation regarding restrictions on reload supplies. Please take down. I will tune out for a few days in order to help bring your traffic count down until you show some discipline before you hit “publish.”

    • Yeah, it’s reckless to think our enemies have never thought about such things before.

      GET REAL.

      • Mr. Burke, a number of folks here agree with me. Typing in all caps doesn’t make your expression of thought any more valid. No need to yell. The author really demonstrated his maturity level with this post, and the publisher has demonstrated he apparently gives this author carte blanche, regardless of whether or not the post is appropriate.

      • +1

        But I likely won’t notice since TTAG will be off my reading list for a while. I’ll check it in a couple of weeks to see if anything has changed. Luckily there are plenty of other good gun sites out there.

    • “The author and publisher are both accountable should there be any legislation regarding restrictions on reload supplies. ”

      Not to mention stump remover and garden sulphur dust. Or all of those places that [legally] sell materials to individuals who [legally] make their own fireworks.

      I’ve made my own black powder using the “pure” components from the pyrotechnic suppliers as well as the “Home Depot” variety. Zero difference in the quality of the end product, based on how high a given charge will launch a tennis ball out of a mortar.

  16. I think the most alarming and saddening thing I realized is the fact we (rightfully so) are more worried about our liberties being infringed upon whenever some lunatic attacks our citizens or country. Whatever happened to just being worried about the criminals? I miss those days.

    That’s a really sad state of affairs to be in. Talk about the government not knowing who the damn enemy really is. Maybe they’ll wake up.

    • Something bad happened, so clearly we’re not enough of a police state and liberties must be shredded some more. It’s how we live these days. There’s no level of risk that can be tolerated, it’s safety at any cost.

    • Whatever happened to just being worried about the criminals?

      That’s who we’re worried about. Criminals from DC, NYC, SF, CT, NJ. And let’s not forget Chicago.

  17. Agreed.. a bit premature. Although, I do recall when they raided Ted Kaczynski’s shack how the media/government was quick to point out the place was full of “bomb making materials”… pipe, hammers, nails, wire, etc. When you have a parts list that is 99% common place things with so many legitimate uses it would be easy for them to hone in one the one possible component (as we’ve seen.. legitimate or not) that’s not so ubiquitous and try to wrap their taxing/controlling tentacles around it.

  18. It’s sad that this kind of response is the first one (after concern for the victims, of course), but it’s the one I had, too. Depending on whom they blame, and what methods were used, any number of new public safety bills or executive actions could materialize; most of them would likely infringe on civil liberties in some way. And I’m sure a new omnibus anti-terror/public safety bill would be rife with anti-gun amendments. Needless to say, if it’s some kind of lunatic domestic militia group behind this insanity, it’s hard to see how the pro-rights side wins any debates in the near-future.

  19. Why even fuel the fire, what is the point

    This already from Huffpost:

    “This is horrible.
    SHAME on these people who are using this for their gun control shenanigans! “

  20. Two things:

    1. Does anyone else notice how much this Boston bombing looks like an actual mass killing situation compared to Newtown?

    2. Is anyone else EXTREMELY concerned this was a right wing “gun nut” trying to prove a point about killing people without guns?

    • All that being said I do agree that this post is FAR too soon. Why not put a post up stating that the TTAG hearts go out to the victims of the Boston bombings and let people debate in the comments?

  21. “Pipe bombs can be constructed using nothing more than some loose gunpowder and a few components from the hardware store”

    Where the “loose gunpowder” can also be made from “a few components at a [well-stocked] hardware store”.

    Stump remover (KNO3)… check
    Garden fungicide/insecticide (i.e. Lilly Miller Sulfur Dust – 90% S)… check
    Decent wood for charcoal… check

    • And gasoline creates a lot of thick, black smoke. The smoke at the site was white and fairly thin. Much more likely to be a modern black powder substitute, smokeless powder, or high-explosive such as C4.

    • Pocono,

      I need to apologize for my first comment. After looking at the video footage again, I distinctly see a fireball of some kind. I spoke too soon. Sorry. You might be correct about the gasoline.

  23. I can see where Nick is coming from here guys. Bombs go boom, as do guns. The gang in DC is making every attempt to separate gun owners from the hardware. The lackeys behind the scenes who actually write the minutiae that is packaged as legislation have agendas of their own as well as outside pressure. We must remember, the legislator who rants on the floor at debate time, often times has no clear idea of the actual contents of a bill, only what he/she has been selectively told by their aides. Then there are the ones who use victims as pedestals to their soapboxes, knowing full well that most Americans don’t follow the news-instead readily accept that which is spoon fed to them by the talking heads. All of these realities combine to create a tree for picking by the anti 2A types. Let us hope that today’s occurrence in Boston does not provide fruit for them.

    • When there is an actual national risk, let me know. Looks line another wackjob having a bad day. The reason we are heartless it the just like 9/11 this will be used by the statists to take away rights from people and grow he power of government.

    • He has not been arrested. He is a suspect though. However, he was not captured by police. “CBS News senior correspondent John Miller said a civilian claims the person was acting suspiciously and chased him down and tackled him after the explosions.”

      Source: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2013/04/15/several-hurt-in-explosions-at-boston-marathon-finish-line/

      He was tackled by a civilian, and is cooperating with police, while claiming that he is innocent. He was tackled for acting nervous and suspicious, as anybody would after a bombing, and the civilian was probably motivated by more than a little profiling against middle eastern men. My bet is that it wasn’t him. He was just in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and looks to someone like the wrong type.

  27. The explosions occurred at the 26.2 mile mark of the marathon.

    The 26 mile mark was dedicated to victims of Newtown.

    Today is the anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the revolutionary war.

    Well shit. My bet goes to: disgruntled gun owner living in Massachusetts.

    That being said, my heart goes out to the innocent victims.

    • I disagree that it’s a gun owner. It could be an actual terrorist
      but I’d put my money on some wacko from the anti-rights
      crowd looking to push blame on gun owners. The media will
      probably say that the blast was caused by powder that was
      ordered online, regardless of truth. Next will be the argument
      that all ammo components need to be restricted and online
      ordering should be banned.

    • “The explosions occurred at the 26.2 mile mark of the marathon.
      The 26 mile mark was dedicated to victims of Newtown.”

      That seems like a bit of a stretch. Doesn’t mean you are wrong, but doesn’t have a clear ring of truth either.

  30. We need to keep one eye on gun control legislation so they don’t sneak anything through while our TV’s are preoccupied with coverage of this.

  31. The timing of New York’s ban on more than 7-rounds in a magazine couldn’t have been better, eh? Terrorists attack Boston and New York neuters its law-abiding citizens on the same day.

  32. Wow way to jump the gun. Have some respect for the fallen, and let the facts flow in. Then, if you wish, you may attempt to induce another panic towards people who have grown weary of kneejerk reactions and speculations.

    My Opinion, pull this article immediately.

  34. I highly suspect convicted terrorist bomb-maker Bill Ayers, Bernadine Doehrn and that black muslim guy named Barry they palled around with at Columbia University.

  35. I wasn’t going to comment, but I couldn’t hold my tongue.
    1. I realize that any idiot can find instructions for pipe bombs or other stupid stuff, but it is just plain stupid to use this site to give someone any ideas (regardless of how vague your description is).

    2. Don’t give the anti-gun crowd anything new ideas of stuff to ban. It is well known that they like to use tragedies to push legislation.

    3. Give the due deference to a tragedy like this, but this article and especially the title are pure hyperbole.

    • Agreed. I know you’re trying to be “first” Nick but let’s not paint a target on our backs.

  36. Certainly anhydrous ammonia and Sudafed are regulated because of criminal misuse; it may not take much of a leap to add gunpowder to the list.

  39. Banning loose gun powder to citizens would be pointless. There are plenty of ways to make IED’s that don’t involve gun powder. Propane and gasoline come to mind.

  41. We need stricter bomb control laws. We should have some very strict laws banning anyone from making a bomb and blowing up innocent people. We might even need a ban on thinking about bombs or we should just ban the word bomb. Now I’m sure the BG’s would obey the new laws because they wouldn’t want to get in trouble. This just proves that criminals will always do as they please no matter what silly laws we pass.

  42. Wow. Two hours ago I decided to take a nap since I didn’t sleep well. I wake-up and boom. Yup, it’s “never let a crisis go to waste” time. Here come calls for regulating powders, chemicals, etc. Probably will hear about calls to get rid of cash so government can digitally track all purchases of everything. You know the White House is secretly loving this bombing.

  43. Nothing is premature in this ‘environment’…
    DIY learn -n- share:
    gun cotton
    See also
    Cellulose
    Smokeless powder
    Cordite
    Nitroglycerine
    Nitrostarch
    Potassium nitrate

  44. Yes it certainly is premature for this type of BS reporting. Nothing like giving the media and the Left wing idiots more “ammunition” Yep keep telling them how it smelled and that bullets or shot gun shells were used the news will spread across the country faster than you can hit the enter key.

    And this article is from a supposed pro gun person. You sir are a frigging idiot for even pesting this less than a hour after the smoke has not even cleared.

  46. In the future I would appreciate if articles like this were not published. I don’t want to give those gun grabbers any ideas.

    • They have all this stuff pre-written, ready to go at a moment’s notice. They just do a Save As, come up with a new Orwellian bill title, and call it a day.

  47. Di Fi has said it may be “home grown”. They grab a saudi national and she points the finger at her real enemy, the American people. Outrageous!

    And if they are going to regulate gun powder, there’s gun powder in cartridges….

  48. Of course, banning reloading powder would seem to be pointless. So would banning scary black guns. But, really, there is a point, and it’s not to prevent these kinds of crime: it’s to create a culture of control.

    BTW, if this is of Middle-Eastern origin, it could very well be acetone peroxide, which can be readily manufactured with common chemicals. Of course, the government could ban hair bleach and fingernail polish remover.

    • Exactly! You can now take a knife on the plane but, by God, you’d better not have an extra 1/4 ounce of shampoo!

  49. RF – usually you’re on on. This article isn’t. Thanks for giving them the idea to get rid of smokeless powder…

    • Do you really believe that they’re incapable of figuring it out for themselves? Do you really believe that they haven’t been working on it for years? C’mon, man.

  50. For those of you asking that TTAG not post articles like this because it gives ammunition or ideas to the gun grabbers:

    If dozens of the Armed Intelligentsia have thought of these possibilities, so have the gun grabbers. They are not stupid. I don’t see how it hurts us to state hypotheses that the gun grabbers have already considered.

  51. Dunno about black powder, but it’s almost a certainty that something corrupt will happen. Tyrannical politicians love attacks on their country, since they can and do use them to strip a pathetically subservient people of their liberties. Can’t wait to hear what the O administration’s “Solution” to this is.

  52. As you might suspect, the left is wasting no time casting suspicions on Right Wing Extremists. barry won’t use the “T” word, even though it is textbook Middle-Eastern technique and there’s a Saudi national under “protective” custody. Everything is under control.

    • It’s tax day, they’ve got to find a white guy to pin it on before the real suspect is captured. I’ll bet that the POTUS wishes his truth-whore hillary was still around to flip-flop blame for this onto the evil white male and his evil black gun.

  53. the bombs were obviously set by roving bands of assault weapons. Therefore we must ban weapons now!

    logic? since when has logic been involved?

  55. To all the people complaining about this article: If you’re looking for someone to tell you to be sad and mournful go read your Facebook newsfeed or watch CBS.

    Some readers on here still possess the ability to think and banter with each other while recognizing the bombing today for the tragedy it is.

    Pick yourself up by your big boy shoes, accept what happened and prepare for what’s to come.

  56. 4/14/2013
    “Hundreds of Hindu devotees attend the ritual held to worship the Hindu deity of destruction, Lord Shiva, on the last day of the Bengali calendar year”.

    — I’m not suggesting the bombing is the work of a mad devotee of Lord Shiva. Just another one of many weird timings with calender dates and anniversaries one can over-analyze.

  58. It will be hard to blame this on smokeless powder, as you would need a truck load to do the kind of damage that was done with that type of explosive. My guess is that it was a homemade variant of RDX, not hard to make; you can get all the components from grocery stores/hardware stores, was probably the most common type of IED explosive I saw in Iraq.

    Although items like tannerite etc, may take a hit because of this.

  59. “A law enforcement official told the Associated Press that officials shut down cellular service throughout the Boston area to prevent remote detonation of explosives. Cellular service has since been restored but it is still difficult to communicate with anyone in the Boston area, according to witness reports.”

    http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/two_explosions_at_boston_marathon_iMR0LCkcwASg0RQfVsH1yI

    — The linked story is mostly about the event overall. This para caught my attention. Do you have a back-up plan to keep in communication with the key people in your life if your cell service is closed down by the authorities for any reason? Perhaps it is time to consider high-end long-distance two-way radios.

  61. It is never too soon to be concerned about ones liberty. God be with those affected, and that includes every man woman and child of this great nation as politicians will take every opportunity to expand their own power.

  62. NY Post:
    “A law enforcement official told the Associated Press that officials shut down cellular service throughout the Boston area to prevent remote detonation of explosives. Cellular service has since been restored but it is still difficult to communicate with anyone in the Boston area, according to witness reports.”

    — The linked story is mostly about the event overall. This para caught my attention. Do you have a back-up plan to keep in communication with the key people in your life if your cell service is closed down by the authorities for any reason? Perhaps it is time to consider high-end long-distance two-way radios.

  63. I’M from middle Tennessee and on my way home from work, I was listening to talk radio. the Phil valentine show to be specific. A guy in Boston called in and claimed to be ex military. He said the smoke the smell the burn was tannerite. He said with a high degree of confidence that he has smelled it before and it was without a doubt tannerite.

    • meh i heard an “ex military guy” call in on another show saying it was an anti personnel mine based on the sound and how the shrapnel stayed low level and flat instead of even disspersement in all directions both are pure spectulation.

      • hey i wanted to come back here and correct myself. I was wrong about what the onsite radio caller said. I had a hard time remembering the term and had to look it up. He DID NOT say Tannerite, he said CORDITE.

  64. As the Unabomber found out, smokeless powder needs modifcation to make a good explosive. In the current climate of hysteria, that won’t matter.

  67. I better go get myself wined and dined…because i love getting wined and dined before I get f^cked.

    Another terrorist attack, another f^cking from a government that will use it as a “reason” to take away more rights. Im thinking Steak, Lobster, and a nice Chianti.

  68. Funny as in weird timing: Obama gets reelected and then Sandy Hook happens followed a few months later by the Marathon Bombing. Here comes more calls for reducing the liberties of law abiding Americans.

  71. Although it now seems, due to the severity of the explosion, that it was more than gun powder and ball bearings, when I first heard reports it was suggested as such. Which got me worrying about increased restrictions on shot gun shells. Which got me worrying about a run on shotgun shells (the one thing I’ve never seen sold out, even during the height of the panic buy), which lead me to stop and buy some on the way home. Ran into a guy looking for .380, confused about why all the ammo was gone.

  72. If we all stick together and constantly campaign against this evil dictator and his minions we can make a difference, we better all start or we will get Hillary shoved up our asses…and she will be worse the the jerk we have now…

    • “· Make it illegal to manufacture homemade explosives without a permit. ”

      How about making it illegal to blow people up without a permit?

      (Oh – the explosives manufacturing permit is pretty easy to obtain.)

      Are they going to regulate stump remover and barns? If not, so much for limiting the oxidizer in BP.

      It would be really amusing to watch them try to regulate sulfur and charcoal.

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