From: gherbert@crl3.crl.com (George Herbert)
Newsgroups: alt.engr.explosives
Subject: Re: Semtex
Date: 9 Jan 2000 12:52:37 -0800

Vegeta <vegeta2139@aol.com> wrote:
>>Why make it when you can legally but it? I bet from a liscensed dealer
>>you could get for 2 quid a kilo. Don't recall if they still allow the
>>sales of plastiques in the UK
>
>You can legally buy plastic explosives?  I was not aware of this, WHAT
>liscenced dealer do you by from, and if you can buy them legally then how come
>people get arrested for possessing plastiques?

I don't know about the UK, but in the US there are no restrictions
I know of on what types of explosives which can be commercially sold
or used.  If you're licensed to buy and use explosives, nobody cares
if you use AN Dynamite, Kinepak, TNT, ANFO, or C-4 for your project.
BATF might pay more attention to inspecting you if you appear to
have or be buying explosives which don't make much sense for your
application (say, rock blasting and C-4), but there are demolitions
applications where something like C-4 is arguably the right choice
for civilian users as well as military.

People being arrested for possessing plastiques probably didn't have
the proper licenses for buying and using explosives in the first place.


-george william herbert
gherbert@crl.com