Boston Suspect Purchased Fireworks

[The Straight Story]

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the elder brother suspected in the Boston Marathon bombings, bought two large pyrotechnic devices in February from a New Hampshire branch of a national fireworks chain, according to executives at the chain's parent company.

William Weimer, a vice president of Phantom Fireworks, said the elder Mr. Tsarnaev on Feb. 6 purchased two "Lock and Load" reloadable mortar kits at the company's Seabrook, N.H. store, just over the border from Massachusetts. Each kit contains a tube and 24 shells, he said. Mr. Tsarnaev paid cash for the kits, which cost $199.99 apiece.

It wasn't clear if the powder from these fireworks was used in the bombings. A Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit filed in the court case against the younger of the two suspected bombers, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, said the bombs contained "low-grade explosives." The affidavit also said a "large pyrotechnic" had been found at the younger brother's college dorm room.

One federal law-enforcement official briefed on the probe said the government's working theory was that the powder used to power the bombs could have come from high-powered fireworks. The official said there were other possible sources for similar powder and investigators hadn't drawn any firm conclusions.

Mr. Weimer said Phantom Fireworks, which is based in Youngstown, Ohio, combed its records after the names of the suspected Boston bombers became public and immediately contacted the FBI after it discovered that Mr. Tsarnaev had made the purchase. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died last week in a shootout with police.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324235304578440843633991044.html

[davepc]

1. If the propelant in common fireworks is strong enough to cause this blast

then we need federal comprehensive common sense 50 state fireworks controls.

Nobody should be allowed to possess enough explosive to just put it in a pot and walk away and maim that many people.

[snooper2]

2. oh great here we go...

[The Straight Story]

3. So punish the many based on the few?

My family and many others I know have bought fireworks from Phantom for years.

You can make your own powder at home:

http://www.skylighter.com/fireworks/how-to-make/high-powered-black-powder.asp

Which would be cheaper than buying fireworks and messing with them.

A few misuse certain things, the rest of us should not be seen as potential terrorists and have things limited because of them.

[rdking647]

4. where do you draw the line

i can buy stumpremover at most garden stores. the main ingredient on it it posassium nitrate,the primary ingredient on gunpowder.

ammonium nitrate is fertilizer (see the west texas explosion) mix it with something like gasoline in a pressure cooker and you have a pretty powerful bomb..

unfortunatley its easy to make explosives with common ingredients. makign a bomb from fireworks is actually more dificult

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. Problem is that too many things that are part of every day life can be used as IEDs

I can make my own gunpowder easily enough from common stuff

[Johonny]

6. seems like a no brainer to me

That I can travel around and less than an hour travel over city and county lines that have varying levels of firework regulations. That tells me all I need on the total chaos that is existing fireworks legislation. Isn't that one of the points of our federal legislative people to look at existing laws and see where they don't work or are chaotic and confusing and try to make a more consistent framework. Our fireworks legislation is poorly maintained, randomly chaotic, and thus rather hard for citizens to follow. It certainly leads to confusing public safety messages by various levels of government. As people point out a ban is very unlikely, but yes the federal government should probably look into our nations random, chaotic, and hard to understand fireworks regulations. Where that is on the list of things to do? Probably low...

[The Straight Story]

9. It is not really that hard

Some places are more dry than others and have different restrictions. Some have more people per square mile, others less.

We are a diverse country and trying to make one band-aid to fit all is a terrible idea.

You think someone out in Montana on 20 acres should be subjected to the same laws as someone in a dense area like NYC?

The federal government has no business in some decisions at all and should keep out of many laws relating to states and counties.

[Johonny]

11. Government has the ability and the responsiblity to review things

I see no reason they should not look at firework regulations anymore than bank regulations, traffic regulation, etc... Is it a shock that I believe that the government can and should look into matters? People argued half slave and half free worked too.

I didn't say they should make a one size fits all band aid... I said they should look into it. It may be that the chaotic fireworks regulations do not pose a large national threat to the populous and those no action should take place... however in your world we would never ask questions. Jackie Robinson drinks from any water fountain he likes in New York and the colored one in the south. I don't buy that. We are one nation and chaotic random laws serve no one. That is why I supported reforming our chaotic, random gun back ground checks for instance. I'm rather consistent in thinking things like fireworks that people buy over state lines should be totally regulated by our government if they find it needs to. The keep your gov'ment law out of my state... we are one nation. So I can't go there with you.

[The Straight Story]

13. I think you are mixing things up just a bit

One involves the rights of all (voting, civil rights, etc) and the other involves what people DO within the confines of their local area.

There are areas that regularly have no burn days due to pollution levels and dry spells. Same goes for fireworks, camping fires, etc and so on.

We could make a case to register/track a ton of things from pressure cookers to nails to salt peter and charcoal (which you can use to make black powder). How will you fund it and enforce it and how have we gotten along so well up to now without doing it?

There are 50 states that can decide for themselves what impacts them the most and how, and if, they need to track it (here in Ohio I can buy fireworks but cannot set them off here, and they track what I buy). We don't need one giant federal government to get involved - if they want to help, free up funds to allow states to better communicate things they want/need to via data bases.

We don't need the feds involved in our local education either, and we can see now the results from that experiment.

[X_Digger]

7. The world would terrify you if you knew how easy it is to make a bomb with household chemicals.

Everything from bottles of hydrogen peroxide and strike-anywhere matches to charcoal briquettes and saltpeter.

Hobbies and occupations that would disappear based on your criteria-
-fireworks
-civilian ownership of firearms (after all, even if you regulate raw black powder, one could harvest the powder from ammunition)
-film developing
-farming (ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate)
-tanning and dyeing
-spelunking (calcium carbide + water = acetylene)
-jewelry making
... endless more

[MadHound]

10. You do understand that with a little bit of knowledge, and a grocery store,

You can easily construct bombs that are more powerful than what blew up in Boston, don't you?

Banning fireworks just because a couple of idiots used them to construct bombs is punishing the overwhelming majority of Americans who use and enjoy fireworks.

[Logical]

12. For the love of GOD tell me you are not serious! n-th

[TheKentuckian]

14. Yup, must be 18 to purchase and inspected to ensure they operate as directed.

We aren't going to put the gunpowder toothpaste back into the tube here and we can't "baby proof" this world.

[OhioChick]

8. Has it ever been established yet where all their funds came from? n/t

[octothorpe]

15. bitcoin miners.

[madville]

16. Up until recently the various family members

Were reported to be on several types of welfare.

[KharmaTrain]

17. Looks Like We're Not Talking About A High-Tech Operation Here...

The pressure cooker + gunpowder from fireworks (I read they spent $200) + cheap fuse timers = a leath device that killed 3 people and injured many many others for less than it costs to buy a new laptop.