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Man's 'experiments' with explosives were lawful, court rules

theguardian.com

11–20 of 114 posts

Re: Man's 'experiments' with explosives were lawful, court rules

#11
post #2

The government should have offered him a job instead of treating him as a criminal, especially considering his autism.

> The government should have offered him a job As what exactly?

Bomb disposal technician?

Re: Man's 'experiments' with explosives were lawful, court rules

#12
For context, the UK has suffered a number of terrorist bombings over the years; explosives are controlled substances, and anyone making them without a license will have the terrorism book thrown at them. Not really much point in spending two decades in Afghanistan "fighting terrorism" if you're going to let people brew TATP in their bathtubs like the 7/7 bombers.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Arena_bombing : TATP, 23 dead, 800 injured. Grimly has a disambiguation page, for the other occasion terrorists blew up Manchester in 1993.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21_July_2005_London_bombings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Bishopsgate_bombing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_hotel_bombing : very nearly assasinated most of the government!

https://www.cbc.ca/archives/the-day-an-ira-bomb-claimed-the-... : Queen's cousin murdered by bomb

And previously https://www.irishtimes.com/news/the-devastating-effects-of-a...

Re: Man's 'experiments' with explosives were lawful, court rules

#13
post #5

I hate how chemistry can land people in legal hot water due to overzealous government policies. While this example is not in the UK. It's illegal to own certain glassware without a permit in Texas for instance. The glassware is considered a drug precursor, like freaking glassware. Oh also federally the DEA treats Phosphorus as a type 1 precursor to meth. That's a freaking element! An element is illegal/regulated like…

In D&D there is a certain type of spell called Power Word Kill which works slightly differently based on the version of D&D you're playing with, but the effect is that it essentially kills a single individual with a single word.

I'm not saying phosphorus should be legal or illegal, but at some point "it's just a packet I sent on the internet" or "it's just a PDF I sent to someone overseas" or "it's just an element" misses the point. In most democratic countries there are procedures for getting what you need if you what you're doing is fundamentally good. Nuclear power plants get uranium. Science researchers get viruses. Anti-virus vendors get malware. A certain degree of limiting the power of individual actors is wise.

Re: Man's 'experiments' with explosives were lawful, court rules

#14
post #5

I hate how chemistry can land people in legal hot water due to overzealous government policies. While this example is not in the UK. It's illegal to own certain glassware without a permit in Texas for instance. The glassware is considered a drug precursor, like freaking glassware. Oh also federally the DEA treats Phosphorus as a type 1 precursor to meth. That's a freaking element! An element is illegal/regulated like…

[deleted]

Re: Man's 'experiments' with explosives were lawful, court rules

#15
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't U-235 an element?

It's an isotope of Uranium. It's restricted but I'm pretty sure its not illegal to own a small amount of it.

Not illegal to own uranium ore - I think the restrictions are only on the refined product

Re: Man's 'experiments' with explosives were lawful, court rules

#16
post #5

I hate how chemistry can land people in legal hot water due to overzealous government policies. While this example is not in the UK. It's illegal to own certain glassware without a permit in Texas for instance. The glassware is considered a drug precursor, like freaking glassware. Oh also federally the DEA treats Phosphorus as a type 1 precursor to meth. That's a freaking element! An element is illegal/regulated like…

Free states write laws that criminalize harmful actions. Police states write laws that criminalize possessing things that could be used harmfully.

Re: Man's 'experiments' with explosives were lawful, court rules

#17
post #6

good for him. he only has one life and he aint spending it in a sandwich factory. hes exploring some of the most exciting chemistry this world has. and its a shame we live in a place where people are terrified and manipulated by tv into thinking anyone who shows interest in these things must be placed in a small room for a long time. 300 gears ago governments would be giving him money and patting him on the back. som…

Could not disagree more, for much of human history only the rich and their offspring typically had access to higher education and crucially learning materials, books where horrendously expensive for example for all but the most wealthy.

We live in a golden age for autodidacts, that people often seem intellectually incurious says less about the society and more the people who constitute it, many people are simply incurious - it’s not a bad thing, it is their life and they are free to live it how they want, it doesn’t hurt me that people binge watch the Kardashians.

And the idea that society has somehow gotten worse and prior generations where not like this is crazier still.. we are only a couple of centuries out from executing spinsters for witchcraft and believing in curses.

Re: Man's 'experiments' with explosives were lawful, court rules

#18

22 months in jail for making "damp firework" level explosives. What a travesty.

Years ago I remember school mates competing for the prize of "loudest bang from 1 gram".

If they did that now, I reckon they'd all be in prison...

Re: Man's 'experiments' with explosives were lawful, court rules

#19
post #5

I hate how chemistry can land people in legal hot water due to overzealous government policies. While this example is not in the UK. It's illegal to own certain glassware without a permit in Texas for instance. The glassware is considered a drug precursor, like freaking glassware. Oh also federally the DEA treats Phosphorus as a type 1 precursor to meth. That's a freaking element! An element is illegal/regulated like…

Free states write laws that criminalize harmful actions. Police states write laws that criminalize possessing things that could be used harmfully.

By that definition, there are no free states except for Somalia, as nearly all countries except for the US ban private ownership of firearms.

Re: Man's 'experiments' with explosives were lawful, court rules

#20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free states write laws that criminalize harmful actions. Police states write laws that criminalize possessing things that could be used harmfully.

By that definition, there are no free states except for Somalia, as nearly all countries except for the US ban private ownership of firearms.

> nearly all countries except for the US ban private ownership of firearms.

Man that's gonna surprise all the legal gun owners in Canada, the UK, Sweden, and so on.

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