Explosives, Criminality, and Preemptive Action

At Sun, 10 Mar 1996 Timothy C. May wrote:
> At 7:06 AM 3/10/96, JonWienke@aol.com wrote:
> >Who says they were going to blow anything up?  It is perfectly legit for
> >farms to have large quantities of fertilizer around--they use it all the
> >time.  Same with diesel fuel--what are they supposed to run the tractors and
> >combines with?  Dog piss?  DUHHHH!  As far as having the instructions for
> >mixing them to go boom, who the hell made that a crime?  You could bust most
> >of the farmers in this country if you criminalize simultaneous posession of
> >fertilizer and diesel fuel.  Did these people ever actually mix any of the
> >fert. and fuel together?  Did they threaten to blow up anything?
> 
> 
> My personal belief, from the news reports I've read (which may be
> incorrect, of course), is that the ingredients were for use in a bomb,
> whether or not they'd ever have gone through with it or not. The ancillary
> items found (dozens of assault rifles, weapons manuals, patriot literature,
> crank, meth, etc.), and the stockpiling of ANFO precursors, suggests an
> Oklahoma City-type scenario.

Hey!, if I lived on a farm I would no doubt possess similar amounts
of fertilizer and diesel.  I would also possess a few dozen assault
rifles if I could afford to (not that I'm a gun nut [I do happen to
enjoy shooting, and would doubtless own a few if I lived on a farm]
but would have "stocked up" before Klintons assault rifle bill.)
I also possess weapons manuals (ranging from bullwhips to blowguns
to 66mm anti tank weapons) and what you would call patriot literature
(ranging from books on Jefferson, on the civil war ("The South was
Right"), to The Turner Diaries.)  I am also an ocaissional drug user,
so you may find varying amounts of coke/crack, meth, horse, LSD, peyote,
and ecstasy in my abode.  In addition to this you would find books on
lockpicking, hacking, drug manuafacture, holocaust revisionism,
credit card fraud, false ID, smuggling, gun-running and tax evasion.
You would also find some very violent movies in my collection.

But, despite all of these circumstances, I assure you that I have not
(and would, ney, could not) commit any non-victimless crime.  I am an
out and out pacifist Libertarian.


> This is what I think was objective reality.

I think this is what I call circumstancial evidence.

It is quite common to find ammonium nitrate fertilizer and diesel fuel on
a farm, as well as blasting caps, dynamite, gasoline, soap, and a host of
other things that could be used to make a bomb.  When non-country folks
bring it up, my most common reaction is, "so?" 

Lots of stuff that you find on a farm can be made to hurt lots of other
people.  Guns, rat poison, flammables, explosives ... the list goes on and
on.  Doesn't mean that they are used for such purposes, nor does it mean
that such would ever be anyone's intent.  They are tools, nothing more. 

Next thing you know, they'll be banning selling ammonia and chlorine 
bleach together.  Sheesh.
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The mark of a good conspiracy theory is its untestability.
		    -- Andrew Spring

> 
> It is quite common to find ammonium nitrate fertilizer and diesel fuel on
> a farm, as well as blasting caps, dynamite, gasoline, soap, and a host of
> other things that could be used to make a bomb.  When non-country folks
> bring it up, my most common reaction is, "so?" 

More importantly, USDA gives out book on how to blow up stumps with the
stuff....

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