Free Republic

New evidence suggests Iran received help from Venezuela with its nuclear program despite a decade of U.N.-mandated sanctions aimed at curbing the rouge regime’s controversial nuclear and ballistic missile programs. A 2009 document obtained by Brazil’s leading weekly, Veja magazine, shows late dictator President Hugo Chavez signing off on the release of funds to help Iran with its nuclear ambitions. Specifically, the document states the funds were to be designated for the import of equipment for a gunpowder factory and the development of production plants for nitroglycerin and nitrocellulose, elements used in rocket propulsion for Iran’s government. There is also...

In June of 2016, the ATF announced that nitrocellulose, including nitrocellulose wetted with water or alcohol, would be considered a high explosive.  This change in regulation was simply announced in the June ATF EXPLOSIVES Industry Newsletter, without a comment period or any previous consideration.This change had a potentially devastating effect on ammunition manufacturers and manufacturers of smokeless gunpowder.  If the ruling was upheld, it would have required enormous changes in gunpowder manufacture, making ammunition significantly more expensive, and likely halting the manufacture of smokeless gunpowder for a considerable period while changes to existing procedures were worked out, tested, and...

As reported on Ammoland, a sudden ATF rule change promulgated entirely without warning in a newsletter has reclassified a critical component of smokeless powder as a “high explosive”. The problem is that there are very strict rules governing the storage and transport of high explosives, and the ammunition supply chain is totally unprepared to suddenly comply with those rules.

Washington, DC -(AmmoLand.com)- In an Explosives Industry Newsletter issued in June 2016, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) reclassified wetted nitrocellulose containing greater than 12.6 percent nitrogen as a high explosive under the federal explosives laws.

Fellow Conservative, This is not a drill. The Obama administration just implemented a new regulatory change that has sent the entire firearms industry into a tailspin overnight. A key ingredient necessary for making gunpowder has been re-classified as a high explosive, making it illegal for any company within the industry to transport or store it as they have for decades. It all stems from how the ATF regulates a chemical compound known as nitrocellulose. For decades, the firearm industry has been allowed to store and transport wetted nitrocellulose without having to treat it as a high explosive. Manufacturers deliberately mix...

/10/2016 - EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Explosive Ordnance Disposal Airmen from the 812th Civil Engineering Squadron blew up 20 gallons of a hazardous chemical at an on-base range June 6. The chemical was determined to be a nitrocellulose-dope lacquer, which was found at a drop-off point for hazardous materials waste in Lancaster, California. The city was able to track it back to General William J. Fox Airfield. "Nitrocellulose-dope lacquer was originally used to harden the flight surfaces of fabric-based aircraft," said Staff Sgt. Christopher Severe, 812th CES, EOD. "We knew from our research that this particular lot could...

Airport screeners in this country and overseas are on the lookout for suspicious pillows, coats and even stuffed animals after U.S. intelligence concluded that al Qaeda operatives are being trained to apply special chemicals to the material inside to transform them into bombs. American intelligence officials have picked up several indications that al Qaeda is attempting to create a chemical called nitrocellulose to fashion explosive devices that could be smuggled aboard jetliners, according to a warning the Department of Homeland Security sent in August to airlines and airport security officials around the world. U.S. officials said that while airport X-ray...

The US Homeland Security has warned airports all over the world against suspicious stuffed items among luggage after US intelligence concluded that Al-Qaeda operatives are being trained to conceal 'nitrocellulose' bombs inside them, reports said on Tuesday. Intelligence officials have confiscated Al-Qaeda manuals and picked up several indications that the network is attempting to create a chemical called nitrocellulose to fashion explosive devices that could be smuggled aboard jetliners, The Washington Post quoted Homeland officials as saying. "We judge this type of threat to be real and continuing. We have received reports from several credible, independent sources that Al-Qaeda is...