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U.S. May Require Fingerprinting and Study of Rocket Hobbyists
The NY Times ^ | March 9, 2003 | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Posted on 03/09/2003 12:46:59 PM PST by Pharmboy

WASHINGTON, March 8 (AP) — Hobbyists who build and launch high-powered model rockets could soon be subject to background checks, fingerprinting and storage inspections.

Under new provisions set to go into effect May 24 under the Homeland Security Act, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives would place further restrictions on the fuel that powers the rockets.

Sport rocketry attracts thousands of hobbyists across the country. The rockets can stand taller than an adult, soar miles into the sky and are designed to land intact nearby.

The new rules will require buyers of the rocket fuel ammonium perchlorate composite propellant to submit their fingerprints and photographs to the bureau. The government will check applicants' backgrounds to see if they are among those banned from possessing explosives, felons, for example.

Under the proposed rules, the government will also inspect the areas where permit holders store explosives at least once every three years.

"You can't even estimate the devastating effect this is going to have on the hobby," said Bruce Kelly, the publisher of the magazine High Power Rocketry, said of the rule changes.

Hobbyists have won the support of Senator Michael B. Enzi, Republican of Wyoming, who is drafting legislation to free rocketeers from the rules. His spokesman dismissed government claims that the regulations would better track explosives while not being "overly burdensome."

Meanwhile hobbyists are mounting a public relations assault on the new regulations. The Web site of the Amateur Rocketry Society of America, posts daily updates on the hobby's dispute with "the feds." This week it gave a plan of action.

"Senator Enzi has requested that you fax your letter and phone your two senators to enlist their support for this important legislation," the posting said of a measure exempting rocketry from the Safe Explosives Act. "If you have not done so yet, please do it this week."

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says the most common model-rocket motors, which are smaller and typically use a weaker fuel, do not require permits and will not be affected.

"The Safe Explosives Act has not, does not and will not affect that exemption," said Gail Davis, chief of the bureau's public safety branch.

But hobbyists fear that restrictions on how explosive material can be shipped will hamper businesses that make and sell rocket motors.

Curtailed shipping could lead to a de facto ban on motor sales, said Gregory Lyzenga, a rocket enthusiast and geophysics researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

"It's not as though there's been a law passed saying `model rocketry is illegal,' but it's just that the materials are unavailable," Mr. Lyzenga said.

Rocketeers are suing the bureau in federal court in Washington to force it to change its classification of ammonium perchlorate composite propellant as an explosive. They say it burns and does not blow up.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: banglist; billofrights; fingerprints; gummint; hobbyists; rocketry
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To: Nik Naym
Of course, since they haven't come after YOUR hobby yet, it doesn't sound so burdensome.

The terrorists haven't found a way to use basketballs or pots and pans yet.

I admit I know nothing about your hobby.

41 posted on 03/09/2003 2:20:36 PM PST by 7 x 77
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To: templar
We usually used a mixture of sulphur and zinc dust. Nasty stuff to make mistakes with, but it really made them fly.

Yep, I made those things myself. I still have a copy of Capt. Briley's "Rocket Manual For Amateurs". The Feds really haven't caught on to the fact that law-abiding citizens aren't any concern. Anyone who wants to do nasty things won't be deterred by these laws. Decent propellants can be made from mundane things ... or mined from the dang ground if need be.

The Feds have drifted far from the Founder's views of "the citizen", haven't they?

42 posted on 03/09/2003 2:23:29 PM PST by GingisK
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To: Glenn
Hobbies like these are what make tomorrow's engineers and today's engineers better.

Can you imagine if Benjamin Franklin had to operate in today's bureaucratic enviromnent?

He'd be fined by the EPA and FCC and raided by the BATF.

Most likely, he'd be doing jail time with the rest of the Founders if they were around today.

43 posted on 03/09/2003 4:35:31 PM PST by Mulder (It's all for nothing if you don't have Freedom)
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To: 7 x 77
The terrorists haven't found a way to use basketballs or pots and pans yet.

Nor have they found a way to use model rockets, but I guess that escaped your notice.

44 posted on 03/09/2003 4:40:17 PM PST by NittanyLion
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To: Pharmboy
Goodbye, Rocket Boys. It's better to ban future engineers and scientists than to ban Muslim-country immigrants. Very intelligent - NOT.


45 posted on 03/09/2003 6:13:57 PM PST by valkyrieanne
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To: Roscoe
Jackboot supporter #1 on thread.
46 posted on 03/09/2003 7:10:48 PM PST by DAnconia55
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To: DAnconia55
And don't let the space aliens beam you up into their flying saucers, either.

So airports are "POW camps"? Whacky!
47 posted on 03/09/2003 7:58:36 PM PST by Roscoe
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To: templar
America, the land of the free and home of the brave.

You must have missed the memo. It is now: "Land of the servile and timid."

Saddam's operatives are surely trying to infiltrate model rocket clubs. Who knows what sort of havoc they could cause with that sort of technology.

I for one am especially worried about those people who own radio controlled (RC) model aircraft. I'll bet they are next on the list.

Then there are all of those people who reload ammunition or shoot blackpowder firearms. They all have pounds of smokeless and black powder stored at home.

And then there are those rural folks with 1000 gallon tanks of liquified propane gas just sitting there in their yards. Talk about a fuel air explosive device.

A lot of tradesmen and farmers have acetylene torches. These require high pressure cylinders of acetylene and oxygen. Many of them carry these around in their pickup trucks.

All I can say is that it's a good thing Bush increased the BATF's budget. That group is going to be very busy once they've dealt with those rocketeers.

Regards

J.R.

48 posted on 03/09/2003 8:14:51 PM PST by NMC EXP
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To: Pharmboy
When I was young a standard philosophical discussion topic was "Why didn't the people of Germany in the thirties do something to control their government?"

Now I know the answer.

Best regards,

49 posted on 03/09/2003 8:23:29 PM PST by Copernicus (A Constitutional Republic revolves around Sovereign Citizens, not citizens around government.)
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To: 7 x 77
"The regulations they describe don't seem burdensome."

They're very burdensome!. First, the composition isn't an explosive. The ATF, and the bozos in Congress that proposed and stuck this BS in, are completely full of it. If it was an explosive, it would explode and the rocket the kids put together would just turn to little itsy, bitsy pieces and smoke. Instead the real rockets the kids build floats back down to Earth by parachute. The burden here is the big lie they're promoting.

The next burden is the idea they should have and even need a background check to operate a balsa wood science project, driven by an AP motor. What the hell kind of a Homeland are they trying to install? This used to be the US, a Free country where kids could prusue their intrests unencumbered by fed agents acting under the authority of a bunch of ninnies. All they had in the past was their parents, books and teachers. No finger prints, background checks, inspections, or files were created and there's absolutely no need to start now.

No person, kid and family in this US should ever have to allow a fed, or any other govm't inspection for something like this!

50 posted on 03/09/2003 8:25:14 PM PST by spunkets
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To: 7 x 77
The regulations they describe don't seem burdensome.

I'm glad to hear you say that. With the number of lives saved by seatbelt laws we've decided it is past time to make sure kitchen knives are properly stored and more carefully regulated.

Too many people carelessly throw kitchen knives into drawers or store them in the open on counters where they are readily accessible to children.

And most families have way too many. Who needs more than one carving knife, a paring knife and some steak knives for dinner?

If everyone cut back on the harmful habit of eating meat,even steak knives would be unnecessary.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission will soon release a list of approved storage containers for knives and someone from the Department of Social Services will visit your home every three years for a safety check to ensure that you know how to properly store your alloted number of knives.

And of course, should anyone every be injured by one of your knives, the penalty will $10,000.00 and up to a year in jail.

Since you are a responsible citizen, you obviously have nothing to fear from common sense safety regulations.

Best regards,

51 posted on 03/09/2003 8:35:59 PM PST by Copernicus (A Constitutional Republic revolves around Sovereign Citizens, not citizens around government.)
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To: Pharmboy
The new rules will require buyers of the rocket fuel ammonium perchlorate composite propellant... The government will check applicants' backgrounds to see if they are among those banned from possessing explosives...

Us reloaders better get on the right side of this because they will come after us next. This is propellent just the same as gunpowder. How would you like to get fingerprinted just so you could reload some surplus .45 brass?

And for the freeper that asked can it carry a payload? So what, they can't aim it at something or put a MRV warhead on it. Terrorist aren't going to launch a mini rocket and then count on the wind to carry it to the target. They just drive their rental van over to the sidewalk and pull the ripcord and go Kablooey.

52 posted on 03/09/2003 9:52:48 PM PST by TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig
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To: Copernicus
When I was young a standard philosophical discussion topic was "Why didn't the people of Germany in the thirties do something to control their government?"

Now I know the answer.


      Sometimes the truth hurts.
53 posted on 03/09/2003 11:01:39 PM PST by Celtman
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To: LiberationIT
The hobby is already heavily regulated.

Thank you for the information, I was not aware that significant security measures were already in place. I was about to agree that the new measures were justified, but now I see that they are not. Instead, I think I shall go out and buy some hobby rockets! :^)

54 posted on 03/09/2003 11:08:01 PM PST by Aracelis (Oh, evolve!)
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To: 7 x 77
Since you stated you don't know anything about the hobby, let me help you. (This is not a flame)

Several years ago, I had the priviledge of attending an LDRS launch at the Boneville Salt Flats in Utah. (LDRS is a very large annual launch where high power enthusiasts congregate and launch literally thousands of rockets over the period of three days)

While I was there, I got to hear a man named Frank Kosdon speak. Frank Kosdon is the founder of the Kosdon East, the manufacturer of the Kosdon TRM (Truly Reloadable Motor) system. He has a degree in chemistry, and developed various propellants used in high power rocketry.

Mr. Kosdon had much to say about BATF regulations back then. (This was back in the late 90s). Mainly his argument was against the BATF's classification of high power rocket propellant as an "explosive".

High power rocket motors use a composite propellant. If you were to hold it in your hand, it would feel and bend like a chunk of rubber. It is mixed with ammonium perchlorate, which is the oxidizer to cause the propellant to burn. (Ammonium perchlorate is also the stuff used in the Space Shuttle boosters)

Basically, to be an explosive, the material has to be capable of detonation. Detonation being "An explosion or sudden report made by the instantaneous decomposition or combustion of unstable substances' as, the detonation of gun cotton.", according to Dictionary.com.

Despite many attempts, NOBODY HAS BEEN ABLE TO CAUSE A ROCKET MOTOR TO DETONATE. The propellant used in high power rocket motors is not a material capable of an instantaneous decomposition or conbustion. Most high power rocket motors take several seconds to completely combust, a far cry from instantaneous.

And so in conclusion, it is simply not possible to make a bomb using high power rocket propellants.

In terms of using a high power rocket as a delivery system, this can only hurt the legitimate user. If a terrorist organization is capable of making explosives, they can certainly also make or obtain rocket propellant through the same channels they used to get the true explosives. Aside from that, these rockets travel so fast that one would have to get incredibly lucky to hit an aircraft without highly sophistocated onboard electronic guidance and targeting systems.

Bottom line is that high power propellants are incapable of detonation, and therefore fail to meet the definition of an explosive. A terrorist would be better suited to simply walk into a gun store and buy a whole lot of reloading powder. After all, that's where high power rocket enthusiasts go to get their supply of black powder (FFFFG) used to deploy the rocket's main recovery system.
55 posted on 03/09/2003 11:53:24 PM PST by VRWC_Member428
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To: VRWC_Member428
CORRECTION!

The paragraph:
High power rocket motors use a composite propellant. If you were to hold it in your hand, it would feel and bend like a chunk of rubber. It is mixed with ammonium perchlorate...

Is more accurately stated thus:

High power rocket motors use a composite propellant which contains ammonium perchlorate as the oxidizer. It feels like rubber, la de da de da.

No mixing of chemicals takes place on the part of the hobbyist. It's all done at the factory.


56 posted on 03/09/2003 11:59:00 PM PST by VRWC_Member428
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To: Pharmboy
Why would you investigate a hobbyist? A hobbyist is a hobbyist. What else is there to know about that? What I am more worried about is those so called peace loving and peace pretending people out there with a militant to false currency if no violent agenda, who can turn nasty on a dime and acquire such hobbies as killing people. These are the people that need investigating. Why would a terrorist show himself/herself off as a hobbyist. This is stupid.

Know thyself yes, but prioritize your targets.
57 posted on 03/10/2003 10:39:44 AM PST by lavaroise
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To: Copernicus
"When I was young a standard philosophical discussion topic was "Why didn't the people of Germany in the thirties do something to control their government?"

Now I know the answer."

Perfect summation.
Thread can end now!

58 posted on 03/10/2003 10:44:55 AM PST by Redbob
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To: Pharmboy
They do appear to be getting a mite large. I guess when they get to the size of a scud maybe we should limit the size also.

snooker

59 posted on 03/10/2003 10:52:18 AM PST by snooker
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To: snooker
WHY?????

Why limit the size? What on earth would that accomplish????

What is the danger? What will you prevent by limiting size?

How about just leaving people who are harming no one the heck alone?

Give me ONE good reason to limit the size, as well as WHAT size YOU think is too big. And WHY.

I didn't think so.

Nik
60 posted on 03/10/2003 6:26:02 PM PST by Nik Naym
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