Powder For Bombs Easy To Get, Officials Say

It is incredibly easy to get the explosives used in homemade bombs, according to both local and federal officials.

Black and smokeless powder, the most commonly used explosives in homemade bombs, are "very, very easy to get," according to Seattle police Sgt. Ken Crow, of the bomb squad.

"It is a totally unrestricted, over-the-counter sort of item," said Crow, and is available at many gun and sporting-goods shops.

". . . You don't even have to sign for it," Crow said. "You pay your money and go out the door."

The Thurston County sheriff's office said gunpowder was used in the bomb that exploded there Tuesday night, killing Aaron Cote, 16, and Wally Watson, 10, and injuring two other boys.

Jim Provencher, of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, said there is no age or any other kind of restriction on the sale of smokeless powder, and the sale of black powder is restricted only for purchases of 50 pounds or more at one time.

Smokeless powder most often is used for reloading ammunition shells for rifles, pistols and shotguns. Black powder most commonly is used for muzzle-loaded weapons and antique weapons as well for small cannons or rockets made as hobbies.

Black powder is more explosive than smokeless powder, but smokeless powder becomes a volatile explosive when enclosed in something like a pipe bomb, Provencher explained.

When contacted, employees of two gun shops said they did not sell black powder to anyone under 21.

Provencher says many times the explosives are available right in a young person's home where an adult might reload ammunition or be involved in antique guns.

The powder used in fireworks, called flash powder, also can be dangerous, especially when collected to make a large explosive, Provencher said. "You can kill yourself with flash powder, as well," he added.

Crow and Provencher stressed that black and smokeless powder are dangerous because they are so easily ignited. Getting powder in the threads of a pipe bomb while screwing on the cap can cause enough friction to detonate the device, Crow said.

"It's extremely dangerous. That's why you have the same thing at WSU and now in Olympia. You lose a hand or a life," Crow said.

On April 19, Harvey "Buddy" Waldron was killed and Payam Saadat was severely injured when a pipe bomb exploded in the cab of their pickup in Pullman. Both were Washington State University football players.

It is not unusual for a prank with explosives to turn deadly, said Crow. Often, it's just a harmless experiment that becomes tragic, he added.

Crow estimated that 90 percent of the homemade bombs his unit encounters are made with black powder.

ATF records show that, during 1991, nationwide the agency investigated 295 explosive devices that contained black powder and 294 with smokeless powder, Provencher said.

Of the pipe bombs investigated during 1992, 224 or 43 percent were made of smokeless powder, while 233 or 44 percent contained black powder, Provencher said.