So the Police Came to My House Today...

[Rbick]

Yeah, so I had this dream that the police came to my house today. I live in the country, a pretty secluded area, and my neighbor happened to be on walk when I detonated a 150g charge of ANNM underwater. Well it was suppose to be underwater, but the bag it was in formed a bubble, causing it to float. I've detonated much larger charges and never had any problems. However, my neighbor is a very bitter 70 year old woman, and she hates me. So she called the police.

When they showed up, I explained that I had been making fireworks, which is true, more or less, and showed my license (for fireworks). They didn't look too convinced, but I hope they arn't coming back. It helps knowing all the police here on a first name basis, considering this is where I grew up, but I don't know if that will help when the feds decide to take a look.

But how and where do you guys dream about detonating your charges? It is almost impossible these days for a hobbist of energetic materials to go any where with everyone so damn paranoid about terrorists. And what is the best thing to say when they come knocking next time? I'm pissed, 'cause now I need a new blasting site. Why can't people who honestly don't want to harm anyone get licenses for this type of thing without spending hundreds of dollars, getting put on a government watch list, and dealing with loads of paperwork? :D

By the way, I happened to have a camera in my dream, I'll put that up later...

[inthekitchen]

See some of the threads on poison making, and make your neighbor something delicious.

Kidding of course, nobody has a right to murder somebody, except of course the cops.


I have a friend who used to live in Michigan and would blow up all sorts of stuff like bowling balls etc. He'd simply head out into an area of reasonably secluded wilderness to have his fun.

Also, you should know your rights regarding the cops, suspicious accusations from a neighbor are not probable cause to search your home or property:

http://mattelrod.org/video/fyr/qt/without_warrant.mov

The ACLU puts out a bunch of videos like these for car, person etc on how to exercise your constitutional rights when dealing with cops.

EDIT: I found the complete video on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqMjMPlXzdA

[Rbick]

Thanks inthekitchen, I'll make sure to get brushed up on the rules. Although I don't think I'll have any more problems, it is nice to know this information.

[atlas#11]

I'm gonna go with the previously suggested poison method, fuck that old bitch.

I would seriously recommend not annoying the old hag, don't go doing anything around there, or wait till the hemlock kicks in before you go nuts. You don't want to draw attention to yourself. I've had the police called on me on numerous occasions, though I have never had to explain anything due to my absence at the crime scene. I'd recomend you find a nice little drainage ditch some distance from your house for experimenting.

I have been fortunate enough to live in a densely forested area where it is easy to hide from anything but overhead thermal vision, even then the shear expanse of the area makes it near impossible to follow anyone without hounds. I've never done anything bad enough to merit such a pursuit and have so far maintained a complete lack of police records. I'd much rather spend my time learning to avoid the police rather than learning how to talk to them.

What kind of license do you have? And don't sweat it, the pigs hate paperwork more than you do, chances are you won't hear anything else about it. Just don't give them a reason to come back, choose a better site, kill any witnesses and you're home free.

[tmp]

Rbick, sorry to hear about your experience. Your license probably saved your
ass. For all the cops know, you had an 'experimental firework' react in a way
you didn't expect. I don't think the hag is worrying about terrorism. Sounds
like she's just a spiteful old bitch out to bust your balls any way she can.
If she's called the cops on you before they may just dismiss the whole
situation as being 'bad blood' between the 2 of you. I had experience with
similar idiots growing up. Some people are so bitter that they have no sense
of humor at all.

I go into the woods far enough away from people to conduct my 'tests'.
I must admit though that the rednecks where I live now wouldn't give a shit
if I do it around holidays. Fireworks-wise it's noisy as hell around here on the
holidays despite everybody's shit being illegal ! :D

Overall, for now, I'd say just let it blow over then find another 'test' area.

[Zer4tul]

Care to explain the type of license you have and what you had to do to qualify?:rolleyes:

[Enkidu]

http://seminar.crackerjacks.org/getting-legal.ppt

(If you don't have PowerPoint, use Google to get to an html version.)

It's not unreasonable to believe he has a license of some kind. Might your tone be a little sarcastic?

[Shalashaska]

It's probably either a BATF license or some type of local license granted by police. If you're under 18, I probably wouldn't even worry about it until you are.

If you are 21 or older you may wish to check into a BATF license, but it costs money and probably still won't save your ass if you're busted with anything besides the basic visual pyrotechnics stuff; stars, mortars, various color-donor compounds, that kind of thing.
Although, it will save your ass if you have enough time to hide all your "goodies" and let them find all your legal stuff.

Edit: Was verifying age restriction before Enkidu's post :)
Re-edit: As strange as it seems, that link is where I verified age... also some useful information on licenses in there :)