We already know the explosive potential of ammonium nitrate. It was witnessed during the deadly fertilizer storage facility explosion in West, Texas last year.
So potentially destructive is ammonium nitrate that Attorney General Abbott issued a ruling that the location of ammonium nitrate fertilizer can be withheld from public disclosure. Abbott cited a state law containing provisions that define ammonium nitrate as "an explosive weapon" that should be protected from falling into the wrong hands.
What Abbott may have failed to take into account are the hundreds of facilities all over North Texas where ammonium nitrate is actually marketed as an explosive. It's called Tannerite, and it can be purchased over the counter in most every retail outlet where ammunition is sold.
Tannerite exploding rifle targets are totally legitimate, and in their packaged form are perfectly legal and safe.
To demonstrate its explosive properties, we took the product to weapons instructor Travis Bond, who showed us how Tannerite is properly mixed.
"You empty the base component into the mixing jar, which is completely stable without the catalyst," Bond explained.
But Tannerite becomes explosive when you mix it with the catalyst powder that is provided along with the ammonium nitrate pellets, usually sold in half-pound containers.
The target must be detonated with a rifle shot from a safe distance. What results is what the manufacturer calls a "water vapor plume" and a "sonic boom."
A one-pound container makes a bigger explosion.
But Bond refused to detonate the two-pound container we had purchased, which begs the question: If there are limits to the safety of the product, should there be limits to how much you can buy?
We put that to the test at a local sporting goods store, where we filled a shopping cart with an estimated 50 pounds of Tannerite and strolled up to the checkout counter. The store clerk was eager to sell us every one of the more than 10 packages we stacked up on the merchandise table.
Bill Spruce, former deputy director of the FBI's Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center confirmed that Tannerite can be dangerous.
"I'm familiar with how high explosives react, and this is similar to high explosives I've seen in the past," Spruce said.
As to our ability to buy as much of the explosive product as we wanted?
"I think I would be asking a few more questions if someone was attempting to buy 50 pounds of Tannerite," Spruce said.
In fact, last year, Spruce's former division at the FBI issued an Intelligence Bulletin warning about Tannerite's "potential use as an explosive."
Perhaps FBI agents went on YouTube and saw what 50 pounds of Tannerite would do to a car. The visuals are akin to most any explosion of a car bomb seen on television or the Internet.
Which brings us back to Attorney General Abbott's ruling prohibiting the state's disclosure of locations where ammonium nitrate is being stored and sold. Tom Smith of Public Citizen of Texas calls Abbott's ruling, not only "silly," but he told News 8 "it violates the federal law guaranteeing the public's right to know where hazardous chemicals are stored."
Smith also said it makes no sense to let an explosive product be totally unregulated.
"Tannerite is something you can buy at any sporting goods store, or dozens of other places, and buy off the counter, and go up and blow up whatever you want," Smith said. "You can blow up a car, a barn, whatever — as long as you don't hurt anybody, nobody's going to really care."
The manufacturer of Tannerite calls his product completely safe when used as directed.
The Chairman of the Texas House Homeland Security Committee says he's aware of the dangers involved with the potential abuse of exploding targets but he's not inclined to call for any regulations. The Texas Attorney General's office says if requested, it will issue a ruling on exploding targeted that is in keeping with current state laws.
