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Comment by vorticalbox | Hacker News Reader

>They saw no evidence of a crime and had no authority to enter his home or fenced property

Is making a bomb a crime in the US?

It feels like it would be so any report stating someone is creating one should probably give powers to investigate?

So if I call up the cops and claim you are doing something illegal, without evidence, they should break into your place and look?

There's a lot of risk for abuse there.

Yes, there is.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatting

That’s an example of what reality is. Not evidence that it should be reality.

That’s how our system works today, how it has worked for a long time, and how it should continue to work. The Fourth Amendment calls for “probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation”. If someone says they personally witnessed another person building a bomb in their car, that is more than enough grounds for a search warrant.

This isn't some random call to the police, this is from a person who was in the house, who witnessed the bomb being made and then reported this to the police.

The list of things that the ATF considers to be "explosives" excludes a lot of things that are capable of going boom. Playing with explosives that you can legally make at home isn't an unheard of past time (even chemistry kits for kids used to include some crazy shit 30+ years ago. They don't any more, but I think that's more due to lawsuit aversion than legality)

If he was just mixing tannerite in a relatively safe context he wouldn't have been breaking any laws.

Making a bomb inside a police station is illegal, if it's in your backyard and there's no evidence of a crime, then it's totes okay.

Could violate some zoning / land use law

Um, hello, 911? I believe my neighbor vorticalbox is making a bomb. Better go have a look inside his house. I also heard he is hoarding illegal weapons and ammunition, so you should be prepared for a fight.

I 'believe' is different from 'I have seen vorticalbox making a bomb in his car'

Search warrants have been issued, and indeed mass murder by the ATF, has been conducted on about that much before. Most people have no idea how appallingly low the barrier to obtaining a search warrant is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege

Specifically: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege#The_Aguilera_affida...

What are you talking about? Are you reporting a crime?

Have you really thought this through?

Clearly not.

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