DYI - A Word of Warning

[starman]

You apparently confided in Spudblaster but his explanation set no one's mind at ease....seemed to confuse your situation if anything...we were berated for even bringing you up in conversation.

I was one of a few people who were aware of his situation. The explanation I eluded to was indeed confusing and lacking in details, but DYI had trusted me with the information, and I wasn't about to publicly release it.

Understand. I wasn't indicting you as much as I was DYI for just dropping off the face of the earth. While this experience I'm sure felt traumatic, it's not the worst thing in the world that could happen to someone. There will be a slap on the wrist, possibly a fine, maybe a handful of weekends of community service and the experience will soon be a faded memory. In some ways, I'm sure it already is.

DYI, I assume you have an attorney that will capably enter the facts of the case at your hearing. If the situation that was blown out of proportion at the time is shown to be as inconsequential as you say it is, you shouldn't have much to worry about.

[D_Hall]

Yeah, if you are working for a company that blows stuff up.
If I would call em "Hey, can I make HE?"
I'd probably receive a big NO, followed by search warrant.

My dealings with the ATF have been 100% "on the side". At the office, the ATF has no jurisdiction. I have no need to ask their opinion on anything. The times I've dealt with them I have been calling from my own home as nothing more than a private citizen who dabbles in "interesting hobbies."

The most likely response to the question, "Hey, can I make HE?" is something along the lines of....

"Yes, but you must follow certain conditions. We put out a document we refer to as 'The Orange Book' that outlines all the federal regulations you'll need to follow. It's free of charge. If you'll give me your mailing address I'll have a copy shipped to you.... Oh, and don't forget to check your local laws. The Orange Book only covers federal regulations and state/county/city ordinances vary. Have a nice day!"

Yes, there really is an Orange Book.

Yes, it really is free of charge. They WANT you to have it!

Yes, I have a copy (albeit mine is probably out of date by now).

No, I've never gotten so much as a follow up phone call from them after receiving my Orange Book, etc. This is particularly interesting since I am also a type 03 FFL which means that they can search my home without a warrant at any time they like. And yet.... They've shown zero interest in doing so.

I'll say it again: A little bit of coordination on the front end can save a lot of headaches on the back end.

[Hubb]

It all comes down to DYI knowing better. Whether his parents approved or not is irrelevant. He knew the consequences of his actions before he decided to embark. He got caught, now he must face those same consequences. Will he be a man and face them with dignity? I'm sure he will. He seems mature enough to be able to do this.

What tickles me is this crap:

Wow DYI, that is a hell of a sh*t storm. I am completely on board with you about cops, I spent my college freshmen year battling on and off with them over stupid stuff (Not spudgun related, but misdemeanors and felonies none the less), so I am acquainted with their wonderful bone headiness.

And this crap:

Wow Mad Just more proof of how un-just the justice system is. I am only 14 and I have seen this happen way too many times. Cops and the media always like to throw things out of proportion.

Surly, by now, everyone knows what I get to do for a living. For those of you who don't, well take a guess.

Killjoy - You spent college battling cops over stupid stuff, yet you call a cop a "bone head?" Funny. I'm also going to assume that you were just a perfect little angel that got singled out by the cops for reasons that are beyond you.

deathbyDWV - What the hell do you know about the justice system? You're a kid. A 14 year old shouldn't know about this unless they've "met the system". Get off the bandwagon and be your own person.

As far as the media goes, they're are responsible for stretching the truth. That's their job. If the story ain't interesting, they won't print it. And what better way to make it more interesting than to exaggerate. Hell, the media plays a part in people "hating a cop". But do they care? No. They just want the story and their name under the title.

I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of trolling based off of this response and that's okay. I'm prepared for that. Note, however, that while I do feel that DYI messed up, it's not nearly as bad as what the media says it is and I do feel that he is more than capable of handling the situation as an adult.

Good luck to you, DYI.

[POLAND_SPUD]

spudguns are illegal in most countries... so it's not that you need to deal with explosives to get into some serious troubles

here in Poland one you can own an airgun with a muzzle energy lower than 16J but you can't build one yourself


so what if someone informed the police what I am doing?? all I can do is to show them my legal commercial airgun and hope that they confiscate it to chrony and check whether it's within 16j of ME or not

if they won't buy it I'll most likely spend some time in prison


so don't complain!!

[Ragnarok]

From talking to him for a couple years, I've come to know that "bragging rights on a spud gun forum" mean little to him. His interests are in the pursuit of knowledge

While some members may have "bragging rights" as a primary motivation, the older and/or more experienced members are likely doing it more out of interest in finding out if they can actually manage said result, as a personal challenge.

Yes, they may define their goals by what other people on the forum have managed, and thus may consequently get bragging rights, but working from what's already known as possible is the logical way to set goals with at least some feasibility.

Of course, you can get eejits that decide to throw any kind of convention out of the window to work on a spudgun that's capable of 400 metre target shooting - but some people are just weird.

[jeepkahn]

Surely, by now, everyone knows what I get to do for a living. For those of you who don't, well take a guess.

.

OMG, You're a Pig that's fishing the sight for incriminating evidence against all of us... i can see the headlines now, "A U.N. Task Force has just launched an international sting operation and made 3000+ arrests in 35 countries on charges of WPD(weapons of produce destruction), the offenders are guilty of waging jihad against potatoes, golfballs, car doors, old appliances, and hundreds of counts of destruction of 3/4" plywood!!! All of the arrests were made possible by an undercover "spudder" who gained the trust of this terrorist organization by publishing guidebooks on how to improve barrels, and modding a sprinkler valve..."

Meanwhile, the international vegetable rights council is calling for the immediate trials and executions of all the offenders of violent acts against "unarmed, peaceloving, and harmless potatoes".... Most alarming was the extremely graphic videos of watermelons meeting their fate at the the hands of these heinous international criminals...

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program....

Oh, the humanity...LOL

[jrrdw]

Surely, by now, everyone knows what I get to do for a living. For those of you who don't, well take a guess.

.

OMG, You're a Pig that's fishing the sight for incriminating evidence against all of us... i can see the headlines now, "A U.N. Task Force has just launched an international sting operation and made 3000+ arrests in 35 countries on charges of WPD(weapons of produce destruction), the offenders are guilty of waging jihad against potatoes, golfballs, car doors, old appliances, and hundreds of counts of destruction of 3/4" plywood!!! All of the arrests were made possible by an undercover "spudder" who gained the trust of this terrorist organization by publishing guidebooks on how to improve barrels, and modding a sprinkler valve..."

Meanwhile, the international vegetable rights council is calling for the immediate trials and executions of all the offenders of violent acts against "unarmed, peaceloving, and harmless potatoes".... Most alarming was the extremely graphic videos of watermelons meeting their fate at the the hands of these heinous international criminals...

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program....
Oh, the humanity...LOL

BAHAHAHAHAHA! thats funny!!!

P.S. I tried to sig that passage but it's to long!

[ramses]

a type 3 ffl allows unwarranted search? and yeah, the image makes me rofl

About the 7g being lethal, you must also consider that it was in .6g charges (Or evil blasting caps used to blow up the pounds of high explosive sugar and destroy the town)

@D_Hall- you just gave me another reason to go to NMT.

Too bad jrrdw beat me to attempting to sig that rant.

[D_Hall]

About the 7g being lethal, you must also consider that it was in .6g charges

Depends on how they're packaged. It could very well be that 0.6g is all that could go off at once. It could very well be that all 12 of them go off at once (at 0.6g, with 7g total, I figure DYI had an even dozen of them). Which it is will depend on packaging.

[Killjoy]

ahahaha Jeepkahn that was great!

DYI's situation is beyond unfortunate, but what's done is done and he will come through it alright I'm sure and life will go on. We can argue the specifics, but it was no bodies fault really, just an unfortunate sequence of events. Granted they could have been prevented, but people learn from their mistakes, and I'm sure DYI will learn from his.

Keep us updated DYI, hope you're well.

[DYI]

I've been busy with schoolwork for a while, and just noticed that this thread has been reopened.

There's a lot I could respond to here, but Hubb, ironically enough, said it best:

"It all comes down to DYI knowing better. Whether his parents approved or not is irrelevant. He knew the consequences of his actions before he decided to embark. He got caught, now he must face those same consequences. Will he be a man and face them with dignity? I'm sure he will. He seems mature enough to be able to do this. "

What this boils down to is a lesson in life. I screwed up, things escalated further than I would have predicted, and now I'm here. Life goes on. Looking back, it was more worth it than I could ever have known. Had I not done it, none of this would have happened. I would be missing an excellent learning experience in science, followed by an even better learning experience in life in general. In short, while it has been harrowing at points, I'm better off with it than I am without it.

The idea that my parents are at fault somehow is ridiculous. Approaching adulthood, I was given the freedom to make some of my own choices along with the responsibility to deal with what their consequences may be. I took an action, and now I am dealing with its results.

I greatly respect D_Hall and his achievements, but I must make it clear that I completely disagree with his opinions on this matter. I'll leave it at that, because I do not intend this thread to become a debate. Any explosives present were in furtherance of my goals in the ETCG project, directly or indirectly. They were used sparingly and with extreme caution. The end.

This thread is not here to debate the validity of my actions. Obviously I made mistakes somewhere along the road, or this would not have happened in the first place. This thread exists to warn the community of something which is a serious risk to about half of its members.

Finally, good job jeepkahn. Couldn't have put it better myself

[velocity3x]

What this boils down to is a lesson in life. I screwed up, things escalated further than I would have predicted, and now I'm here.

I took an action, and now I am dealing with its results.

That attitude wins enormous respect from me. Continue to maintain that attitude and you'll be OK.

[PCGUY]

This thread is not here to debate the validity of my actions.

Very true. Thank you DYI for your story. It's obviously been a lesson for you, and hopefully serves as a lesson for others.

I am going to go ahead and relock this to avoid a debate breakout (which always happens!). If anyone has questions for DYI please send them through PM's.