There has been a lot of talk in the press about the use of taggants in black and smokeless powders used by sportsman for reloading their ammunition, and in the manufacture of new ammunition. First let's start by explaining what taggants are. Taggants are microscopic (and sometimes magnetic)particles that are mixed with explosives, and left behind after the explosion takes place. Although invisible to the naked eye, under magnification taggants are actually color coded pieces of plastic that are meant to identify a particular batch of explosive powder. Commercial and home made explosives account for the majority (97%) of bombings in this country. Commercial explosives already contain taggants. The issue here is the 3% of bombs that use black and smokeless powders. The type of powder used by all firearms owners.Now to answer the second question,"will the addition of taggants reduce the number of bombings being performed in this country, and will their use help us catch future bombers?" The answer is a resounding "NO" to both questions. That’s right, "NO". Taggants have proved that they work in some rare cases in the past. The only reason they worked was because the persons using the explosive powders did not know they contained the taggants. By placing taggants in explosives without the public’s knowledge, the criminal was unaware of their presence and unwittingly led law enforcement right to his door after completion of his criminal act. Putting taggants in future explosives will eliminate the element of surprise, and future criminals would be well aware that black and smokeless powders are not the best choice for their criminal enterprises. Of course only someone completely naïve would think that this would stop bombings. A terrorist is a professional criminal and is not going to retire because we put taggants in explosives.Terrorists will merely turn to importing their explosives, stealing them from domestic sources like the US Military, or simply using homemade explosives from readily available materials.
If taggants were to be included in all future mixtures of explosive powders it would be no guarantee that a criminals bomb making would be curtailed. Since only explosive powders legally purchased would be traceable. Considering that most criminal activity is undertaken without regard to any laws, it is clear that a criminal is not going to legally purchase explosive powder for a criminal act.
Many people in favor of taggants like to use Switzerland as an example of a country that has proven taggants a success. What they fail to tell you is that Switzerland does not require taggants in explosives used in the manufacture or reloading of ammunition. Of course they also like to forget about Switzerland when it comes to the gun control debate, because its citizens are allowed and encouraged to own true assault weapons, and have one of the lowest crime rates involving guns. But that is a separate argument, and we will not take that up here. I recently received statistics from an individual in favor of taggants at the "Ethical Spectacle",. He sent the following excerpt from a Mary Beth Aberlin.The following excerpt is as follows:
"Mary Beth Aberlin, "Trace Elements: Taggants can help finger terrorists and counterfeiters," in the November/December 1996 issue of The Sciences, published by the New York Academy of Sciences,contains the following: "Between 1984 and 1994, tagged explosive materials were involved in 63 of 254 bomb attacks in Switzerland. Forty-four percent of those cases were solved, compared with only 16 percent of the attacks involving untagged materials."
p. 9. Source: Scientific Research Service, Zurich.
I would like to debunk these alleged statistics by first stating the most crucial point. They do not contain the number of bombings in Switzerland before taggants were employed. They state that 254 bomb attacks took place in a 10 year period. That's interesting, but it doesn't tell us if bombings decreased or increased when Switzerland implemented taggants. Just the fact that it is not mentioned makes it clear that there was no dramatic change in the number of bombings once taggants were implemented.
Next I will break down the number of bombings and how many criminals have been really caught by the use of taggants. For arguments sake I will accept the statistics sent me, even though it is obvious they are slanted to help achieve the anti-gunners point. The first thing I am going do is actually separate the number of bombs that had taggants as opposed to those that didn't. The breakdown of 254 bombings over a 10 year period is as follows;
191 bombs contained NO TAGGANTS
versus
63 bombs that contained TAGGANTSThe first thing we see is that Swiss criminals are not obeying the law, and are using bombs that do not contain taggants. How could that be you ask? Shouldn't all the Swiss bombs contain taggants if they are required by law? How are they getting explosives that do not contain taggants? Take a wild guess....they are criminals! Upon closer examintion we see is that explosives using taggants were involved in less than 25% of the bombings. Basically pointing out that criminals are on the whole getting around explosives with taggants. Now upon further examination we see that out of the 63 bombings using taggants that only 44% of those were solved, or 27.72 cases over a ten year period. Converted to real cases solved on an annual basis that comes to less than 3 cases a year. Well it is obvious to me that the Swiss are not filling up their jails with bombers caught using taggants. I could walk the streets of New York City and arrest more felons in a 30 minute period. It is obvious from the very data that the anti-gunners throw around that taggants are not a very effective law enforcement tool.
So the question has to be asked, why the big push for taggants. The reason is simple- attacking gun owners. The press, in their zeal to go after law-abiding gun owners has made taggants their pet issue The present administration and news media have it out for law abiding gun owners. The very people who created this nation and free speech are readily attacked by people unable or unwilling to go after the real problem- criminals. The media fails to tell people that the eventual goal is to put taggants in every single piece of ammunition produced in this country. Because unless taggants are included in all ammunition, terrorists could obtain black and smokeless powder from the ammunition. So what does that mean to the gun owner? It means the banning of all imported ammunition because it would not contain taggants. Paying higher prices for domestic ammunition due to increased manufacturing costs from adding taggants. The chance of criminal prosecution if the paperwork for the taggants in your ammunition mistakenly matches that of a bomber anywhere in the country.Now you have to understand that the taggants placed in ammunition would have to have millions of codes. Since every box of ammunition sold in this country virtually goes to a different person, and if the same taggant was used for too many boxes of ammunition, it would make the taggant useless. Since if it led back to too many people, the F.B.I. would have a suspect list of thousands.Considering they can’t find enough evidence to convict one alleged bomber during Atlanta’s Summer 96’ Olympics, what makes anyone think they would be able to get a conviction from a suspect list of thousands. Every time a bomb would go off containing taggants that matched those in the ammunition sold to a law abiding American citizen, he would get the Richard Jewell treatment- guilty until proven otherwise. Forget the United States Constitution, just get your lawyer and be prepared to defend yourself for something you didn’t do.
One fact not discussed by the media and the anti-gunners is the constitutionality of using taggants. Any restriction or infringement of ammunition is a violation of the 2nd Amendment,The Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Despite what some people might think "The Right to Keep and Bear Arms" includes ammunition as well. Since one of the primary reasons our Founding Fathers started to revolt was because Britain started limiting their black powder.
If the media and certain politicians are so concerned for the general public, then why don’t they lobby for an effective Federal Death Penalty law instead of attacking gun owners. More people are killed by paroled murderers every year than by bombs. Paroled murderers are a threat to society that are readily identifiable and best off all, innocent citizens won’t get harassed while attacking a real crime issue.
In closing, I would like to summarize my main argument against taggants. Taggants are merely a cheap attempt at gun control through the back door. The anti-gunners have realized that it is difficult to work up front trying to ban guns, but if they eliminate ammunition through restrictions, registrations and supply then firearms would become obsolete. Limitations on blackpowder supplies was a contributing factor for this countries Revolutionary War. Besides the Constitutional violation taggants pose, their is no statistical data justifying the need for taggants. The terrorism hysteria created by the media is not based on fact, but just another example of yellow journalism, and a chance to capitalize on peoples fears.
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Page Created By: Lt. Paul Rogers, Ret.
Last Update: April 01, 1997