Take Down My Small City (but don't worry)

From: Graham
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2004 3:22 PM
To: Joe Huffman
Subject: guess

Hey im 15, texas. Im not going to make any bombs but knowing how to take down my small city isn't bad. When u take apart a shotgun shell. could u fix it to explode on impact of whatever target. Dont worry i wont go blow my self and gun up really. but just wondering.

I just 'love' it when people tell me "don't worry".  I put extra work into my efforts when someone tells me that.  This guy not only does that but he writes about taking down "my small city". 

From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2004 4:03 PM
To: Graham
Subject: Re: guess

1) You say you are 15 yet your Yahoo profile (http://profiles.yahoo.com/ [snip]) says you are 17 as of 02/24/2004.

'Wrong answer' but you are still 'in the game' for now.

2) The number of instances where a small city is taken down and it's not bad are practically nonexistent. And Austin (according to your profile) is not small. I'll give you a provisional 'pass' on that blunder because you didn't say you wanted to 'take down' the city, only know how to do it.

3) Because the primer in a shotgun shell is impact sensitive I'm sure it could be made to detonate some higher order explosive on impact.

Relatively benign question. You either didn't want to know HOW to do this or were too stupid to ask the right question. 'Pass'.

4) The way you found my website was via a google search for "building a pipe bomb". In addition to looking at the first page you found, "BombHelp", you looked at "BombHelp2002" and "chemistry" as well. The web page viewing by itself would warrant watching you closer and would give you a provisional 'pass'. But your google search text was a really, really 'wrong answer'. Your provisional 'pass' results are now 'wrong' and you fail the test.

Would you like to turn yourself in to your parents? Or should I just send the ATF SWAT team to your house at 3:00 AM some morning? I'm sure your ISP (Road Runner) knows where you live.

-joe-
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http://www.boomershoot.org

 As usual, I sent the email exchange to my Bomb Help Fan Club.  I got the following responses:

From: Lyle Keeney
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2004 6:05 PM
To: Joe Huffman
Subject: RE: guess

Yikes. Kids do bear watching, don't they?

"Hey im 15, texas."
I wonder why he thought your name was "texas".

Lyle Keeney
UltiMAK
http://www.ultimak.com

From: Stephanie
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2004 6:07 PM
To: Joe Huffman
Subject: RE: guess

LOL - I am always entertained by these.

I like your response...

From: Barbara
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2004 7:35 PM
To: Joe Huffman
Subject: RE: guess

LOL. SWAT Team at 3:00 AM.

What is even better is the response I got back from the kid.

From: Graham
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 10:26 AM
To: Joe Huffman
Subject: Re: guess

man u sure did shoot that down. Ok dumb question

From: Graham
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 10:38 AM
To: Joe Huffman
Subject: Re: guess

You scare me with how you do that. Im sorry for my dumb question. please dont look up my adress or anything. I wont bother again. ps. ur a pretty smart fellow.

I'm not particularly charitable with people wanting to build pipe bombs these days.  Especially someone stupid enough to write me about "taking down a small city".

From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 11:01 AM
To: Graham
Subject: RE: guess

I've got it narrowed down to two:

[snip],
Austin, TX 78741-2603
(512) 444-[snip]

[snip]
Austin, TX 78702-2610
(512) 469-[snip]

Have your mom call me in the next 24 hours and I won't send the information to the ATFE (http://www.atf.gov) and the local police.

208-301-4254

-joe-
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http://www.boomershoot.org

From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 11:12 AM
To: Graham
Subject: RE: guess

Also of potential interest to you is this:

http://www.boomershoot.org/general/BombHelp.htm#City

-joe-
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http://www.boomershoot.org