Soon to be outlawed in the U.S.
When chemistry is outlawed, only outlaws will do chemistry: In an attempt to curb the production of crystal meth, more than 30 states have now outlawed or require registration for common lab equipment. In Texas, you need to register the purchase of Erlenmeyer flasks or three-necked beakers. The same state where I do not have to register a handgun, forces me to register a glass beaker. When a current company tried re releasing a kit based on the one marketed by Mr. Wizard himself back in the 1950s, they found that they could only include five of the original chemicals in the set. The rest of the items were replaced with inane things like super balls and balloons. Even a non neutered modern chemistry set like the C3000 from Thames and Kosmos is forced to ship without many key chemicals, suggesting to their customers that they acquire the missing ingredients elsewhere.
This is what it is coming down to: you need to break the law to do science. We’re criminalizing nerds.
At least making science dangerous and illicit and illegal ought to make us romantic outlaws look cool.
Well, you have to make it easier to buy a gun, how else would you be able to stop a beaker wielding nerd? I knew that precipitating a solution could be a dangerous operation.
Why not just outlaw thinking?
When I used to work at a major university here in NC, I had frequent contact with the chemistry department. One of the things that’s most commonly stolen from the chemistry department is lab equipment, and it’s for this very reason – drugs. Scales, flasks, etc… they’re stolen like crazy.
This shouldn’t be a surprise. Since 9-11-01, the BATF has been trying to outlaw the hobby of model rocketry. They are doing it by trying to restrict the sale and transport of the solid model rocket engines.
“Might be used by a terrorist – think of the children!!”
I think that a large part of this is the pussification of Americans. some of the Chemicals in the Mister Wizard Chemistry Set could be highly reactive. I had a spot over my stove to prove it. I never did get a Bunsen burner
You might as well make everyone with an IQ greater than 120 a munition and lock them up. Just to be safe.
No surprise. Just another in a long list of knee jerk, bonehead laws being cranked out by clueless politicians.
And remember, a dumbed down populace always votes Republican.
-sheer stupidity..
-can’t wait to see what we’re left with after the next big attack
i think we should strip the all the amendments off the constitution from the last say, 30-40yrs and start over.
-before it too becomes outlawed..
-s
It’s a liberal thing. As you liberals attack the 2nd amendment you give the elected morons the right to restrict anything and everything that may in one way or another harm somebody. It sounds to me like some here think chemistry is ok if your IQ is above 150. Don’t worry your government will tell you what to eat, smoke and what kind of explosives devices it’s ok to trust you morons with.
Why didn’t they outlaw chicken shit after the oklahoma bombing?
Would this have made Don Herbert (Mr. Wizard) a terrorist?
#3, how would you know the thief’s motive unless you found the goods later? If I hadn’t respected my university chem lab and been an up-and-standing student, I might have found a scale useful for postage and a flask could be an interesting mantle piece or unique cookware emblematic of my nerdiness.
And to follow up on the parent, we need quality chemistry sets so kids can learn chemistry – even if that means you must sign for them, which would make it harder to obtain terrorist quantities of the various chemicals. Agreed, we shouldn’t have to register a flask any more than we should have to register typewriters.
If it’s science it must be bad. Give them a bible instead.
It amazes me as to how we have become a society so fixated on blame and not responsibility. If we can blame an inanimate object for sometihng, it will be done.
Colombine? video games and antidepressants. V-Tech? gun laws and guns. Oklahoma City? Fertilizer sales.
I remember the book Shibumi where the lead charachter learned how to kill anyone with common day objects. He killed someone on an airplane with a straw.
Holding people who sell items like beakers responsible for crystal meth. instead of the buyers and sellers is insane. Do we really want tax dollars to be wasted on beaker registration?
Right. As if meth addicts are going to switch to coffee because they can’t get flasks. It’s like #3 said. The government wastes it’s time going after model rocket motors. Meanwhil,e a terrorist might simply stand by a runway and pepper planes with gunfire rather than try to build a guided missile. Ponderous.
Chemistry is just a theory anyway …
#9
There’s a big difference between restricting weapons (i.e. devices designed to kill things very efficiently) and restricting substances that could be used for a zillion things, of which one is the creation of an illegal drug that only has the potential to kill somebody.
With your reasoning, because we don’t allow people to buy TNT or nukes off the shelf we are on a slippery slope to banning the use of fertilizer. I hope you see how utterly rediculous that is.
I don’t think we need to worry about Bob’s IQ. I think it is safely on the left side of the bell curve.
That was a great book.
Would restricting sales actually serve any purpose? I seem to remember though that some people making bombs were nabbed because we monitor the amount of fertilizer purchased.
#9 – It really doesn’t matter what is posted at the top of page, somehow its always the fault of those damn liberals and their attack on your precious guns.