Bomb tech

By Mike Keleher

The anti-gun agenda continues to make daily headlines, and if you would believe the news, the left is making great strides towards changing gun laws and demonizing AR-15 carbines in the wake of the recent school shooting in Florida and some other people committing crimes with firearms. All Americans want to protect school children and innocent victims from killers-but focusing on a type of weapon or blaming Trump or the NRA fails to put blame on the individual who decided to commit murder. (For those keeping score at home, Obama saw 8 school shootings in his tenure-got no blame, saw no marches, or pushed to change Constitutional Amendments or federal laws.)

The phony “potential for injury” being cited by the left and the media ascribed to the undefined but evil “assault rifles” just does not hold up in the light of other weapons chock full of potential harm like bombs which have recently been seen at various locations in the U.S. recently.

Going back to December 2017, you might remember Akayed Ullah strapping on a poorly constructed suicide bomb and setting his pubic region on fire in the Times Square Subway Station in NYC.

In March of 2018, a bomber in the Austin, TX area terrorized the city leaving pipe bombs on two porches, rigged a tripwire bomb along a roadway, FEDEXed two bombs which were intercepted in San Antonio, and had a list of other targets he was going to hit. Two people were killed and two injured by these devices and ultimately, the bomber fatally detonated a device in his vehicle when approached by police on March 21, 2018. No anti-bomb protests or restrictions on bomb making materials were noted in the national press. Why not? Oh, because bombers are crazy people trying to kill other people…and there are already laws against that sort of thing aren’t there? Just like there are 20,000-gun control laws across the land that include every state prohibiting anyone from killing another human with malice and a gun.

According to the anti-gun agenda we must need more of those kinds of laws that tell you to not kill people and take guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens to keep more of them not killing people they were not going to attack any way! Sorry no. If the first 20,000 laws weren’t stopping crazy people then shouldn’t we focus on stopping the crazy people?

Mark Conditt Vehicle

Mark Conditt’s final bomb scene: Photo Credit Youtube.


On March 21, 2018, Hafiz Kazi, a legal immigrant from India, described as having no ties to terrorism, drove his flaming minivan through the main gate of Travis Air Force Base in California. When Air Force security forces looked inside the vehicle they saw it was chock full of propane tanks and gasoline cans. Kazi died in the vehicle and no one else was harmed. Maybe we should pass some more laws about limiting the capacity of high propane tanks or the number of gas cans allowed in a minivan.

Kazi van

Photo Credit CBS News.

During the week of March 27, 2018, a series of suspicious packages arrived at a number of D.C. area government and military facilities and some tested positive for black powder. The packages were mailed from the state of Washington to ten government facilities including the White House, FBI Headquarters, Fort Belvoir, Fort McNair, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling and the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren VA. None of the packages exploded and no one was injured. The sender, 43-year-old Thanh Cong Phan was arrested in Everett, WA. The suspect apparently had a history in the D.C. area of sending rambling anti-government letters. Well that guy sounds like he has mental health problems…shouldn’t we organize a march or pass laws to prevent him from having issues?

On April 3rd, 2018 yet another driver tried to enter Peterson Air Force Base where NORAD is located in Colorado. The driver was stopped by eagle eyed gate security and denied entry when they saw propane tanks mounted on top of the vehicle, electronic equipment and wires visible inside the van and the driver demanded to talk to someone from NORAD. Well he was not allowed to bring his bomb van into the base and was firmly told to leave the area. (“Sorry Sir, Wally World is closed, the moose out front should have told you.”) The driver then drove to a nearby school parking lot and was spotted by a school counselor who notified the assistant principal. The vice principal told the driver to leave or the police would be called (you know…he could get in real trouble!) The driver sped off and was subsequently apprehended by sheriff’s deputies nearby. No charges were filed according to the Sheriff’s Office, and the driver was identified as having a “Mental Health Crisis.” Shouldn’t we at least get some kids on CNN to decry how they hate to ride in minivans and it violates their Constitutional Rights as well as their social lives when their friends see them riding in grocery getter minivans with potential bombs on the roof? Or maybe federally register and enforce strict background checks on male drivers who may be forced by circumstances to drive minivans on a day to day basis? They always seem so angry.

Mini Van

Photo Credit: Glenn Elston/Brett Byrnum KRDO

I don’t like bombs. The potential to disintegrate people into their original atoms has always been disconcerting to me. I mean if you get shot or stabbed, well there you are. If you get blown up, where exactly are you?

In my federal law enforcement career, I was trained about bombs and suspicious packages, responded to numerous real and fake bombs and unusual packages, saw many bombs safely detonated or rendered inert and had to get far too close taking pictures or handling potential bombs/packages.

I was even trained and certified by a certain large federal agency in “Bomb Recognition”. I was able with some degree of sophistication able to respond to a scene, look and point a very official finger and state “Yep. That looks like a bomb. I am outta here…and you should go too!”

I have never been a bomb technician or ordinance person-those people actually enjoy and generally survive messing with bombs. I respect them immensely, but in the field, I stay far away from both them and bombs with equal vigor.

Next to the atoms scattering thing, the other reason I don’t like bombs, is in my considered opinion, most people who are injured by bombs were foolishly messing with them at the time of detonation. This includes innocent people as well as bomb makers (who have a very good chance of blowing themselves up and ejecting their genes from the larger picture gene pool at supersonic speed.)

If you see something that looks suspicious or like a bomb. Resist the urge. Just move away and keep others away. Summon professional help. I don’t care how many James Bond movies you have seen, you are not expert enough to keep prodding at something that could be a bomb.

As a way to instill a creative visualization to reinforce the “Don’t touch” mantra, you can take some time now to review every Wily Coyote bomb reference in your head and note the outcomes. Insert your explosion blackened blown-up picture here.

One of the good things about items that travel through the mail, is they have been pretty roughly handled prior to delivery and survive up to three-foot drops during package sorting. They should be pretty stable in most instances if you just leave them alone. Never leave a suspected mail delivered bomb on your secretary’s desk with the direction “Be right back. Keep an eye on that, it might be a bomb.” Never do that. There is a certain former secretary that still talks about a day like that…and geez, it’s been years, you’d think she’d get over it. Sorry, story for another day.

Call for help, don’t keep opening a suspicious package or piece of mail to ascertain whether it has a trigger device, a photo-electric eye or delayed timer you might recognize and heroically defuse.

The Post Office and Homeland Security list some good guides to help people identify suspicious packages which I have seen played out on items I have had contact with. Excessive postage is very common-the senders don’t want to go in to a counter and buy postage so they put huge amounts of stamps on boxes to insure it goes through the mail.

Unusual or shaky handwriting might indicate mental health or drug induced issues. Misspelling of ordinary words can also show some mental stress. No return address or an odd address is another telltale sign you may have issues in a box. You can look up real addresses on the internet to see if they even exist.

Honorific or mega-important addressing of titles like “To: Supreme Commander” or “Director in Charge” stick out like a sore thumb along with things like “Do not x-ray” or “personal and confidential” which might be there to insure this box is opened by an intended victim.

Outer wrappings are often suspect with weird materials or too much wrapping that might look a child assembled it. Wrapping material may show oily or liquid stains, leak powders and exhibit strange odors. Exterior wrapping using string is easily seen as unusual, as are oddly shaped packages. If you are seeing wires or hearing tick-tock sounds you probably should already be on your way to the street via the back door!

Just leave the thing alone. Shaking a suspicious package has never, ever, correctly deduced the contents when they contain hazardous or bomb materials! Leave the area and alert others to evacuate. Don’t use electronic equipment like radios or cell phones near the suspicious item. Notify emergency services and go sit somewhere quiet and think about why our society is not marching in the streets to prevent you ever being exposed to a potential weapon of mass destruction. They are probably much too busy advancing the leftist anti-gun agenda and/or snorting condoms and eating Tide Pods depending upon age and political leanings.

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