Hi! I'm bootlegengineer and I'm 22. I'm a novice pyro technician and love the chemistry behind it. Because I'm not certified, I do NOT make explosives aside from gunpowder (below 15 lb), But I hope to receive training at Penn State and become qualified for a Federal Explosives License. I've always been interested in demolition, mining, and military strategy through the use of explosives as well as the chemistry behind them. I want to one day become a legal manufacturer of explosives to serve both the industry and the millitary. I also want to maybe one day invent my own type of explosive.
I find it sad that terrorism has given volatiles such a bad name and made it so hard to trust people with explosives, but I doubt that will ever change. That's OK though because explosives are an extremely dangerous thing and should NEVER be given to the wrong hands, which is why I support the tight regulation. But instead of making people PAY for a license, why can't the government just hold special training for people who want to become certified in the explosives industry? That way, only the trustworthy can obtain certification AND they won't have to pay monthly for a license, because, sadly, there are some people who can't afford it, like me.