

Teen with Home Chemistry Lab Arrested for Meth, Bombs - anthonyrubin
http://io9.com/5119166/teen-with-home-chemistry-lab-arrested-for-meth-bombs

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noonespecial
_A few days later, police admitted that Casey's chemistry lab wasn't a meth
lab - but they kept him in jail, claiming that he had some of the materials
necessary to produce explosives._

Its really troubling that "innocent until proven guilty" is evolving into "if
you possess the means to commit a crime, this implies guilt".

You have everything it takes to make an IED in your kitchen. So does everyone
else. It seems like they are beginning to use this to justify holding people
at any time. Make a mistake? Arrest the wrong guy? Well, he _did_ have all of
the ingredients for making explosives in his house... ( _and_ he weighed less
than a duck!)

~~~
bluelu
That guy build a chemistry lab in his garage.

I guess it's more a thing of safety regulations than being able to create
explosives or some drug. What if one of his experiments fails, and some deadly
chemical substance or gas escapes? All the labs normally have emergency plans
for such cases such that nobody get's harmed. He probably didn't.

~~~
noonespecial
He's got a car in his garage too. What it it fails and crashes into stuff.
Someone could get harmed. He's got a lawnmower, chainsaw, weed-eater...

I used to find irrational fear of that "sciencey stuff" merely annoying. Its
starting to do real harm. Its disturbing that the police have only ever seen
chemistry equipment in reference to meth labs and therefore jump to the
conclusion that wherever there are test tubes, there's meth.

 _All the labs normally have emergency plans for such cases such that nobody
get's harmed. He probably didn't._

He very well might have. I bet no one asked him.

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sown
I wanna do DIY Bio stuff (mentioned here on YHN a while ago) but I have
nightmares about this sort of thing. I remember reading about the treatment
Mitnick got while he was initially locked up. Regardless of how you feel about
Mitnick personally once in jail he got treated very poorly by officials who
either didn't know or care.

I'm still doing the DIYBio stuff, though...somehow.

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kragen
Why are we tolerating this kind of witch-hunting? This is very little
different from arresting people because they know how to read or wear glasses.
They ought to be arresting the kids who _don't_ have chemical labs in their
garages for criminal lack of curiosity.

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hs
we all should be arrested because we are one of the ingredient in making
hydrogen bomb

