IT'S BEEN FIVE YEARS TO THE DAY since I wrote my last editorial.  A lot has changed since then, but then again, a lot hasn't.  I wanted to take a "look-see" approach to the hobby since my absence had given opportunity for much to happen.

In my previous, albeit most recent, editorial, "America - Home of the Safe", I analyzed the after-effects that would occur following the United States' worst national terrorist event: the 9/11 World Trade Center catastrophe.  In it, I encouraged hobby rocketeers not to embrace trading their inalienable God-given rights for safety, stating that nothing was worth giving up our Freedom for.  Most hobbyists have embraced that approach, but sadly, hobbyists don't run this country nor do they encompass the majority at the ballot box.

It would take an outsider who has just arrived on the hobby rocketry scene to wonder what all the fuss is about.  The regulatory situation that has made this hobby only marginally bearable over the past ten to twenty years has slowly crumbled and eroded away any vestige of enjoyment this hobby once gave for the thousands of individuals who aren't lucky enough to own real estate with sufficient acreage and accommodating local ordinances to allow them a way to store "explosives" on their own property. 

When I first became re-involved with hobby rocketry in the mid-90's, the existing regulations were ornery enough that it made it difficult for anyone who wasn't fortunate enough to live in a state with a high-power rocketry dealer or for those who traveled outside of their state of residence to participate in the sport.  But the federal government was limited in what they could impose on residents of a given state in that federal law had to give dominance to the state law, as individuals were citizens of that state and not the federal government.  It was that whole "state's rights" issue where what legislative power not given specifically to the federal government was retained by the state.  Therefore, federal law regarding explosives only became applicable when it involved interstate commerce.  Interstate commerce, for the hobby rocketry enthusiast, included anything involving the transportation of "explosives" because they were being transported over highways funded with federal dollars.

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin

Rewind 200 years.  There was such an immense pool of knowledge that was accessed in the formation of this country, the framing of the Constitution and the creation of the Bill of Rights.  The framers knew that with a run-away federal government, America would be no better off than from where it had just escaped - the tyranny of England.  It restricted the powers of the federal government to try to prevent that tyranny from ever happening here, and except under special conditions, those laws have existed until now to protect our nation. 

Fast-forward to today.  As everyone is so well aware, those "special conditions" were met on September 11, 2001, and utilizing these Executive Powers, our President has since that time signed away more and more of our inalienable God-given rights during emergency "war" times and taken away more and more of our Freedom.

The provisions of the then-existing law under which in-state residents enjoyed the hobby of high power rocketry allowed individuals to purchase products which were considered "restricted" for inter-state commerce, and to do so in their own home state without said restrictions, because they were purchased in-state, transported in-state and consumed in-state.  All that was required to purchase these inter-state restricted products was to make your purchase from federally licensed dealers of your home state and the completion of an ATF Form 5400.4.  For obviously practical purposes, individuals who were illegal aliens or convicted felons were not allowed these rights and needed not apply.  You could purchase your products, drive it to a launch site and fly to your heart's content, as long as your pocket book could withstand the invasion.  The only requirement which reflected federal oversight was that if you did not consume the products at the time of purchase, you had to store them in explosives magazines that met federal guidelines.

This system, while hampering the traveling rocketeer or hobbyists with no dealers in their home state, was workable and provided the necessary paper-trail to allow law enforcement the forensics they needed should someone get a wild hair up their ass and do something stupid.  Doing something "stupid" is the only way to describe terroristic activity, since it doesn't pass the logic test for me.  But leave it to the government to take something that works, even though marginally, and completely screw it up.

The Safe Explosives Act of 2002 put an end to that marginally working system for in-state residents to enjoy the hobby of rocketry and, for that matter, many other fine exploits.  The ATF Form 5400.4 was relegated to serving individuals who were to hold "Limited" explosives users permits, probably one of the most useless examples of "government intelligence" that I have ever seen.  The only thing the Limited permit does is open the door for more individuals to leave consumer rocketry, where motors and reload kits are manufactured under industrial conditions, and transfers said individual into the realm of amateur rocketry, where they will mix and cast their own propellant under conditions less ideal, and with their new "Limited" permit, the ability to transport it.  And this is helping prevent terrorism how?

Is this the same goverment who is trying to save us from ourselves? Give me a break!

Five years after my last editorial, I find the state of hobby rocketry completely and hopelessly head-over-heals in total chaos.  We have governmental agencies who are trying to make laws by breaking the law.  Who tell us that an igniter isn't an igniter - oh, but your's is.  Who tell us we use an explosive that is not explosive.  More and more, I find people exasperated, confused and just plain pissed off.  And for good reason.

Why is it that I can buy up to 50 POUNDS of black powder for use with antique firearms (which are meant to kill things, including people) without a federal permit but I can't buy 1 GRAM of the very same product to deploy the parachute of my model rocket, which would prevent it from hurting someone by not allowing it to plow in ballistic, unless I have a federal permit? 

Why is it that I can purchase any model rocket motor or motor reload kit I want up to 62.5 grams of total propellant weight (including black powder motors) without a federal permit but I can't buy 1 gram of black powder to put in my recovery system unless I have a federal permit?  You see the idiocy here?

It's almost as idiotic as the way the government views you.  To quote the May 7, 2004 Wall Street Journal article covering the struggles high power rocketry enthusiasts have been enduring: "Most of the people involved in these activities are harmless fanatics and nerds," says one federal law-enforcement official. "But since 9/11, we have a responsibility to make sure the nerds are not terrorists."  I find that insulting.  Are you a fanatic, which by the way, isn't mentioned twice, or are you a nerd?  What difference does it make as long as you are not doing anything wrong?

In a press release issued July 29, 2003 by Senators Charles Schumer and Frank Lautenberg, the idiocy of long-term govenmental mentality is clearly evident:

"Sometimes the things you see in Congress make you scratch your head in wonderment. Why anyone in the post-9/11 world would think that making it easier to get bomb-making materials is a good idea is beyond me," said Schumer, the head of the Senate Democratic Homeland Security Task Force. "This bill would essentially create a new loophole that lets terrorists and criminals accumulate large amounts of the same explosives the Unabomber and other terrorists have used. We should be tightening the restrictions on this stuff, not loosening them."

"Allowing anybody to walk into a store and buy huge amounts of rocket fuel is ludicrous. We need to protect our homeland from terrorists; not give them even more tools to kill Americans," said Lautenberg. "The bottom line is that some of the rockets people are building these days aren’t 'models' anymore; they are missiles with tips that can be filled with explosives or biological or chemical weapons."

Did you know that, hobbyist?  That your "models" aren't "models" anymore, they are "missiles" with "tips" that can be filled with "explosives" or other "weapons".  Hell, according to the BATFE our rockets are already filled with "explosives", but we have obviously learn to control the explosion in order to gain thrust from it.  It's quite possible that some people have been in Washington so long their brains have turned into lard, like their asses.  Perhaps we ought to do something *REAL* wreckless, like fill the "tips" full of brains and point them toward Washington!

I'm sorry if I don't seem real appreciative of the efforts our elected officials in Washington are doing for us.  Do you feel any safer today than you did 5 years ago?  I see more confusion, more frustration, more restrictions than ever before, but we are no better off now than we were before.  If anything, we are worse off.  Like I stated in my last editorial, every lifestyle modification we have to make is a victory for the terrorists.

America is at war, but with itself.  America's elected officials have turned their back on the fundamentals that shaped this country's rule of law.  America is spying on Americans!  YOU are a terrorist! And while agencies like the BATFE are fighting for their very existence, after facing virtual extinction several years back following the debacles at Waco and Ruby Ridge, they are riding the white horses into town flying the U.S.'s new "anti-terrorism" banner.  It's job justification.  They'll save us, by God, if it means taking every freedom you have.  And if we let them, then we deserve what we get.

I want to say that I applaud the seven year stretch that the national bodies have devoted to the NAR/TRA lawsuit as well as applaud the individuals who have funded the fight.  That is exactly the kind of measures it is going to take to get our hobby back.  But we can't stop there.  We can't, at this point, assume that we will win when the case has gone to its ultimate end.  We must have discussed and determined alternatives in the event things don't turn out the way we want them to.  Otherwise, we may wake up one day and find out that 29mm motors are the largest thing we can legally fly.

Darrell D. Mobley is the editor of Rocketry Planet. You may reach him by email at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it . If you would like to comment publicly, post your response below.

10-04-2006 12:38 PM  #1
cls   Joined: Dec 1969 Posts:	right on!!! Darryl, you said it soooo welll here!!! your writing is lucid and articulate, what a breath of fresh air.

10-04-2006 01:57 PM  #2
ddmobley Administrator   Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 2146	Quote: Darryl, you said it soooo welll here!!! your writing is lucid and articulate, what a breath of fresh air. Thanks, I appreciate that. We need discourse on this by everyone. And as I posted elsewhere: U.S. Government: "We're sorry, your 'explosives' are not explosives, but for the purposes of justifying our jobs they will be classified as 'explosives'. While one division of the federal government may believe that your 'explosives' are not explosives and may in fact treat them as a non-explosive, our division firmly feels that your non-explosive really is an 'explosive'. So for the purposes of dealing with the United States, your 'explosives' are not explosives except when we say they are 'explosives' although it has been shown that these 'explosives' do not explode. We hope this clarifies things. Thank you, JBGT"

10-05-2006 10:37 AM  #3
tquigg New Member   Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 7	Too funny DM! Best Regards Tim Quigg NAR 62887 L2 TSO Section Advisor BMR # 615

10-05-2006 05:23 PM  #4
ddmobley Administrator   Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 2146	Quote: Too funny DM! But oh so accurate.

10-24-2006 09:33 PM  #5
gak New Member   Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 2	5 Years Later 1) Your article should appear in the Wall Street Journal and many more well read publications where it will do some good. 2) As far as the ATF taking our freedoms, saving us, etc. In Vietnam we sometimes, "destroyed the village, to save it" how asinine. 3) The government will only take our freedoms if we allow it. Let us stay the course.... Love your site as it is easy to use and read....