Asteroid

Morrisons don't sell party poppers to under 16s. (even the explosive free ones!)

Another futile attempt to keep the kids "safe"

Anyone would think they're targeting pyros and chemists, as opposed to society. They could just as easily use petrol and bleach or something, but instead they insist on using more exotic chemicals in a half-assed manner. Most get foiled and no-one gets hurt, but the chemicals get banned.
Terrorists move onto something else, and we are stuck wih a limited number of chemicals.

Typical!

Isn't indium around £400 per kg?

I was trying to remember that benjamin franklin quote, but could get enough of it to find it on google. - it is exactly relevant here.

@StephF : I was referring to the police when I said that. Certainly anyone in this forum would know how to create a nasty device, and if we were in the police, we would know the appropriate response for a suspect. Unfortunately I doubt even 10% of the police force have a science degree, or a lot of knowledge about energetic materials. They recieve the same scare-mongering information aout this kind of stuff that the nanny state is feeding to the public, except in more detail.

I do not think that the majority should be punished for the actions of a tiny, crazy minority. As phildunford said, the chances of being killed in a terror attack are miniscule compared to almost everything else. Humans are predispositioned to fear risks disproportionately if they are outside of their control, or repeated to them. You would be much less afraid of being hit by a care (by crossing the road), because road deaths are rarely reported in the media, and you have control over the act of crossing the road.

The term "for the greater good" gets thrown around a lot, and can be used as an excellent cover for more macabre and evil acts. Here it is not quite as awful, but certainly the erosion of our civil liberties is not a good thing!

I have to say, I agree with phil. It doesn't take much for someone with little working knowledge of the hobby to blow it out of proportion.

http://www.pyrosocie...?showtopic=3160
The person who reported this guy was probably "just worried about someone using it for bad reasons", called up just to be safe and the police launched a rather inappropriate response.

This ebay seller probably is above board, but everyone slips up occasionally and that might be what they get shut down for. If the company is deliberately selling to anyone, then I agree with you, but when the government decides to ban things like this because they think it's what the public wants(or "needs"), it'll be our problem.