1437
Federal Explosives Statutes18 U.S.C. §§
841
- 848
|
The Federal explosives statutes in Chapter 40 of Title 18 establish
both regulatory controls and criminal sanctions. The regulatory provisions
establish Federal controls over interstate or foreign commerce in
explosives.
The regulatory provisions were designed to assist the states to more
effectively
regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer and storage of explosives within
their
borders. See H.R. Rep. No. 91-1549, 91st Cong., 2d Sess.,
reprinted
in 1970 U.S. Code Cong. & Adm. News 4007, 4013. The statutory scheme
also
requires keeping certain records in connection with transactions in
explosives,
see 18 U.S.C. § 842(f), and prohibits the making of false
statements
or false entries in connection with a transaction involving explosives, or
failing to report theft of explosives, see 18 U.S.C. §§
842(a)(2),
842(g), 842(k). Licensing authority is vested in the Secretary of the
Treasury,
and the responsibility for the enforcement of the regulatory provisions is
in the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). See 18 U.S.C. §
847.
The criminal violations in Chapter 40 of Title 18, found in §
842
but mostly concentrated in § 844, were intended to supplement State
prosecutions for "bombing outrages" committed during the late 1960s.
See
H.R. Rep. No. 91-1549, 91st Cong., 2d Sess., reprinted in 1970 U.S.
Code
Cong. & Adm. News 4007, 4014; see also, Bingham, Ltd. v. United
States, 724 F.2d 921, 923 (11th Cir. 1984). The Federal criminal
sanctions
for explosives offenses were substantially strengthened by the Antiterrorism
and
Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Pub. L. 104-132, Title VII, 110 Stat.
1214,
1291-1304 (1996) (hereinafter "Antiterrorism Act of 1996"), in response to
the
Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995.
[cited in USAM 9-63.900] | |