[Xiclotl]

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/25434974/detail.html

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A Charlotte high school will not allow students to use pens Tuesday after one student was hurt by an exploding pen. Police went to the home after an explosion was reported at Turning Point Academy. A student was using a pen when it exploded and the explosion gave him shrapnel wounds to his arms and chest and burns to his hands. Two teenage brothers were arrested after a massive investigation that began with the ink pen explosion on Monday.

 

[BG_Atl]

Wait 'til they realize that you can drill out a pencil and hide stuff in there too....
Then the student will only be allowed to write with crayons, until they realize... :shock:

Oh nevermind... they'll never learn...

 

[HydroAuto]

Sheesh... back when I was in school an exploding pen meant you had leaked ink everywhere.

But overall it sounds like a reasonable course of action, given that a pen was used to make an explosive device.

A staff member at Turning Point Academy told Eyewitness News an announcement would be made to all students Tuesday morning. Teachers will collect all pens in the classrooms, and students will only be allowed to use pencils on Tuesday. It's unclear how long the measure will be in effect.

 

[RecoveringYankee]

The stupidity of this reaction. Some item is misused, it must be banned. :screwy:

It is an easy solution that requires absolutely no thought at all, that's all it is.

 

[gsusnake]

I could make a pencil explode a lot bigger and nastier than a pen...

 

[Adam5]

I wouldn't call this one being a nanny state. A permanent ban would be, but a temp ban while making sure that no others have explosives in them is being cautious.

 

[gruntpain1775]

Teachers will collect all pens in the classrooms

So they are confiscating private property from people without a warrant, or just compensation.

 

[Puffyfish]

The stupidity of this reaction. Some item is misused, it must be banned. :screwy:

It is an easy solution that requires absolutely no thought at all, that's all it is.

Yup!! I can think of a lot of things that can explode but I see everyday. You don't even have to leave your house.

 

[Tinkerhell]

This one is ok in my book.
Read some more of the related stories to see why.

The explosion at the school injured 15-year-old Jonathan Cuffee, who is a ninth-grader there. Cuffee grabbed the pen from a communal cup on his teacher’s desk, he said, and when he pressed its cap, it exploded.

Triacetone triperoxide is the explosive suspected in the detonation, police said. They described it as “extremely potent and unstable.†During an initial testing of a small sample of it found at the childrens home, it spontaneously detonated, injuring three firefighters. The injured firefighters have been treated and released.

Police said a “significant quantity†of the suspected explosive was found at the home. The amount found was “capable of extreme damage and loss of life,†police said in a release.

Police are still searching for the childrens' mother, Tracy Bauguess. She has been charged with three counts of malicious injury by use of an explosive device and one count of possession of a weapon of mass destruction.

So more is going on here than just a couple of kids that played a prank that went further than intended. Sounds like something funny was going on. At least the reasonable potential for something funny. Snag all the pens in case these kids placed others around the school or with other kids. Now if the ban stays in place moer than a week or two... well that's starting to take things too far.

 

[Puffyfish]

Sounds like someone needs to spend some time in jail. Make that a few someones. :righton:

 

[gsusnake]

Where did they get high enough quality TATP to make a pressure explosive that could "seriously injure" someone in small enough quantities to put it in a pen??

You can (supposedly) make it from household chemicals (not that I'd know or anything, but Google does!) but it can be tough to get it right. Theoretically speaking, of course. Most of a degree in chemistry comes in rather handy at times.

That stuff's pretty volatile, and pretty unstable, but it should be hard to come by...

 

[gsusnake]

Where did they get high enough quality TATP to make a pressure explosive that could "seriously injure" someone in small enough quantities to put it in a pen??

You can (supposedly) make it from household chemicals (not that I'd know or anything, but Google does!) but it can be tough to get it right. Theoretically speaking, of course. Most of a degree in chemistry comes in rather handy at times.

That stuff's pretty volatile, and pretty unstable, but it should be hard to come by...

It just kinda occurred to me, I'll probably be a useful guy after the Apocalypse... get me a medicine cabinet, a paint or hardware store, and some fireworks and I'll be set for making all kinds of fun stuff!

/talking to myself
//all purely hypothetical, I'd never dream of knowing how to make big booms