Here's a possible solution to all the controversy over full-body scanners at the airports. Have a booth that you can step into that will not X-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have on you .
It would be a win-win for everyone, and there would be none of this crap about racial profiling and this method would eliminate a long and expensive trial. Justice would be quick and swift. Case Closed!
This is so simple that it's brilliant. I can see it now: you're in the airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion. Shortly thereafter an announcement comes over the PA system, "Attention standby passengers we now have a seat available on flight number..."
30 pound shaped charge of Pentalite (50/50 TNT & PETN) is mounted in the ceiling of the booth. When a person matching the right profile enters the booth the security screener touches off the charge. That ought to get rid of any explosives they may be carrying.
Box cutters? Are you kidding?! If there aren't enough people on an airplane to go up against a box cutter they don't care about living. For crying out loud. Three old ladies with rolled up magazines that they put in the seat back pockets could defeat a guy with a box cutter.
You know what pisses me off even more? There is only one in millions of people who carry edged utensils on a plane with criminal intent. The idiots in charge of "security" have taken away defensive weapons from those millions and allowed those willing to commit homicide by suicide to be armed because they are willing to risk breaking such ignorant policies. I carry a knife (or two) with me everyday and use one several times a day for everyday tasks. If I board an airplane without checked luggage that means I am unable to carry a knife unless I buy one after I reach my destination.
I learned early in life that two of the most useful things that you can carry every day are a handkerchief or bandanna and a knife. I won't say I have saved lives with them but it would have been a close thing without one or the other on more than one occasion.
Only way to accomplish this would be direct ignition or sympathetic detonation in which case the potential carrier would be seriously wounded or not survive the process.
Without getting into too much detail on the topic for obvious reasons...
General purpose explosives and most military grade explosives (Trinitrotoluene, cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine) require two basic fundamentals to detonate. Heat and pressure. These must occur simultaneously in order to initiate the reaction. Normally this is accomplished through the use of a blasting cap or initiator.
Liquid/solid matter reactions with chemical explosives are quite a bit different but normally lack the desired output or affect to justify their weight, bulk and complexity.
There is no easy solution to this problem. An explosives scanner would be wonderful, but the technology we have just isn't up to par with the mass transportation needs.
I wished we did have a magic box that people could step into and the good guy or bad guy light would turn on. It would make my job much easier. I've been hunting and utilizing explosives all over the globe for years now. Even a good/bad guy wand would come in handy.
30 pound shaped charge of 50/50 Pentalite will clean up the booth. It will penetrate 60 inches of steel reinforced concrete. Put a drain in the floor and it will be like flushing s toilet.
Calling all explosive Xprts. re: The "box" solution. All the explosives that I am aware of contain nitrates. Confining an individual in a box would facilitate the use of some kind of mechanical sniffer, What am I missing?
could we just have the floor drop out from under neath them and have them attacked by sharks with lazers?.... or even a school of ill-tempered mutant seabass....