It’s sad to see what has happened to chemistry sets and model rocketry. From A Cult of Backyard Rocketeers Keeps the Solid Fuel Burning:
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the extreme rocketeers have seen their ranks dwindle. In many parts of the country, rockets are prohibited. Local groups face a welter of ordinances and safety codes, as well as F.A.A. restrictions. Tripoli extreme rocketeers also need federal low-explosives permits. On Tuesday, lawyers representing Tripoli and the National Association of Rocketry and officials of the firearms bureau will head to Federal District Court in Washington to resolve the seven-year-old dispute over the hobbyists’ use of a flammable propellant, ammonium perchlorate composite, or APCP. The chemical is the main ingredient on the space shuttle’s solid rocket boosters.The firearms bureau classifies APCP as an explosive and, amid post-Sept. 11 security concerns, requires that anyone who uses more than two ounces of propellant undergo federal background checks.
“If I was an 18-year-old and told my mom I needed a low explosives permit and that an A.T.F. agent would come to my house, she’d say, Why don’t you just continue with your guitar lessons?” grumbled Ken Good, the president of Tripoli and a vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland.